Many people have comfort issues in their homes. Either it’s too cold or too warm in certain rooms. This is because many houses are improperly insulated and sealed, allowing air to leak out and be wasted instead of heating or cooling the home efficiently and more consistently from room to room. Inadequately sealed attics and basements can also allow dust, moisture and airborne pollutants to enter a home, causing humidity, mold issues, possible harmful gas buildup and even foul odors. A Complete Home Performance Audit can assure homeowners that their house is energy efficient and their family’s health and safety are not compromised.
Building Performance Institute (BPI), an independent, not-for-profit organization, is a national standards development organization for residential energy efficiency and weatherization retrofit work. Reliable Heating & Air offers Complete Home Performance Audits utilizing BPI certified auditors who can identify problems with the whole house thermal envelope such as leaky ducts, leaks around lighting and around attic access doors and many other issues that can make a home a poor performer.
During a Complete Home Performance Audit, a blower door, which looks similar to large fan, is installed in the front door of the home to draw air through the cracks and leaks, making it easy to see where energy dollars are being wasted. A duct blaster is a machine Reliable installs on the home’s heating and cooling ducts to measure the points of leakage. A combustion analyzer is used on all gas appliances to check that they are working and venting properly and to make sure there are no health and safety problems in the home. Insulation levels are analyzed along with other inspections. In addition, a Complete Home Energy Audit provides a roadmap of what needs to be remediated for best results. After the remedial work has been completed, a second inspection is performed to make sure the home is now an energy-tight, safe and healthy environment to live in.
Many utility companies offer a free “energy audit,” which is just a quick visual assessment of a home’s insulation and thermal envelope and Reliable can provide this service as well. However, this service is not to be confused with a Complete Home Performance Audit executed by a BPI certified auditor since they are two completely different types of inspections with different goals and methods. A Complete Home Performance Audit is typically more desirable as it uses scientific equipment to document and record how a home is actually performing.
Regardless of which course of action you choose to follow, consider Reliable for your home performance needs. Everyone deserves the comfort, health, safety and energy savings that a high performance home can provide. Call Reliable today at 770-594-9969 to learn more or to schedule your appointment.