Home Star....It makes sense!

  I am not a big fan of our political climate right now or the folks in charge. However, there is one stimulus program in the legislative pipeline that does make sense to me. Home Star is an expanded version of the current $1500 tax credit for doing energy renovations to your home.
  Home Star passed the house in May 2010 and has been in and out of repackaged legislation before the Senate for a vote. But, Republicans and some Democrats have been holding out because they want their pork too. The bottom line is this legislation is the first thing I've seen that makes sense in stimulating the economy. It allows homeowners to get up to 50% of a wide range of energy renovation projects back in an instant rebate up to $8,000.00. In addition, It's estimated to create over a 168,000 new jobs within 18 months of coming on line.    So, Home Star can put $6 billion dollars into homeowners hands over the next 24 months, lower their energy bills by 20-40% and create green jobs! What's other programs are doing this win win? any way you slice it money is getting back into the economy. For more information visit www.bpi.org see you next week!

Your attic could be costing you money!

   In my travels I see a lot of attics and the one thing they all have in common is the attic access. In Texas the attics for the most part are big enough to store boxes and Christmas stuff. The one thing most significant that folks don't realize is that access is one of the reasons the house or the room where it is located it hotter in the summer and colder in the winter.
 Most all attics I go into the access is missing insulation over it, this means energy leak big time! People ask me so how do I keep the insulation on the lid? I know every time you go into the attic it's a pain in the butt because the insulation gets in the way or when you close the lid it does not stay on or completely cover it. One way is to purchase a insulated cover, there are many types on the market some are like a tent that zipper open and close other are of a solid core insulated foam.
    A lot of people ask me about doing these things your self. I refer to it as DIY, which for some things around the house is fine. When it comes to simple things such as wasted energy most people think well if I seal all the holes I can find and pile up the insulation in the attic and install a access cover that will solve or a least make my home feel better and save me some money... right? to be very clear...WRONG!
 You can do more damage than good and in some rare cases put you and your family in danger if you seal your home up to tight and do not allow it to complete what is called air changes. I,ll save the danger side for another blog. In a nut shell have your home audited by a certified BPI or HERS auditor that uses a blower door test. This will pin point the leaks in your home both visible and non and true trouble spots including that attic access. What is great about these test is they also can give you a report of what is needed and where it is needed to make your home perform and be energy efficient. Stay tuned as I will be touching on more information about home energy performance in my upcoming blogs.

Saving Money with Energy Renovations

A good man law is saving money to keep the big boss happy! One way to do that is to make sure your castle is energy efficient. Energy renovation is the remodeling of your homes energy performance. The older a home gets the worst it performs thus using more energy. A home should be evaluated every 5 years for energy performance this should be done by a certified auditor using a blower door test to determine where the energy is going and can pin point the best methods to fix those leaks.
 I have seen as much as 40% cut from energy bills by having an audit and performing the recommended energy renovation work. 40% guys! that could equal a lot more date nights..which means you might get lucky!...and get to watch the game on Sunday cause the Big Boss is comfortable!! not to mention the extra cash means beer in the frig too!
Til next time!

Welcome to My Blog

So there are rules for being a man....I decided to write about some of them here.  We should be able to fix everything and never admit we don't know something.  I thought I might blog about some of these unwritten man laws.  Our code.  The rules we live by like:  Never ask for directions.  We are warriors.  We live by the...MAN LAW.

Image by joe-ks.com.