A Building Science Sunday

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Here’s a confession: Sometimes even BPI-certified energy advisors have complicated, efficiency-challenged houses. Take Cree Hale Krull, who leads Evergreen’s charge in Maine’s southern Midcoast region. He’s the proud new owner of an older home that’s been full of efficiency surprises.

When the water heater up and quit last month, Cree decided to replace it with a high efficiency heat pump water heater. These appliances essentially work like refrigerators in reverse – they pull heat from the surrounding air and dump it, at a higher temperature, into a tank to heat water. Cree and local heating contractor Steve Winchenbach figure it will cut the cost of heating water in half, with the added benefit of dehumidifying the basement.

Since Cree knows a thing or two about financing energy efficiency projects, he looked into Efficiency Maine’s loan programs. He chose an unsecured PowerSaver loan, which offers up to $7500 for up to 10 years and is not tied to the property.

While he was at it, Cree decided to tackle an area where a day’s work would make a big difference: his attic hatch (left). Whether you access your attic through a panel-style hatch, pull-down stairs, or a real door at the bottom of a real staircase, these openings are often energy holes. They connect living space and unconditioned attic space, and all too often they offer a pathway for heat to leak from the house to the attic all winter, and to radiate from the attic to the house all summer.

At Cree’s house, the solution included air sealing the 4’x8’ opening in the second floor ceiling with a combination of spray-foam and caulk (below left).Not content to seal just what he could see, Cree pulled up the attic floorboards around the opening… and uncovered an unsealed top plate of an interior wall (below center). The top plate is the stud, laid lengthwise, at the top of the walls. When “open,” or unsealed, it creates another pathway for air to worm its way through. Cree put a stop to that with another round of spray-foam and caulk (below right).

With the attic hatch opening air sealed, the next step was creating an insulated plug for the 4’ x 8’ opening. (Though there’s a door at the bottom of the stairs, it’s an original interior door that provides very little in the way of insulating value. For energy efficiency purposes, the stairway is part of the second floor, and the barrier between conditioned and unconditioned space is the attic flat – so that’s where the insulated plug belongs.) Cree’s improvised door – constructed of scavenged blue board, 1×3 strapping, and weather-stripping – provides what he calls “a reasonable radiant/thermal barrier to heat transfer as well as the all-important air barrier – and even then it wasn’t perfect.”

All told, it was a 9-hour Sunday for Cree. “Most people don’t realize how much work it takes to do this right,” says Cree. At least the results were immediate: one of his sons commented (without prompting) that the second floor was significantly warmer, and the whole family noticed that the furnace cycled on far fewer times. Being a building science geek at heart, Cree quantified the improvements with a blower door test and found that air sealing the attic hatch reduced his home’s air leakage by 13%.

Not bad for a Sunday’s work.

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We had Evergreen come out to our tiny old (100+ year old) house to see what they would recommend for decreasing our carbon footprint, saving money, and increasing our comfort in the cold season. Richard and Bryan were great to work with, patiently answering our many questions and walking us through multiple options. We could only afford to tackle a few areas this year; we ended up replacing some windows and having them weatherize the entire house.

Alan M.

Falmouth

My experience with Evergreen was excellent. From their thorough and thoughtful initial consultation to their detailed post-work visit, the team was professional, knowledgeable, and responsive. Their workmanship was top notch. Our home is now much warmer and more efficient. I highly recommend their services!

Douglas R.

Edgecomb

Evergreen came back this year to finish insulating our house. We have been remodeling and renovating an 1850s cape for several years. Their employees are very professional and pleasant to deal with. Over several years Brian Robinson has been able to schedule us in for several small areas that needed addressing and finally turning a room we used to close off in the winter into a comfortable usable space. We primarily heat with wood and since Evergreens great work our furnace has only come on ONCE this winter. Fantastic. Really satisfied customer in Thomaston.

Chris F.

Thomaston

We are thrilled with the job Evergreen did to transform our 213 year old home into a warm, draft-free, cozy space. The entire team led by Bruce was prompt, courteous, knowledgeable, and hard working. If Evergreen could transform our home in this way, we are sure they would make a comparable difference in YOUR home!

Jonathan M.

Bridgton

We needed basement encapsulation to stop moisture coming up into the house from our regularly flooding basement. We had mold growing on windowsills and furniture. All the staff were friendly, respectful of our home, and easy to work with. Humidity has gone from 70% down to 40% and mold has not grown back after two months. Very grateful.

Sarah C.

Belfast

Evergreen did a fantastic job replacing 28 windows in our house. They were friendly, courteous, and very detail oriented. Brian did a great job planning, estimating and executing the project. Our energy use has dropped significantly since the work was done.

Alex B.

Kittery

We had Evergreen Home Performance of Rockland come in to make our home more energy efficient, and what a TOP notch crew. Brian and his crew did an amazing job from start to finish. Very knowledgeable and professional. We would Definitely highly recommend this crew to anyone who is looking for energy efficiency in their home with a company that truly is an expert and knows how to do a quality job and truly cares about their customer.

Melissa S.

Owls Head

Professional, friendly and hard-working staff. The product/approach they use for insulation is top notch. We felt the difference immediately, both from added warmth and eliminating drafts. The team and management were easily available to answer our questions or coordinate meeting times. Highly recommended.

Kevin J.

Yarmouth

I highly recommend Evergreen! 1st, I had a home efficiency inspection (that was free) & Bryan P. was great! He took the time needed, asked & listened to what I thought were priorities, explained clearly what he thought were priorities & why, then gave me numerous options. No pressure whatsoever. Then I had my attic sealed & insulated as the 1st step & Bryan came along on day 1 to introduce everyone & make sure we were all on the same page. Bruce's team (inc. Kelsey & Roland) did the work - they were exceptional!!

Melissa M.

Kennebunk

Evergreen has just completed Phase 2 of 2 at my home. They are professional, hard-working and courteous. They communicate well..no surprises. They've gone above and beyond to make my home comfortable and were very respectful of my home.I recommend them unequivocally!!!Many thanks to Brian, Brian, Rick, Eddie, Dawson and the rest of the Evergreen crew!!

David Henry Feldman

The Evergreen crew who installed insulation in my attic were fantastic! They were very professional, worked exceedingly hard, and they did an excellent job. They were very pleasant and friendly to be around. They cleaned up beautifully after each work day, and left my home in great shape on when they walked out the door for the last time. I can't believe they were able to accomplish all that they did with heat soaring into the 80s and 90s. It was pretty unbearable up there! They have my highest praise and my gratitude.

Cynthia F.

South Portland

Our house still the most efficient home we’ve ever lived in. And we have you folks to thank for that! A special howdy to Brian Robinson please!

Bruce O’Donal and Eva Butler

The Evergreen Team did a fabulous job, well exceeding our expectations, In just over a week they transformed our very drafty, noisy 213 year old house into a snug, draft-free, quiet haven with warm floors! The team was prompt, did everything they said they'd do and more. We are thrilled!

Trudy M.

Bridgton

Great team!

George S.

Bath

From start to finish, our experience was incredible. Justin was extremely helpful. The crew was fast, friendly, and efficient. And most importantly, our home is WAY warmer and our heating is less costly. I'd highly recommend evergreen to anyone looking to upgrade their home!

John S.

South Portland

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