Building Energy Contracting

Simple changes—switching to compact-fluorescent bulbs, lowering your thermostat setting in the winter, and servicing your heating system regularly—will help reduce energy consumption. The real key, though, is a whole-house energy-efficiency plan. Even a top-of-the-line power-saving furnace will waste a lot of fuel if the ducts, walls, attic, windows, and doors in your home are not properly sealed and insulated. 

 

Building Performance Contracting focuses on many aspects of the building, from the building shell to ventilation to heating systems, and focuses on the house as a system of interconnected systems.  Using principles of building science, we aim to make recommendations that take into account the interactions between the systems of a house in order to optimize comfort and efficiency.  Our Building Performance Contracting services are used by utility companies in New Hampshire, general contractors for new construction or renovations, architects, and private homeowners.  We are also general contractors for new homes, additions and renovations.  Our goals are to increase the comfort and energy efficiency of homes by evaluating air leakage, insulation, moisture, ventilation, and combustion safety. 

 

Making an investment in the energy efficiency of your home reduces the cost of heating and cooling your home today, and helps to buffer the costs of higher fuel prices in the future.  

 

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Air Sealing and Insulating

​​​Air sealing is one of the most important things you can do to make your home more energy efficient.  Warm air leaking into your home during the summer and out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your energy dollars.  One of the most cost-effective ways to improve efficiency is to add insulation in your attic, but even something as simple as sealing windows with weather-stripping and caulk can help lower energy bills. Sealing and insulating your home’s entire envelope (outer walls, ceiling and roof, windows, doors, and floor) could cut heating and cooling costs by around 20 percent.

 

​Sealing up the leaks in your attic not only helps to prevent heat loss through the attic, it also prevents cold air from leaking into the basement in the winter.  Sealing air leaks can also help keep out dust and pests, and can help reduce ice dams, which are the result of heat loss through the attic.  It is very important to air seal and attic before insulating to insure the highest efficiency in insulating.

 

Air sealing at attic is done before additional insulation is added.  Once the major sources of attic air leakage have been sealed up, we can install insulation to add insultion value to the attic.   It is very important to insulate and weatherstrip the attic hatch, and to consider attic ventilation.