Mornin' everyone. Welcome to SMHRB. Hope your Saturday has started well. SMHRB is where a bunch of dkos home repair professionals, amature DIYers and home repair novices come to help and encourage one another. All are welcome. No question is too elementary and all assistance is appreciated. So...
Today's diary will be the first of several describing our journey through Oregon's Clean Energy Works program. To explain: Several months ago, we got a letter in the mail suggesting that our house might qualify for an energy retrofit. "What the heck!" I thought. So I went online and looked at the program and I poked around at the Energy Trust of Oregon and decided it was worth a go. I filled out their questionaire about us and the house and this and that. Forgot all about it. A couple of months later, we got a call telling us that we're in and that they'd like to start moving on things ASAP.
Huh. Well, okay. Off we go.
So far, the radon guy has done radon testing and clucked about our high radon levels. (We live in a radon "red zone.") The contractor has come and assessed and measured and stroked his chin. The g-man (for the Energy Trust) has come and talked and typed Important Things into his computer. He also gave us a box of lightbulbs. I thought that was nice. Rather like a somewhat awkward hostess gift. The furnace guy has measured and nodded and made positive noises. The window guy has measured and calculated and chuckled at the "repurposing" that the previous owner did.
After several weeks of back-and-forth, we have finally signed the contract regarding the scope of work, and are on their construction schedule for the week of June 13th. Whew! I'll spare you a bunch, here. It's done and we're on that schedule in pen, dammit.
So - here is what we're having done:
Attic insulation. Green Fiber insulation to an R-value of 50. (Current standard is R-38. Ours is now R-10)
Exterior wall insulation, including basement stem wall. Again, Green Fiber.
Knee wall insulation. Johns Manville formaldehyde-free batt with vapor-permeable air barrier.
Installation of new 70,000 BTU Lennox 95% efficient gas furnace. Comes with a thermostat that will recognize a heat source external to the Lennox (such as our woodstove) and will kick on the fan to circulate the heat from that source. Sweet.)
New Marathon electric water heater.
Three new Jeld-Wen triple-paned windows in the basement.
Ventilation improvements. This will give us a new vent in the upstairs bathroom and a new vent in the kitchen. Both rooms are currently without ventilation.
Decommissioning of recessed lighting fixtures. We will get rid of a total of 9 can lights on the main and upper floors. They will replace lighting with surface-mount fixtures that we provide.
Radon Reduction System. The radon levels in the house are, at certain times of the day, well over the EPA's accepted levels of 4.0 pCi/L (pico Curies per litre). With the house properly sealed, those levels would likely rise. The radon reduction consists of coring a hole in the basement floor at it's lowest point. A suction point is then installed over the hole and a PVC pipe is attached and then, in our case, will be turned to go through the stem wall to the outside. (Sometimes the pipe goes up through the house.) A radon pump is attached and the pipe is extended above the roofline. (The exit for the gases must be at least 10 feet from any door or window.) The fan runs continuously and vents all gases and much of the excess moisture from the soil beneath the house.
And finally, air sealing. This will include foam insulation, weather stripping, new thresholds and any other reasonable means to sufficiently seal the house. This also includes the installation of a CO detector. In case they seal the house too well, I guess.
This all comes with a low interest loan, the payment of which is attached to our monthly energy bill over 20 years (or until we pay it off).
It's been an interesting experience so far. We've learned quite a bit. So have they. It seems to be an evolving program.
There will be DIY aspects of this whole thing. I'll get into those in future diaries.
Thanks for coming along for the first leg of the ride. I'll keep you posted.