This week on the Thoughts from the Crawlspace podcast, Jamie Miller, CEO of Gold Key Home Inspections, Inc., shares essential energy efficiency tips for homeowners as winter approaches. With longer hours of darkness and harsher weather conditions, it's crucial to identify and address weaknesses in your home that can lead to increased energy costs and discomfort. Jamie highlights practical strategies such as sealing gaps around outlets and doors, upgrading insulation, installing programmable thermostats, and switching to LED lighting. 

Implementing these tips can enhance your home's comfort and reduce energy bills throughout winter.

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Episode Highlights

• Winter brings increased energy costs, so energy efficiency tips are crucial now.
• Sealing air leaks around doors and outlets can significantly reduce heating bills.
• Consider investing in a programmable thermostat to manage your home's temperature efficiently.
• Upgrading to energy-efficient windows is a long-term solution for reducing energy costs.
• Switching to LED lighting can save energy over traditional incandescent bulbs.
• Regularly servicing your HVAC system ensures it operates efficiently and maintains comfort.

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Homeownership Solutions

(05:28) Upgrading to Energy Efficient Solutions

(08:45) Switching to LED Lighting

(16:54) Energy Efficiency Tips: Air Movement and Insulation

(19:02) Energy Efficiency Tips for Your Home

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Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to another episode of Thoughts from the Crawl Space.

Today we are going to tackle a topic that's kind of familiar this time of year.

You may hear it in various locations or you think about it more this time of year, and that's energy efficiency tips for your house.

As we go into winter, we're going into that time of year where we have, you know, 12 to 14 hours of darkness.

The wind is typically worse, especially in the northern climate.

But you're going to find weaknesses in your home that one, make it more uncomfortable and two, can increase energy costs more than they need to be.

So let's talk today a little bit about some energy tips.

Some, just some little things that you can do in most cases that will help you to reduce the cost, that will help certain rooms certainly to feel better and just make everybody a little bit better able to handle winter and all that it brings.

So, so if you're listening to this and you're in the south, maybe it doesn't apply as much, but there's still always things you can do that will help your energy bill because nobody needs to pay more than you need to for energy.

Right?

That's certainly a cost that's not going down anytime soon.

And so we want to give you some tips, some helpful things that you can do that will actually help in this department.

So let's start out with maybe some of the more obvious ones.

Seal gaps and insulate air leaks are probably the number one area where there's going to be problems.

There's going to be a couple of areas.

You can look at this.

Go up next to one of your outlets on the wall, especially in the side of the house that is against the prevailing wind side, typically prevailing winds from the west.

And so check the outlets on that side of the wall and especially if it's windy that day.

And just hold your hand in front of it if you can feel it, cold air blowing through there.

We don't have good insulation behind this outlet toward the exterior wall.

So you want to, of course, this only applies to ones on the exterior wall.

But so what you want to do is you want to go in there, you can take that outlet apart, you can put insulation behind the entire box.

You can put a little gasket over the outlet itself and put that under the COVID plate.

And that's a way to stop some of the air infiltration that you typically feel that's blowing out of there.

You'll especially notice that on days that are really windy, straight line winds where it's coming through there, and those really add up over the.

You know, if you think about how many outlets are on that wall or really on your whole house on the exterior walls, how much that can affect the energy efficiency and comfort of a room.

The more.

More cold air that's coming in, obviously, the more your furnace has to work, and the more your furnace works, the more gas it takes or electricity, whatever runs it, and then that jacks up your cost.

So check your outlets.

This also applies to switches.

A lot of times, switches by the front door or whatever are very susceptible to this.

So check air leaks around any openings, the outlets, the switches, and of course, your doors.

All right, Front doors get used a lot in many cases, depending on how your house is set up, how it's oriented.

And so look at the weather stripping sight up and down it, and if you see any daylight on the top, on the side, on the bottom, that's an area where that needs improvement in the.

In the weather stripping.

So go ahead and invest in a little bit of weather stripping and hire a professional if you need to, but make sure that that door is.

Is not an open avenue for air blowing in or whatever.

I've even seen in some cases where it's so bad that snow will drift in through a small opening in a door or a window.

So obviously that wouldn't be good.

So a couple tips there.

Adding insulation also helps.

Obviously, you know, determining how much insulation you need in the attic is a little.

It's a little bit of a gray area.

All right, how much do I have?

Do I have enough and so forth.

Well, modern building standards require a certain amount, but that doesn't mean adding more than what you currently have is going to save you a whole ton or it won't pay off for several years.

Right.

