How to Prepare Your Home for Maine's Changing Climate

As we’re preparing to hunker down for winter, homeowners around MidCoast Maine and the Portland area aren’t sure what to expect after an unseasonably wet summer. In fact, many long-time Mainers have noticed a significant change in the state’s weather patterns over recent years. With hotter, wetter summers and unpredictable winters, it’s becoming increasingly clear that climate change has reached Vacationland. 

When it comes to protecting your home from fluctuating weather patterns and the unknowns that the future climate holds, Evergreen Home Performance is here for you. With our comprehensive insulation and air sealing services, you can feel confident that you’re prepared for the seasons today and tomorrow. 

How Insulation Protects Your Home

Insulation creates an added layer of protection between your living spaces and the outdoor elements. This barrier gives you an energy efficient home that can withstand extreme heat and cold in comfort without putting unnecessary strain on your mechanical systems. 

To fully understand how insulation works, it’s important to know how heat moves, either by conduction, convection, or radiation. 

• Conduction - Heat transfers through a solid material through direct touch. This is common on a hot day when your roof brings in the outside heat or in the winter when your basement walls conduct your home’s heat out into the cold, outside air. . 

• Convection - Heat is transferred through air and water. Hot air naturally rises, so in the winter your home’s warmed air will move up and out if your attic is not properly air sealed.

• Radiation - Heat transfers without direct contact through electromagnetic waves. Sunlight is the most well-known example of radiant heat, which can beat down and superheat your attic during a heat wave. 

Extreme weather events such as an arctic polar vortex, bomb cyclone, atmospheric river, heavy rain storms, or heat wave can result in many unwanted outcomes, including: 

• Rapid heat transfer within your home 

• Prolonged power outages

These expose your family to uncomfortable temperatures, dangerous moisture/water conditions, and stresses on your mechanical heating, cooling, ventilation, and moisture management systems. 

At Evergreen Home Performance, we offer several types of insulation to help maintain indoor comfort and reduce stress on your alternative power systems (like a generator or wood stove) until power is restored. From spray foam and mineral wool to blown-in cellulose, our highly-trained team of professionals can inspect your current insulation and make recommendations based on building science, not guesswork.

While insulation does a great job of preventing heat transfer, air sealing helps prevent unwanted airflow. If too much or too little air is transferred in and out of your home not only will your insulation be less effective, but it could lead to indoor air quality problems as well. Upgrading your insulation in tandem with air sealing enhances the performance of both

Why You Should Air Seal & Insulate to Mitigate Extreme Weather

Air sealing and insulating your home will provide daily satisfaction with improved comfort and reduced energy bills. But you will be especially grateful for your improvements when the weather is extreme. Fortifying your home against extreme temperature, rain, and wind events with air sealing and insulation will result in:

• Better retention of desired indoor climate

• Better humidity control

• Reduced risk of ice dams

• Lower heating & cooling costs

• Longer life for your HVAC systems

• Reduced demand on back-up energy & heating systems (generator, woodstove)

• Reduced risk of damage to systems (burst water pipes)

Don’t Forget to Take Advantage of Insulation Incentives

Insulation and air sealing can help improve your energy efficiency and reduce your carbon emissions, which is why they’re eligible for rebates and incentives. In Maine, we have access to several ways to make preparing your home for climate change more affordable.

Efficiency Maine Rebates

Homeowners throughout MidCoast Maine and Portland are eligible to receive up to $8,000 in insulation rebates from Efficiency Maine. As a registered vendor in the Efficiency Maine rebate program, Evergreen Home Performance can guide you through the entire process, from the initial site visit to testing out after completion. We can even do the paperwork for you to help make getting your rebates as simple as possible.

IRA Tax Credits

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, homeowners are eligible to receive 30% of the cost for insulation and air sealing materials in federal tax credits, up to $1,200. The IRA tax credits also cover up to $150 for energy audits and can be claimed year after year as upgrades are made to your home. The Evergreen Home Performance team can provide you with an itemized receipt for our work for you to give to your tax professional when it’s time to file your annual taxes. 

Evergreen Home Performance: Your Home Resiliency Experts

We’re passionate about energy efficiency and have helped thousands of families make their homes safer, more comfortable, and healthier since opening our doors in 2006. We always recommend starting your insulation upgrade with an in-depth analysis of how well it’s currently performing with an energy assessment. Not only is this crucial step required to receive incentives, but it allows our team to find the most reliable and long-lasting solutions to home health, comfort, and efficiency issues.  

Schedule your energy assessment to get started today. Call 207-594-2244 or contact us online.