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Hidden Mold Can Be Harmful to Your Health

Welcome to On the Job Episode 74! In this episode we will discuss yet another side effect of running leaky ducts through an unconditioned, vented attic: mold.
The second most common trigger of indoor allergy symptoms in the U.S. is mold. It will grow everywhere in your home that possesses the three main conditions in which it thrives: warmth, high humidity and presence of organic matter for mold to feed on.
A vented attic, with leaky ducts just happens to provide the perfect environment for mold growth, as Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver shows us in this video.
He takes to a home in the Northeast where hot air leaking out of the ducts and condensing all over the cold attic surfaces led to a bad case of mold on the wooden roof deck. If the leak persists, the mold will keep growing and the roof deck will start to decay, eventually affecting the structural integrity of the roof.
To make matters worse, the air that began leaking into the attic is air that the homeowner paid to heat. It is now being wasted through ducts. By sealing and insulating the ducts and air sealing the attic, he completely isolated the living area from this unconditioned space. This method used by Dr. Energy Saver, will not only prevent future mold growth in the attic, but it will also make the rooms below the attic more comfortable and the entire house more energy efficient.

Sealing Ducts to Prevent Mold in the Attic

Welcome to On the Job Episode #73! In this episode, we will discuss the impact of leaky air ducts in the attic on the total rate or air leakage in a home.
Many of our On the Job videos explore the energy consumption and comfort problems caused by ducts that run on unconditioned attics.
We also have videos that explain the way air moves inside a building, the pressure differences between the bottom, top, and middle levels of the structure, and how air leakages in the attic have more of an impact on energy consumption than air leakages in the living, or conditioned spaces.
The air that leaks through air ducts in the attic is air that you pay to heat and cool throughout the year. This is air that is not getting to the rooms that it needs to heat and cool.
The test in the video will show that even when the air handler is not running, air from the conditioned space is still escaping through the ducts.
Exactly how much air escapes?
With the help of a blower door test, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, will test a home with unsealed air ducts in the attic, and then run the same test again after the ducts are sealed.
With no other air sealing work performed, the results show that in this particular home, the leaky ducts alone counted for 8% of the total air leakage.
How much air is leaking through ducts in your home? How much more comfortable would be the rooms in your home with this simple and affordable improvement? How much would you save in energy bills? Contact a Dr. Energy Saver dealer in your area today to find out!

How Sealing Attic Ducts Reduces Total Home Air Leakage

In Episode 72 of the “On the Job” video series, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, speaks about a problem that is common during cold winters: ice damming on the roof. While ice dams don’t happen very often, when icicles do appear on the edge of the roof, the consequences can be disastrous. Ice dams occur after snow storms when heated roof shingles cause the snow to melt and the outside temperatures are cold enough to freeze dripping water at the edge of the roof, forming an ice barrier.When that happens, the water from the melting snow gets trapped behind the icy wall and usually finds its way into the house, through the gaps between the shingles. The water not only can damage the roof itself, but it can also leak into the attic and into wall cavities, causing extensive damage to the home. What causes ice damming and what are the ways to prevent it? Larry explains that, while not all ice damming can be prevented, in many instances, the ice dams are a tell-tale sign of a poorly insulated and air sealed home – especially in the attic area. It means that heated air is escaping from your living space into the attic and heating the roof. Most attics in U.S. homes are unconditioned, meaning, the attic is not part of the heated, conditioned living space. The air that you pay to heat should not be escaping to the attic. By properly air sealing all the gaps that allow air to leak out, and by bringing attic insulation R-Value up to 60, as recommended by the U.S. Department of Energy for homes in the cold regions of the U.S, you will keep the heat where it belongs: inside your living space. The temperatures in the attic will be similar to the outside temperatures and the shingles are less likely to be heated and cause snow melt. While making your home more comfortable and energy efficient, in many cases, this will also help alleviate ice damming problems and protect your property from damages caused by ice dams. Please note that ice damming can occur due to other circumstances such as sun heat on the shingles. Monitoring your roof after snow storms, removing some of the snow from the roof, and other preventive measures might still be necessary even if your attic is properly air sealed and insulated.

