Insulate and air seal the attic / roof – There should be a minimum of 12″ of insulation in your attic and all penetrations should be sealed to the conditioned space in your home
Air Seal walls – stop losing energy through your walls and ducts, seal all cracks and material intersections
Insulate the Basement walls and band boards not the floor above – gravity works against insulation in the floor above and defeats the purpose of the product
Insulate walls and around all penetrations – any hole or penetration for wires, pipes, and vents should be sealed
Replace and / or air seal around old windows – or simply add storm windows
Replace HVAC systems that are outdated or failing – 15 years old and you will probably see a fairly fast payback on investment
Replace appliances that are not energy star with energy star rated appliances
Add renewable energy sources – solar thermal / solar PV
Why have an Energy Audit
An energy audit will allow you to better understand where to spend money to get the best return on investment. An energy audit is a test that can determine whether you house is air tight and if not where the holes are in the thermal envelope. For years we have heard, don’t make your house too tight – so tell me, why did you install all the windows, how big of a hole do you want left in your wall. Making a house air tight is not a negative; it will then allow you to control the fresh air intake of your home rather than filtering your makeup air through your attic insulation, your vented crawl space, or through your walls. An energy audit will give you the information to determine if you should replace your HVAC system, windows, and / or appliances. This is a test that every home owner should have in order to better understand their home and how they spend their money.
Did you know: The average new American home has a 28% duct leakage on a well installed and maintained heating and cooling system. That means you are probably wasting 28% of your money on each months electric bills.
Did you know: A vented crawl space or vented attic are not recommended in Virginia as it promotes bad indoor air quality and leads to higher energy bills?
Give us a call to schedule a basic energy audit today or call our friends at Building Knowledge for a complete energy audit assessment of all the systems in your home.
We have been building our firm here in the valley for a little more than 8 years. I opened our branch office in Harrisonburg in July 2008 in the basement of my Timberville home. Most of my jobs were still in the Central Virginia area at the time. There was a lot of driving over the mountain and many many hours networking and building our brand here in the valley. Our first job in the valley was a LEED Consulting job for Glen Stoltzfus – we had met months before at a building science seminar in Charlottesville. It was the start of a real business in the valley.
As jobs grew and more important for this decision – we lost jobs because we did not have a Harrisonburg office location (this was the specific reason given by one client that did not hire us) we started looking for space. Our budget was small in the slow economy so I was using old desks from storage, shelving from my house, and paper print art work of past projects for the walls to decorate. We opened our first Harrisonburg office space in May 2009. It was nice office space with north light, but was small and hard to find. I started my blog, social media marketing, and volunteering to build our brand. Each First Friday we hosted a new artist in our space and had lots of visitors. We worked hard to establish our firm as the go to for healthy, energy-efficient, and durable design solutions in the valley. This is a reputation we had already developed in Central Virginia, but the valley market had less opportunity and less demand for these ideas and for architectural design in general. We spent two years in that small office space, enjoying our art openings and building a client base.
As time went on we needed to add staff and we needed a more professional space. So we found a new spot just up the street on court square in a building with other professionals. We still did not have outside signage, so finding us could be a challenge. The location was in the heart of downtown across from Jack Brown’s. There was an opportunity to have a private conference room and two offices. We upgraded some of our furniture, but the budget was still tight so we still had the same desks and shelving as before. It worked for our two person firm as I added an interior designer to my team in the valley. We were getting larger projects and building great relationships along with our brand awareness growing. The networking and blogging was working to establish our firm in the valley as a trusted and reliable source for design. This growth led us to grow our team again and our space was getting crowded again.
We started looking for available space with a focus of our attention on staying downtown. There were several options to be considered and each had obstacles to making it work. There was the old office building that had a mold issue. Then there was the incredible space that was just too much for us to renovate ourselves. Then there was the space that was just a little too small… I started to wonder if I could stay downtown. I had just one more option to look at on the outside edge of downtown.
As luck would have it, when I called Jim Monger to ask about The Depot he was ready to start a renovation project. We worked together to rezone the building to allow for professional office space, design the renovation, and apply for tax credits. Our work on the building started in March 2015. We hoped to finish in a year, but the tax credit process slowed us down a couple of times as we waited on a response to design options. The building had gone through a major fire and 20+ years of water damage. It was in rough shape, but it was perfect for our firm.
We figured out ways to make the building energy-efficient and comfortable. We started asking around to see who might want to share the second floor office space with us and had the floor full before construction began. The design started taking shape over the next few months.
The work took just over a year from our first visit in March of 2015. We moved in July 5, 2016 along with Herr and Company and Estland Design. The first floor space is almost ready to open and will be a Monger Building Supply Show Room. Our office furniture and shelving is no longer “what we had left over in storage.” It feels like a professional office finally. We had the opportunity to have our hands in the design from start to finish. The details are coordinated and work well together. It feels good to have a long-term home that we helped create.
It has been a lot of work and a long road to establish our firm in the valley. We started out with no clients and no reputation in a very slow economy. It has taken many hours of work to build to this point, to even survive to this point. However, I feel like we are becoming a resource for many in the community that are hoping to build a more sustainable future. This is the work that I want to do and the work that we are doing. So many people have helped us get here and I am very appreciative. However, I have to say, I am most appreciative today of the sign guy. It only took us 8 years, but we finally have a street sign so our clients have a better chance of finding our office.
We all have budgets – no matter how big or small the project, there is ALWAYS a budget. These budgets are always a discussion point during design and usually becomes a point of restriction in the project at some point. Clients often face conflict between what they want and what they want to spend. These challenges often feel like you are giving up part of your dream when resolved because budgets almost always win over wants. The real trick, the part that can be figured out in design, is how do you find the best value and maintain as close as possible – the dream?
Farmhouse laundry room
This minor distinction has a huge impact on the overall quality and success of a project. For example, if you decide to save some money on a lower cost flooring, often the quality of that flooring will equal a shorter life for the product. Or a little more technical, if you decide to save money on a lower cost heating and cooling system, often the efficiency of that system is lower and you will pay more every month for heating and cooling costs. In contrast, if you decide to use a box cabinet system for your kitchen vs a full custom option, the quality of the cabinet is generally the same and you have almost as many functional options with either approach. If you make your home a fraction smaller, you will probably not miss the space if the space is intentionally designed resulting in cost savings.
Fiberglass insulation
I have heard from several different people recently that years ago a short cut was taken on their building to save money and now they have to pay a fortune to fix the problem. Whether it was a heating and cooling duct system installed the least expensive way possible or a plumber cutting out joists to make his installation easier and less expensive – the fix is not cheap. Thinking about the long-term impacts of your short-term cost savings is critical when it comes to sustainable design. It often costs a little more to have an insulation company use a higher quality product and install it with care, but this gives comfort and energy-efficiency savings each day you live in your home. It costs a little more to think through the design before construction starts, but this always leads to savings as the builder knows what to expect and does not have to guess or modify things already done.
The interior brick walls along the stair that were once covered in black char from the 80’s fire have been scraped. The stairs have been rebuilt leading to the second floor.
Heading into the second floor, the window and door opening from the fire was preserved showing the fire damage.
Where there once was a hole in the floor, now there is a kitchen finished with Alberene soapstone counters and Wolf Cabinets.
