Air sealing your home..

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md2002

Feeling the Heat
Oct 18, 2011
362
United States
I had an energy assessment done on my home. They came in and replaced a bunch of light bulbs and then put it a work order. This is all free to me because Mass. has a program to cover this. As they're doing it (today) I'm starting to wonder if this is going to create a problem for the pellet stove, and my health for that matter. Can a house be too air tight? I did some google searches but I thought I would check with the fine folks on this forum to see if anyone knows or if there is someone who is in the insulation business that would know.

There putting an attic hood over the attic stairs
an hood over my house fan
sealing all gaps in the attic between rooms and along the edges of the attic
They are weather stripping my doors
and sealing all gaps in the basement

I started getting concerned that this is going to make the house too tight? Anyone know
I have no bathroom vents and all my windows are energy effecient
 
DO IT. BEST free stuff you ever got. I gained probably 5 degrees of heating capability in my house last year. Was able to keep stove turned down...

If you have a basement that needs to be looked at also. You should pull molding on every window and look behind. Any gray/black insulation in there indicates and air leak, fix every one you can find. You will be amazed how warm your house is fixing these.
 
Hello

As far as your pellet stove goes, if you do not have an OAK (Outside Air Kit) then you will surely need one. :)
 
How do I sign up for this???
 
Go to MassSave.com fir the details.....I had it done as well. Need to have a vapor barrier installed in my crawlspace before I can have the rest done. Which they basically pay for, but the issue I have is clearance.

What he said. It's truly amazing what they do for you.... for free. Just go to masssave.com, there is a number you call and schedule an appointment. The masssave guy come to your house. Does an energy assessment. Does what he can, and then creates a work order for the rest if you want it done. In my case he changed out 32 light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs. Not the cheap kind that take 20 minutes to turn on, they were instant on bulbs. I love them! He changed all my shower heads to low flow shower heads. These aren't the 1930 style heads either, you cannot tell at all they they are low flow! He changed out all my faucet aerators to save water. When he was done he set up a work order for what I mentioned above. The workers were here for 10 hrs. The cost was $1400 but masssave pays for the whole thing. They also recommended I blow in 6 more inches of insulation and add soffit vents in the attic. The cost of that is $2200 but I would still have had to pay $450 if I wanted that done so I passed and just got the free stuff.

If you can't have your house "to tight" then it's a great deal, if it is too tight then I may regret this. I should mention you have to live in Mass. it's a Mass. program
 
Thanks for the heads up! I'll have to call to schedule an appointment.
 
Newer homes are very air tight. That is why they have air exchangers installed in them. My house is new and my stove is in my basement. The basement walls are spray foamed (including the rim joists) which makes it as tight as possible. Opening the basement entrance door will make the door at the bottom of my staircase move! Quite the vaccuum system.

My air exchanger creates a +ve pressure in my basement which reduces the number of times I have a downdraft while trying to light my stove

Hope this helps

A
 
....The cost was $1400 but masssave pays for the whole thing. They also recommended I blow in 6 more inches of insulation and add soffit vents in the attic. The cost of that is $2200 but I would still have had to pay $450 if I wanted that done so I passed and just got the free stuff........

Uh, hate to tell you, but NOTHING is free.....in the end, YOU paid for that in your taxes.<>
 
Uh, hate to tell you, but NOTHING is free.....in the end, YOU paid for that in your taxes.<>

yes. but the former governor likely did not. :p
 
I would have jumped on the attic insulation deal. That 450. Would come back to you over and over. Just like having a paycheck.
 
They also recommended I blow in 6 more inches of insulation and add soffit vents in the attic.

I had no soffit vents in my 1962 split entry so I put some in and when I got the new roof they added a ridge vent per the code back then! Sure it is better for the roof to be cooler in the summer, but in the winter that air flow was sucking the heat out of the house like crazy! Back in the 70s when they thought soffit vents were a great idea, oil was real cheap! Now all the houses have them and they waste heat in the winter! Why don't they do something about that now the oil is so costly? ? ?