And so that would take more of a calculation from an expert in that field of how much you need.

Typically, if you only have a couple of inches of attic insulation, definitely adding more would pay off rather quickly if you already have like a full foot of either blown cellulose or maybe a combination of spray foam and cellulose or fiberglass insulation.

Typically, if you have that much, we've not found that you're going to gain a ton of savings by adding more.

So it might be best to consult a professional in that field to know for sure what the best route to go is.

Of course, asking one that's honest would be good because typically an insulator is going to recommend you add more because they get a job out of it.

Right?

So look at areas wherever you have leaks.

And this could kind of go also into number two is, and this is more of a, maybe a long term solution than a current solution, but upgrade to energy efficient windows and, or doors.

You know, we talked about doors briefly, but windows can have the same thing, particularly if they're wood windows.

The wood will dry out and shrink over, over the, the life of the window.

And then you can look and you can feel, you can sometimes see gaps between the window and the window frame.

You can feel air leakage.

And obviously that doesn't help your energy bills any.

So there's not a lot you can do with windows other than sometimes you'll see people put plastic over the entire window, basically seal it off.

That helps to a degree, but that's more of a temporary fix really.

If you see that problem with your windows, you're probably looking at replacing at least that window.

You know, it doesn't mean you have to replace them all.

What we frequently have seen is windows that face the south or the west and get the brunt of the sunshine and the UV rays and temperature differentials will dry out the worst.

And so just because you have a couple of bad windows on one side of the house or so forth doesn't mean they all are so kind of do it as your budget will allow you to, to replace those things.

Number three, install a programmable thermostat.

All right, A programmable thermostat is a way that can adjust the temperature up or down without you thinking about it.

So for example, at night, typically it's better if you have the temperature down a little bit.

All right, maybe during the heat of the day or not heat of the day, but the prime part of the day when you're in the house, let's say after work in the evening from, you know, just for example, from 4 to 7pm you're there, you want it to be comfortable.

It's not, you know, and if you have it set for, let's say 72 is comfortable for you, maybe at night it can automatically adjust to 68 or 69, you're under the covers.

And it's not quite as crucial to have it really warm.

All right?

And likewise, if you're not at the house.

If you're at work, if you're gone for an, especially if you're gone for an extended period of time, you have a thermostat that you can adjust on the fly.

Maybe you forget about it, you leave home, it's like, oh, I got a programmable, I have an app on my phone, I can change it.

And so you're not wasting energy while you're gone.

If you're gone for, let's say a week during the winter, I wouldn't recommend setting your thermostat extremely low.

You still want it to kick on.

Let's say put it at 60.

All right?

If you're gone for a week in the heart of winter, you still want it to move air.

You want it to keep components somewhat warm.

You don't want to just turn it off or turn it down to 45 because it takes an incredible amount to heat it back up when you get home.

But just for daily use, a programmable thermostat is a good way to help you to regulate that temperature without thinking about it.

You set it, forget it.

You can always overwrite it if needed.

But that's a good way for some savings for the future.

A lot of times you still have those old analog ones where you just turn them and there's a little dial you turn it to.

And now they have much more, much more sophisticated ones.

So number four, another way to reduce energy savings in your home.

And this isn't just a seasonal thing, but switching to LED lighting.

LED lighting takes a lot less energy than your incandescent bulbs.

And even they even save over the, the, what am I trying to think, the fluorescent type bulbs.

All right, Whether it's for a lamp or a big long four foot type shop light, the LED is going to be more expensive up front.

But over the life of it, it takes far less energy.

It's kind of like the newer TVs, the LED TVs, even some technology better than that where they, they sit there and they don't hardly take any energy all year even when they're on.

And so that's a great way to upgrade is to switch your lighting to led.

Another thing you can consider, and I would only recommend this if you're considering switching now or you need to now, and that's your appliances.

Switch to energy efficient appliances.

You see a little star rating on it and it'll say if it meets certain energy efficiency requirements.

And now I wouldn't go trade my refrigerator in that's working just fine for one of these because you're not going to make that cost up anytime soon.

But you want to.

Let's say your fridge is done and it doesn't work anymore and you need a replacement.

Well, go look for one that has an energy star rating.

It's almost hard to find one that doesn't anymore.

But that's a good way to save some energy.

Again, a typical refrigerator used all year long, you're looking at maybe $300 of energy usage a year.

Doesn't seem like a ton.

If you average that out per month, you're at, you know, roughly 30 to $40 a year per month.

And it just, the bigger you have, the more likely that's to happen.

