My goal in providing free energy audits has been to help people make their homes more comfortable, energy-efficient, and durable.
In 2016, I started offering free energy audits for anyone in the valley. I worked with HEC on those in the city of Harrisonburg to start with and on my own for those in the County. I wanted to help people understand their homes and businesses – the most complicated machines they will ever own. With the knowledge of how these machines run, these home and business owners (and many churches) could make changes to improve comfort, reduce energy, clean up indoor air quality, and make their homes more durable.
This morning I performed one of the last audits I will be able to do for some time – there’s just not time to run for office (www.hendricksforharrisonburg.com) and provide this service while being a single dad and business owner. Here are blog links that I hope will help you improve comfort and energy-efficiency without a full audit.
Molds can be found almost anywhere and can grow on most organic substances. They just need a moist area, a little oxygen, and it loves dark spaces. There are many types of mold and I have no basis to discuss which are toxic and which are not. We all react differently to different molds. It is also impossible to stop all mold and mold spores from existing in yourindoor living environment. The goal should not be mold clean-up, it should be controlling moisture in your spaceto prevent growth – then clean-up.
Most mold growth will occur from specific conditions – flood, roof leak, high humidity inside (unvented combustion appliances will encourage it), deferred maintenance, stagnant air, vented crawl spaces,leaks in duct work that is not insulated well, wrong sized HVAC systems, and almost always lack of proper ventilation. When mold growth happens in a space it can have health impacts on those occupying the space. However, it is very hard to tie health problems to a specific space, again, mold exists everywhere.
Some tips for clean-up that need to be followed after a moisture event are as follows:
Anything that has gotten wet needs to be dried within 24 – 48 hours, completely dried, or it should be removed not just cleaned.
Dehumidification should be used to keep humidity levels below 50% to dry out porous materials.
You should isolate the spaces while they are being cleaned to prevent cross contamination.
HVAC systems should not be operating during clean up.
Duct work should be cleaned as well as coils on the HVAC (the only EPA endorsed way to clean HVAC units that are contaminated is removal and replacement).
Proper ventilation should be installed and controlled by the HVAC system.
Cleanup recommendations from the EPA
The purpose of mold remediation is to remove the mold to prevent human exposure and damage to building materials and furnishings. It is necessary to clean up mold contamination, not just to kill the mold. Dead mold is still allergenic, and some dead molds are potentially toxic. The use of a biocide, such as chlorine bleach, is not recommended as a routine practice during mold remediation, although there may be instances where professional judgment may indicate its use (for example, when immune-compromised individuals are present). In most cases, it is not possible or desirable to sterilize an area; a background level of mold spores will remain in the air (roughly equivalent to or lower than the level in outside air). These spores will not grow if the moisture problem in the building has been resolved.
So, as you are working on cleaning up an area that has black stuff growing (again, I cannot tell you anything about mold so I will just say black stuff) make sure to take the proper health precautions during clean-up. Follow guidelines for removal of wet porous surfaces that are not dried completely quickly. Fix the cause of the problem, don’t just clean up the symptoms.
One of the most important things in life to achieve success is to surround yourself with honest hard-working people with a shared vision. This is critical not only in life, but also in construction. Having the right team in place for a complicated project with tight schedule goals the only way to deliver a complicated project on time and on budget. I absolutely think having an architect lead the planning process was critical (obviously I am biased). Our role has been to create base plans for everyone to work off of, establish the scope of problems that needed solutions, evaluate and offer solutions, and be a sounding board for client and contractors. We facilitated meetings, answered many questions, presented findings, offered advice, formed a team, and continue to process questions and information on a daily basis.
