EOS Sustainability Team tackles weatherization for the cameras

This week half of the Sustainability Team at EOS Alliance joined up with Dan Wildenhaus of Green Dog Enterprises, Doug Kennedy of Pathway Design and Construction, and John Alexander of Sunshine Construction for a hands-on workshop that was being filmed for a pilot of a PBS series on home weatherization and retrofitting. The PBS series aims to educate home owners about how they can improve the energy performance of their houses, increase their comfort, and save money on heating and electrical bills.

The team met up at a house near Golden Gardens Park ready to dive in and get their hands dirty. After a short introduction, and with the camera rolling, Dan launched into a demonstration of home air leakage using a model of a house made from a cardboard box, a smoke pen, and a light bulb.  This demo emphasized the importance of air sealing the attic of the house to prevent warm air from escaping out of holes near the top of the house and cold air from being drawn in down low.  The team then performed a quick blower door test to determine the amount of air leakage within the house, which was fairly high (approximately 2250 cubic feet per minute).  On top of this, a zone test done with the blower door running revealed the attic had many leaks into the main floor of the house, which could be addressed.  With this information and the demo fresh in their heads, the team moved up into the attic to learn air sealing techniques and to put their new found knowledge into action.

Dan started off the hands-on workshop with an explanation, and demo, of using spray foam insulation to seal gaps in floor joists and around plumbing and electrical penetrations.  "Great Stuff" brand spray foam was used for these projects and is easy to use after a bit of practice (see video below).   Just don't forget to wear gloves, as it can get sticky!  Spray foam insulating around these areas prevents air leaking through the numerous holes in ceilings and must be done before batt insulation can be installed in the attic.  While fiberglass batts act as a great insulator they still allow air to pass through, hence the need for a quality air barrier.  Dan also used the spray foam together with pieces of rigid foam board to seal off a large cold space created by a dropped ceiling.  Lastly, vent ducting in the attic was insulated using slim R-4 fiberglass batts.  This prevents condensation from forming within the ducting which could lead to issues with mold, mildew, and reduced fan performance in the long run.

To wrap up, the team performed another blower door test to see how effective the sealing they had done actually was.  This second test gave them a much lower result, 1850 cubic feet per minute, demonstrating that the couple of hours in the attic had dramatically reduced the amount of air leakage in the house.  This was roughly the equivalent of sealing up a 40 square inch hole in the side of the house.  Not a bad result, and certainly an improvement that will be felt by the homeowner!

In the coming weeks the other half of the Sustainability Team will be going out to another  work site with Dan, Doug, and John to tackle weatherization projects that can be done in a basement or crawlspace which will also be filmed as part of the PBS series.  Stay tuned to the EOS blog for an update on how this workshop goes!