The more cost you're going to have, the more features you have on it, the more energy it's going to use.

Number six.

Now this is one that is up for a little debate, but we have found that there is a little credence to it, all right?

And that is turn off power strips and unplug appliances you're not using.

Now this, it goes two ways.

There's appliances like TVs, computers in particular, electronics like that, they have kind of a standby mode.

They're kind of amongst always ready.

That way when you hit the button, bam, it's on.

And so they have, they do take a certain amount of electricity when they're not on.

It's sometimes called phantom energy.

Now, calculating what that is in your energy bill is a little difficult, but in some extreme cases, what we found that that phantom energy, in other words, the energy used even when the appliance is not on, but it's still plugged in, can be up to 10% of your annual energy usage.

And so it's not especially if maybe you have a seasonal place that you go to and you leave and you're going to be gone for a few months.

Not a terrible idea.

Unplug your chargers, unplug your TVs, your computers, your lamps, any other thing that's controlled by electricity.

All right, probably not your refrigerator, because you kind of want that going to maintain the right look inside of that refrigerator so you don't have mold growing in there.

But other than that, if you're just day to day operations in your house, if there's some appliances you're not using or that you don't use regularly, just unplug them.

I don't think you want to be unplugging your TV and computer every single day.

I don't think you need to do that.

The savings just off those especially The LED is not going to be that great.

But something to think about overall when you're not using devices.

There's another one.

This is a little off the electricity train.

It's more about water usage.

And if you really want to go radical, go to low flow fixtures.

I don't know that that in and itself is radical.

Some people don't like the low flow fixtures.

They don't feel like they're getting what they want when they take a shower or they're filling tub or a sink or a pail or whatever.

But switching to low flow fixtures will reduce the amount of water that comes through.

And so if you take a 10 minute shower under a regular fixture and then switch to a low flow fixture and still just use the same amount of time, you're going to save water usage.

And so you know, for folks with may long hair and you know they're shampooing it and maybe you need that, that stronger flow, a stronger volume coming out of there, but obviously for me don't need that.

So going to low flow is fine and, and you'll get done everything you need to in there.

One other number eight, install ceiling fans.

We've talked about air movement a lot.

Well, there's more than one way to move air.

In the winter.

Typically you're going to have your, your windows closed and the heater running.

In most cases, a furnace, a gas fired furnace is the most common around here.

So how do we circulate that air a little bit?

The better you can circulate that air, the less likely we are to waste some of that.

All right, so get some ceiling fans installed, get them ready to bring air down.

There's a switch on most fans that will reverse the direction that you're running that fan.

All right.

In the summer you want to get that warm air up and out, right?

In the winter you want to bring that air down so it can mix with the cooler air and kind of make a more even flow and save you some energy.

So that's just another tip you can do is install ceiling fans so that it mixes the air better and creates a more even atmosphere.

You know, some rooms, probably everybody listening has a room that is colder than another room.

And so this is a way to help mitigate that a little bit.

Number nine is service your H Vac.

Get this, get your furnace serviced.

It will be more efficient.

And what do I mean by service?

Well, typically there's kind of a standard service call that H Vac companies will charge when they come out.

And what are they Going to do well, the good ones anyhow.

They're going to check different things like the gas oxygen ratio.

This will help to determine if it's running efficiently.

They're going to clean the fans.

You got a blower motor that's typically underneath.

It could be on the side, depending how your furnace is mounted.

But clean that.

The dirtier something is, the harder it is to run.

All right.

The less efficient it will be, the slower it's going to run, creating irregularities in the temperature coming out compared to the temperature going back of the air.

All right, so they're going to check for cleanliness.

They're going to check for some of the technical parts of it.

And certainly they're going to check your filter, or they should.

Right.

So if you don't call anybody out and you do this yourself, at least look at the cleanliness of it.

Disconnect any, any power to it before you do anything on the fan.

So it can't start up when you're working on it.

But you can clean the fan by yourself if you want.

Certainly change the filter.

This will help it to run efficiently.

Go outside, especially if you have a high efficiency unit and it's drawing air from outside, go check that to make sure there's no obstructions.

Maybe those the vegetation or the landscaping that you planted over the summer or that's been there for a while is now overgrown and it's kind of blocking that intake.

That is one of the quickest ways to shut your furnace down, especially in extreme cold.

It can freeze over because it's not getting good airflow because it's blocked with vegetation.

So make sure you go out and check that before winter hits.

And you really need that because typically what will happen is your furnace will start acting up when it's about 10 below and everybody has an emergency at the same time.