Well to make a long story short, I put in rafter vents from the soffits up to the ridge vent and then covered them with reflectix foil from home depot. Now the air flow under the roof has been separated and is not sucking the heat out in the winter time and the whole house is much warmer! Also making a nice plywood door for the gable vents so I could block the cold wind whipping in during the winter and displacing more warm air helped a ton too!
 
Uh, hate to tell you, but NOTHING is free.....in the end, YOU paid for that in your taxes.<>

Yes, technically myself and every other Mass. residence paid for this and I will pay for someone else. I don't think it's taxes though. If you look on your electric bill (in Mass.) you will see a "Energy Efficiency Charge" they use this money to pay for all this stuff that Mass. Save provides. It can range anywhere from an $8 - $15.00 charge a month. Technically not free - but I didn't have to shell out $1400 at once. In my lifetime I will probably ended up paying the $1400 and more. However, if I'm paying for it I might as well use it.
 
Newer homes are very air tight. That is why they have air exchangers installed in them. My house is new and my stove is in my basement. The basement walls are spray foamed (including the rim joists) which makes it as tight as possible. Opening the basement entrance door will make the door at the bottom of my staircase move! Quite the vaccuum system.

My air exchanger creates a +ve pressure in my basement which reduces the number of times I have a downdraft while trying to light my stove

Hope this helps

A

They did tell me if it was too tight when there done I would need mechanical air pushed into the house. At they end they said I should be all set. They did a bunch of tests before and after. Still, I just wanted real world advice and not what the experts say :)
 
I had no soffit vents in my 1962 split entry so I put some in and when I got the new roof they added a ridge vent per the code back then! Sure it is better for the roof to be cooler in the summer, but in the winter that air flow was sucking the heat out of the house like crazy! Back in the 70s when they thought soffit vents were a great idea, oil was real cheap! Now all the houses have them and they waste heat in the winter! Why don't they do something about that now the oil is so costly? ? ?

Well to make a long story short, I put in rafter vents from the soffits up to the ridge vent and then covered them with reflectix foil from home depot. Now the air flow under the roof has been separated and is not sucking the heat out in the winter time and the whole house is much warmer! Also making a nice plywood door for the gable vents so I could block the cold wind whipping in during the winter and displacing more warm air helped a ton too!

I think what you did is what they were talking about. They are called proper vents I think. They were going to do what I think you were describing.Something like this. http://img2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/heating/attics-08.jpg
 
i wish CT had a program like that
 
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I started getting concerned that this is going to make the house too tight? Anyone know
I have no bathroom vents and all my windows are energy effecient>>>

you will notice if your humidity goes up in the winter. I actually had to put a bath vent on a dehumidistat to move some air as i started to get mold. either that or a HRV
 
I had an energy assessment done on my home. They came in and replaced a bunch of light bulbs and then put it a work order. This is all free to me because Mass. has a program to cover this. As they're doing it (today) I'm starting to wonder if this is going to create a problem for the pellet stove, and my health for that matter. Can a house be too air tight? I did some google searches but I thought I would check with the fine folks on this forum to see if anyone knows or if there is someone who is in the insulation business that would know.

There putting an attic hood over the attic stairs
an hood over my house fan
sealing all gaps in the attic between rooms and along the edges of the attic
They are weather stripping my doors
and sealing all gaps in the basement

I started getting concerned that this is going to make the house too tight? Anyone know
I have no bathroom vents and all my windows are energy effecient

You will need proper amount of fresh air coming in
I hope they do a blower test before and after.
It's free now, but if it's creating health problems down the road, you pay big time.
In Holland they have tons of problems with the first passive homes that were build 15-20 years ago.
 
A house can be to tight also.A builder told me that's why you see 300 year old houses still standing and newer ones rotting out.A house has to breathe he said.
 
I started getting concerned that this is going to make the house too tight? Anyone know
I have no bathroom vents and all my windows are energy effecient>>>

you will notice if your humidity goes up in the winter. I actually had to put a bath vent on a dehumidistat to move some air as i started to get mold. either that or a HRV

Mold where?
 
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