Including a mechanical engineer, Suter Engineering, and mechanical contractor, Excel HVAC, was a must to solve this building’s problems. Also, having the future general contractor on the design team also provided him time to be up to speed on the goals and challenges in advance of pricing the project. The pre-planning that was done with Herr & Co. during design also helped a lot also to set limits on construction to stay within budget. Jim and his team were able to walk the building, know the goals and challenges, and bring in the right team of experts to provide solutions. For instance, A-Able plumbing was able to solve a question about source of water infiltration in a basement wall – a pipe in the upstairs kitchen – prior to digging or rerouting on the exterior of the building. This put a plan in place prior to them showing up at the site saving time and money. Weaver’s flooringhelped guide the finish selections for flooring keeping us on budget and the right scope in play. We had lots of questions about durability and indoor environmental quality and they walked us through the best solutions. Mast landscapes and Maust Enterpriseshave been working together to efficiently remove landscaping that was in the way of new equipment or causing water issues. They have also worked together to provide needed drainage of rainwater away from the building. Someone has sent us plenty of rain so we could verify issues that needed to be addressed, thanks God. Valley Roofingcame through for us with a solution that gave the water protection I was looking for, but also saved the steeple that we had reluctantly planned to remove. Blosser lighting was able to find a solution to convert our existing (no longer available) sanctuary lights to LED. Copper Key has found and solved issues through the building to make us safer and to provide electric where it was needed for all our new heating and cooling systems. Schlabach drywallfound the most cost-effective high sound absorbing ceiling tiles to reduce the impact of changing carpeted spaces over to laminate flooring. I may have missed someone on the list. The point is we have a solid team of honest and hard-working folks making this project as smooth as possible. They are working in dirty conditions in a building with no air conditioning in the summer in Virginia. There have been no major tension and things have gone as smooth as can be expected on a construction site. Picking the right team was critical in this project as it is in all projects.
At this point, my volunteer work was becoming more than what I could give for a church renovation. I switched roles a bit and was hired as an architect to build a team of professionals to coordinate the design for our church renovation. We were given the air and surface test report which told us that almost all the duct work and heating / cooling units in the building had been compromised. Our team of designers started documenting all the leaks around the building. We not only had water coming in from the roof, but also leaking boiler pipes and water infiltrating the basement walls. We added Suter Engineering and Excel HVAC to our team to provide a solution to replace 100% of the heating and cooling systems. This solution would be a major expense, but the only method of treatment for mold that the EPA endorses is a full removal of the impacted equipment. We wanted to do all we could to solve this indoor environmental quality problem and it was a complicated solution. Suter and Excel were able to put together a plan and a budget to fix the mechanical systems in the building. They were also able to convert all heating / cooling systems to electric eliminating the need for natural gas for anything other than stove and water heating. This will allow our solar PV to supply most of our energy needs and for us to reduce our environmental footprint. While the mechanical system is the biggest part of the work that needed to be done, that is not the entire story for this church renovation.
Through the design process we were able to document almost all of the leaks and the causes. There were roof, flashing, and grade leaks / issues. There were gutter leaks and downspouts clogged. There were leaking boiler pipes and carbon filters. There were leaking drains and plumbing issues. From all the water issues in the building we also found drywall and insulation that needed to be replaced. One of the biggest, literally, problems we needed a solution for was our steeple was leaking. I presented the idea of removing it and adding a more traditional roof in place and to my surprise the congregation agreed to it. More on this decision later. The indoor fabric surfaces were impacted by mold growth and needed to be cleaned or replaced. This was also a good chance to update the warming kitchen and to add a needed family restroom. We added Herr and Co. to our design team. Bringing a contractor into the design phase is a good option to maximize the effectiveness of your team. They are able to guide and direct based on best practices in the field and to price the project as it is designed. They also offer a different perspective on solutions. This led to our ability to save the steeple!
Park View Mennonite Church is going through a church renovation. This project started several years ago and has developed into a major overhaul of systems in the building. It is complicated, expensive, and needs to be solved quick. Working on a church renovation means working for a committee or even several committees. This creates its own set of challenges.
So let’s go back to the start, at least the start where I joined the project. Soon after starting to attend Park View Mennonite Church I found “my people.” The creation care building committee welcomed me to their group and the work they had already started. One of the first conversations I encountered was about adding solar pv to the roof – I had really found “my people.” The goal of the committee work was to reduce our carbon footprint here in Harrisonburg. You see as a missions based church we want to help people around the world. It turns out that those most impacted by climate change are among the poorest in the world. Our actions locally and our energy usage locally impact them. Our goal on the committee was and is to reduce our carbon based energy usage as much as possible. The committee had already, before my involvement, done an energy-audit and insulated some of the biggest air leaks in the building. After I joined the committee we continued that work, added solar pv, and started replacing light bulbs with LED bulbs.