How to Prevent Ice Damming in Fox Valley Area

In Episode 71 of the On the Job Video series, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, walks us through the attic of a home in Connecticut that had been previously insulated by another contractor to illustrate common mistakes being perpetrated by many insulation contractors across the country.
The owners of this home had serious comfort issues, with uneven temperatures around the house and rooms that were just drafty and hard to heat. They called contractors from the state energy program for help. After a quick energy audit, the contractors informed the homeowners that they would benefit from additional attic insulation -- and the contractor was then hired to add inches of blown fiberglass to the attic.
After the work was performed, however, the home was still just as uncomfortable as it was before. That is when they decided to call in Dr. Energy Saver and find out what went wrong. After performing a blower door test, Larry and his team realized that there was a significant amount of air leaking in and out of the house, greatly impacting comfort and energy savings.
Sure enough, when Dr. Energy Saver’s technicians inspected the recently insulated attic they found out that no air sealing was performed in the area. The only way to stop cold air from leaking into a house and making it uncomfortable is to stop heated air from leaking out – and since heated air rises, it usually leaks out of the upper levels of the house. The smallest gaps in the building, such as those around pipes and wires, lights, bathroom fans, duct chases and other ceiling fixtures, can amount to huge leakages. Blown fiberglass does nothing to stop air leakages. The air flows right through it.
It is, therefore, very important to thoroughly air seal the attic completely before applying insulation. In this case, Dr. Energy Saver had to vacuum all the fiberglass insulation out of the attic just to be able to access the areas that needed to be sealed. After air sealing the attic, a new blower door test showed that they were able to reduce overall air leakage by 20%. After that, new plywood dams were built to contain the new cellulose insulation, which has a higher R-Value per inch than fiberglass. This brought the R-Value of the attic insulation up to U.S. Department of Energy’s recommended levels for the Northeast.
According to Larry, installing attic insulation without air sealing is malpractice, yet it is a very common practice among contractors because homeowners aren't always aware of the problem. We hope this video will help homeowners across the U.S. make informed decisions when it comes to improving comfort and energy efficiency in their homes.
LeafGuard proudly serves the greater Fox Valley areas including Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Neenah & De Pere.

Attic Insulation Done Wrong... and How to Do It Right!

Welcome to the 70th episode of “On the Job”! In this episode, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, takes us to the attic of a colonial home in Newtown, CT to speak about mold in the attic. Mold problems are quite prevalent in many conventionally insulated, unconditioned attics in the northeast – and in virtually any area of the country where winters are cold and houses are heated. In this particular home in Newtown, the problem is so widespread that it is possible to see the dark mold stains all over the wooden surfaces. Such a wide infestation may eventually cause wood decay and compromise the structural integrity of the roof, but it also raises serious health concerns for the family living in that home. What causes mold problems in the attic? As Larry will show, the problem begins with lack of proper air sealing. Heated air – the air that you pay to heat your home – rises and leaks into the unconditioned attic through all types of gaps, such as holes around pipes and wires, canned lights, unsealed attic hatches, and bathroom fans that vent into the attic instead of the outside. During the winter, an unconditioned attic is usually just as cold as the outside, and so are the roof and wooden structures. When heated, humid air infiltrates the freezing cold attic, it will cool down and per each degree it is cooled, relative humidity rises 2.2%, often bringing the RH levels in the attic up to 100%, at which point condensation occurs all over the cold surfaces.The wood will soak the moisture and create the perfect conditions for mold to develop.In this particular attic, the condensation problem is so significant that the nails used to secure the roof shingles began to rust and drip all over the attic. The only effective way to stop mold from developing in the attic is to properly seal all the gaps and holes. This will help to keep heated air in the conditioned areas from escaping into the cold attic.As it happened in this home, most builders and the typical insulation contact or will not air seal the attic before installing the insulation. That is malpractice because even if R-values are up to recommendations, common attic insulation materials such as fiberglass bats, blown fiberglass or blown cellulose, will only prevent heat from the ceiling from transferring to the attic. It will not stop air flow. Air will leak right through the insulation. An energy efficient attic is the most important component of an energy efficient home. If your home has mold in the attic or if your heating and cooling bills are too high or even if you worry that your attic is not properly insulated visit our website or give us a call to schedule a free evaluation and estimate.

Mold in the Attic

Fifty years ago, before central air conditioners became the norm for cooling US homes, whole house fans were used for that purpose. Installed on the uppermost levels of the house, they were actually big exhausters, which would suck hot air from inside the house and into the vented attic, causing air from the outside to be sucked in through open windows and doors.
The reason why whole house fans became obsolete is that they don't allow homeowners to really control the temperature or comfort inside the house -- like they can do with air conditioners. If the outside air is too hot and muggy, that is the kind of air that will be brought into the home.
Nevertheless, many homes in the U.S. still have whole house fans installed -- and whole house fans represent a big gap in the building envelope, and can become a huge source of energy waste during the winter.
Because of a physics phenomenon known as the

Sealing and insulating a Whole House Fan

The average home in the U.S. consumes 2 to 3 times more energy than needed, mainly because of insufficient insulation and lack of proper air sealing. These building envelope deficiencies are usually originated during construction. Whether it is a home built many years ago, when energy prices were not a concern, or a house that was just built, you are bound to find the same types of problems -- unless the builder is trained in green building practices and the house is