And then you can't get somebody out there and it just creates unpleasantness in your house.

So let's change gears just a little bit.

Think about this maybe more long term as well.

Insulated window coverings.

These are these blinds you can use.

You can see they kind of got a diamond shape to them.

There's other types as well, especially if you have large picture windows.

If you ever sat in front of one of those when you're reading on a, you know, on a cold winter or a fall day, you can just feel the cold emanating right off of those.

Right.

And so installing a window covering that is insulated or designed to be provide some insulation value is a great way to Help keep the room warmer.

It's not great keeping them closed all day long because it's dark enough in the winter and you don't want to have no light coming in.

But especially at night, especially when you're not going to be needing natural light, keep the blinds closed.

You can use extra curtains.

All that stuff makes a difference.

Not a huge difference, but it makes a difference and it adds up with some of these other tips that we're giving you today on increasing the energy efficiency in your home.

Another one that you can do, and that is this is again, more of a long term thing, but plant shade trees.

Now, I guess you could talk about this both ways.

If we have shade trees and they're covering the house in the winter and not allowing sun to hit it for natural heat gain, then maybe you're defeating the purpose.

But this is more for summer.

Maybe the south or the west facing sides, especially west, where you get the sun really blasting on you during the summer.

Planting shade trees a good distance from the house so that the shadow will cast on the house in the heat of the day is a great way to help keep the house cool.

We've seen many houses on inspections where they didn't have air conditioning as a, you know, as a rule, like central air, but they had a lot of shade trees around the house.

And the attic and the house itself were remarkably cool just because of the shade.

So it makes a difference, especially in the summer.

Another thing to consider is an energy audit.

An energy audit is where you hire somebody to come in and he'll basically have a blower door.

They put this on like your front door, and they pressurize the house to see where you're losing energy.

And this is something that.

And a lot of times you can't see where you're losing energy.

Are you losing it through the lights in the ceiling?

All right.

A lot of times we'll see black staining in the attic sheathing, and that comes from heat loss combined with cold air in the winter condensing on the underside of your roof.

All right, well, one of the best ways to solve that, two ways really increase the ventilation, increase the insulation, but also stop air leakage.

Just adding more insulation doesn't always stop the air leakage, especially the loose fill cellulose fiberglass.

That doesn't stop air leakage all that well.

So to do it right, and this is a little extreme, but to do it right would be probably to remove insulation, seal all the joints, seal all the openings around lights in some way, and then Insulate and that's going to stop your air leakage.

It'll help prevent heat loss.

But to know all that, doing a blower door test or an energy audit, one is going to rate your window level of efficiency, your doors than any other openings, as to what size it is and where you can improve it is going to calculate the any openings like the lights that we just talked about and so forth.

And that'll give you a game plan going forward of what you can do to improve the energy efficiency in your house.

So there's a few things you can do right now.

There's a few things that are a little higher end as far as adding or changing, like changing your windows.

Be really careful about changing your windows.

If you go and you're going to plunk down 20 or 30,000 on changing all the windows in your house, that's going to take a really long time to make up the difference.

Whereas if you can just do a few little things that will increase or stop airflow, stop air leakage, that can go a long way.

It doesn't really matter what kind of window you have.

A window is not a good insulator, all right?

That's why the more windows you have, the harder it is to heat your house.

That's nice.

You can look out them, you can open them and so forth, but you don't really gain the cost back.

So little things like ceiling gaps and insulation and installing a programmable thermostat.

Even in your garage, if you have overhead garage doors, look at the gasket at the bottom of the garage door, all right?

Sometimes those get chewed away, eaten up by a mouse or just use.

And that will permit air into your garage, cold air.

And whether you're heating your garage or not, the colder your garage is, the harder it is for your house to stay heated, right?

So if you can stop draftiness into the garage, it'll help your heating bill in the house, even if you're not heating the garage along with that.

So some little things like that unplugging appliances you don't need.

And then longer term, possibly thinking about upgrading the insulation, replacing a window or two as needed.

An energy audit, planting some trees.

Obviously if you plant a tree now, it's not going to be providing much shade by summer.

Even the fast growing ones take a few years to really do much of that.

So just some tips.

Hope these help you have a happy and safe fall, Christmas season, winter, we will get through it.

It will be spring again.

And these will help in all seasons, but especially will help you this time of year.

Thank you for listening.

This week you can catch up on the latest episode of the Thoughts from the Crawl Space podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

For more information about Gold Key Inspection services, go to goldkeyinspect.com.