What is a Home Energy Retrofit?

A Home Energy Retrofit is the process of improving the Energy Efficiency, Comfort, Affordability, and Durability of your home. Here in Missoula, Montana, we have a cold and challenging climate that can make it very expensive to heat a home through the winter if it not energy efficient. Sometimes we can tell just by looking at it exactly what is needed, but many times the first step is for us to perform an Energy Audit on the home.

About Energy Audits.

An Energy Audit is a type of home inspection that tells us where your using and losing energy and what needs to be done to fix the problem. CLICK HERE if you’d like to read more about our Energy Audit Services.

The Home Energy Retrofitting process.

Once the Energy Audit is complete we can formulate a plan for how to give you the best improvement in Energy Efficiency, Comfort, and Durability plus the best value for your money. The next step in the total Home Energy Retrofit could be any one or a combination of the following services:

• Air-sealing improvements – air leaks in the building envelope can be a huge source of wasted energy. We can find them and fix (most of) them to (sometimes they are in completely inaccessible places).
  
• Insulation upgrades – adding R-value to your attic, walls, floors, crawl-space and/or basement can be a very cost-effective way to lower your utility bills.
• Furnace Replacement – many older furnaces are in the 80% efficient range. The new ones that we install are typically in the 92-95% range. This can amount to substantial energy savings.
• Heating and Cooling System upgrades - often-times ductwork is poorly installed and systems are out of balance or just not working correctly. Fixing these issues can greatly improve the comfort and energy performance of your home.
• Ventilation – our Energy Audits often uncover problems with ventilation equipment such as range hoods, bath fans, and even dryer vents that aren’t working properly. Fixing these things ensures that unpleasant and potentially harmful contaminants are removed. We also install Heat Recovery Ventilation systems that can supply your home with constant fresh air without losing heat.
• Window Replacement - old windows are often one of the biggest causes of wasted energy and uncomfortable spaces in homes. We can replace those old, cold, leaky, drafty, energy suckers with beautiful, new, warm, and cozy windows that actually work.
• Crawl Space Improvements – crawl spaces are very often damp, nasty, spider infested, energy wasting, scary places. We can fix all of that and convert your crawl space to a clean, dry, and healthy asset to your home.
• Attic Upgrades – attics are often the place where the most cost-effective energy savings can be found because a) there is often a lot of heat lost through poor insulation and air-sealing in the attic, and b) they are typically easy to get to for making improvements.

If you click on any of the links above you can read more about our Missoula, Montana, Home Energy Retrofit Services. Or please email us with any questions you may have using the “Contact Us” form in the upper right hand corner of this page. Or call us at (406) 721 2741 and we’ll be happy to discuss your needs.