Insulating A Bay Window Sill

In episode 66 of the On the Job video series, Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, is back to once again talk about the energy waste problem created by HVAC ducts that run through an unconditioned attic.
The energy penalties in these cases are so significant that Larry had previously dedicated an entire episode to discuss this problem -- the

Ducts in an Attic

Welcome to episode 65 of the On the Job Series! In this segment, Tanner Janesky from Dr. Energy Saver makes his video debut by walking us through the 8 steps necessary to successfully install an airtight David Lewis attic hatch cover.
As discussed in previous On the Job videos, the average home in the U.S. wastes a lot of energy through the attic. As the heated air in the conditioned space rises, it seeks to escape through any gaps on the upper levels of the building -- especially the unconditioned attic. This is why it is very important to air seal any gaps between the living space and the attic, and the attic hatch is usually a major source of air leakage.
There are three main criteria that define a properly installed hatch cover. First, it needs to stop air flow from the living space into the attic. Second, it is important to keep in mind that the attic will eventually need to be accessed by the homeowner, especially if it houses ducts and other appliances or if the space is used for storage. The hatch cover needs to be easy to remove and replace as well. Finally, it needs to look nice and neat, since the homeowner will be using it periodically.
The following are the eight steps necessary to successfully install a David Lewis hatch cover, as shown in the video:1. Assemble the hatch cover2. Air seal the hatch cover3. Install weather stripping at the bottom of the hatch cover4. Position it over the opening downstairs.5. Check for gaps on the bottom of the hatch cover 6. Make the necessary adjustments to level the super deck so that there are no gaps between it and the hatch cover.7. Install furring strip guides over the super deck, so that the cover can be easily lifted and returned to its proper place.8. Air seal any additional gaps around the hatch cover and on the super deck, to prevent air flow from the conditioned area into the attic.
As an additional step, bungee cords can be installed on the hatch cover and attached to the super deck to help secure it in place, pressing the weather stripping against the surface of the super deck to create a tighter seal.
For more videos on how to make your attic and home more energy efficient, watch other On the Job Videos and subscribe to our YouTube Channel for the latest updates!

How to Install an Airtight Hatch Cover

Your house is supposed to protect your family from the weather and extreme temperatures. Yet, if your home is too hot during the summer and too cold during the winter, it is not doing its job.
Millions of families in the U.S. suffer through the seasons with uncomfortable homes and high utility bills, simply because they believe it is too expensive to fix, or they don’t know how.
In fact, you can fix your home, make it more comfortable, and lower your energy bills with work that pays for itself – and the answer can be summed up in two words: energy efficiency.
If your house is not an effective barrier against the outside temperatures, the money you spend in heating and cooling is being wasted, leaking out through openings in the building envelope, or being lost through poorly insulated attics, walls, and foundations.
Unfortunately many homeowners are led to believe that their home can be made energy efficient simply by replacing the windows, but that is not the way it works.
Homes are complex systems, and there are many pieces of the puzzle that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to achieving true energy efficiency.
That’s where Dr. Energy Saver comes in. We have helped thousands of homeowners across the U.S. fix their homes with a whole house approach to energy savings. On average, the work we perform usually pays for itself in only four to six years by significantly lowering fuel and electricity costs. Depending on where you live, you can enjoy a 15 to 25% annual rate of return on your investment.
Dr. Energy Saver work starts with a thorough evaluation of your home, to understand how energy is being wasted in the first place. Most energy waste problems have three main causes: an inefficient heating and cooling system that consumes too much fuel and electricity to produce results, inefficient and leaky ductwork, and heat loss and gain through improperly insulated and leaky building envelope.
Heat commonly gets lost through floors, walls, ceilings, attics, chimneys, framing holes, can lights, fireplaces, cantilevers, and rooms over garages, just to name a few sources.
Dr. Energy Saver solves these problems by sealing the major leaks, creating a blanket of insulation around the living areas of your house, and upgrading your heating and cooling systems. Outside air stays out, inside air stays in. That is energy efficiency.
Once the cost of fixing your home is paid for in energy savings, you’ll still enjoy the same savings year after year!
Now think about this: unlike other home improvement projects, you are paying the equivalent cost of fixing the problem because you are overpaying for heating and cooling. So you might as well fix it.
Join the thousands of homeowners who are already enjoying more comfort and energy savings in their homes. Contact a Dr. Energy Saver dealer in your area today!
LeafGuard proudly serves the greater Fox Valley areas including Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Neenah & De Pere.

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