However, something was wrong in the building and it was becoming more and more clear it was time for a church renovation. The building was suffering from water leaks that had been occurring since the addition was added 26 years ago. It seemed each time we corrected a new leak that water would find a new path. Venture Builders repaired a failing basement wall that had water issues. We started a service contract to have a company clean out the gutters to keep water flowing in the right paths. We added a dehumidifier in the basement. Beck Builders adjusted a concrete slab that was draining water into a wall. We caulked, repaired, adjusted – but something was still wrong. We were trying to put a band-aid on a gash. Our work was not catching up to the problem and it was becoming clear that we needed more than just volunteers to coordinate the fix. We hired an expert to evaluate our indoor environmental quality and he provided an extensive report of all the issues we had in the building. It was time to start the church renovation.
Sometimes the little things in our homes aren’t designed at all. I have the opportunity on occasion to share my experiences with students from all levels – Kindergarten to Graduate Students. Recently, I was invited to the Department of Energy to talk building science with graduate student interns spending their summer at the DOE. The room was full of determined and intelligent future leaders. Only one of them had a background in architecture / building science / sustainability. So how do I offer a presentation that is relevant to a group with no knowledge of my industry? I honestly was not sure. I started looking at how the industry has changed in the 20 years I have been in it. In January of 1999 there was almost no home technology being used outside of surround sound in a home theater. Now Google Assistant can call to make you a hair appointment and the salon does not know they are not talking to a human.
Alexa can adjust my thermostat, turn off lights, and turn on white noise in the background when I am going to bed.
These are huge jumps in technology and impact how we want our homes to operate. More important in an energy-efficiency discussion – we keep adding electric demand in our homes that we need to be able to supply. So in this technology driven age what does it mean to be sustainable? In a technology age where clients have access to touch screens to see their home performance, how do you provide solutions that meet their HGTV expectations? What is the balance between energy-efficient, indoor air quality, durability, and affordability? How do you define sustainability – green rating certification or energy usage or healthy?
I used specific projects that I have designed to talk about this idea of “green.” Is a home designed to be carbon neutral “green?”
It has green elements certainly, lots of them, but is it affordable? Does it need to be affordable to be sustainable?
What about a Dairy Queen that is more energy-efficient than other fast food restaurants?
It has solar PV on the roof, reduces water usage, includes day-lighting strategies, and has 100% LED lighting. It checks many of the boxes for a “green” building. Reducing operating costs adds to profit and success. So is it “green.”
Rotted wood wall
We then moved the conversation to things I find in building that are common issues in building science. For instance, a garage inside the envelope of your living space – meaning not detached has a huge impact on indoor air quality. A vapor barrier in a wall system in our mixed humid climate can destroy a building in under 30 years.
It is interesting to present to a young group that grew up with all this technology around them. They are not impressed with the newness of it all – they just want to know how it works and how to use it to future benefit. If you can now 3D print your Christmas toys for the kids, will Target survive? If you can use virtual reality to tour a historic home – will you still see it in person? If you want to live in a luxury home, can that be 3D printed by a robot and you use virtual reality to transform your home into the style you want at any given moment? Maybe that is jumping too far ahead, but the options exist. We are now today seeing homes printed. We are seeing robots replace jobs that people used to perform in construction with higher levels of accuracy. The world is changing quickly, with little things and big steps every day. However, building science remains a constant. We have to understand how all this technology being used in homes will impact our energy demand, our building operations, and quality of life. Building science is so often left out of residential design. We allow our homes to waste energy that we have to pay for monthly. We are ok with poor indoor air quality because we have medicine to make us well again. We don’t mind using too much water because we have plenty. This is not sustainable. There are little things that make your home better – please do them. I hope that message resonated with the students and with my readers.
Here are some little things to make your home better:
