Let’s keep this real simple. It’s a container. As renowned building scientist Dr Joe Lstiburek says, “a building is an environmental separator.  Its job is to keep the outside out, and the inside in.” Your home divides in the inside from the outside.

Part 1 – The building enclosure (building envelope / building shell / skin.) It consists of the exterior walls, ceiling, floor, foundation, windows, and doors.  It is made better by air sealing and insulation.

Part 2 – The mechanicals (HVAC / engines.) It consists of heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment.  This equipment is often replaced in emergency situations, often oversized, and often single stage.

In a battle between the building enclosure and the mechanicals, the building shell always wins.  New mechanicals cannot compensate for a poorly designed and poorly built building.  Always do shell work before replacing HVAC equipment.  And for heaven’s sake, get an ACCA load calculation done that takes into account your blower door number!

1. 3,650 F. Your natural gas or propane furnace burns gas at 3,650 F. That’s a lot of extra heat just to get the air temperature to 72 F.
2. 27%. If 1% of your attic is uninsulated (like the attic hatch,) the entire attic insulation becomes less effective by 27%.
3. $1,856. The average U.S. household spends $1,856 on energy costs each year. 43% for space heating, 19% for water heating, 8% for space cooling, and 5% for lighting.
4. Factors. Thermal comfort at home is determined by temperature, relative humidity, and drafts…not just temperature.
5. D-. A house built “to code” is the worst house that you are legally allowed to build. It’s the bare minimum, a D-.
6. Plumbing. Ductwork, not duck work, is plumbing for air. If you are not okay with your plumbing leaking, then why are you okay with your air ducts leaking? Duct tape, ironically, is not for duct work.
7. Goal. The goal of home performance is not saving money, the planet, or making you more comfortable. The goal is control over your home. This is not about power, it’s about finesse. Houses need to be tuned.
8. It’s All Good. Insulation does not stop heat flow, it just slows it down. Different types of insulation have different abilities to slow down heat flow. All insulation is good so long as it is installed correctly.
9. Biggest Polluter. The kitchen range hood is by far the biggest cause of poor indoor air quality in a home.
10. Stirred Up. Vacuuming stirs up a large volume of dust particles. Circulate and clean the air in your home using the HVAC fan. At the very least, run your fan for a few hours after cleaning.
11. Silent Killer. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas with no color, taste, or odor. It is formed when incomplete combustion occurs. Low level CO monitors help protect you from being poisoned. Or get rid of gas appliances, like we did.
12. Not For Smells. The purpose of a bath fan is to expel moisture. Just as a chimney goes right above the fire, so too should a bath fan go directly above the primary source of moisture.
13. On Or Off. Most HVAC equipment is “single stage.” This means it’s either on at 100% or off (0%.) When taking a long drive in winter, do you oscillate the heat between full blast and off? Of course not. Avoid buying single stage equipment.
14. Service Fee. Your utility company charges you a monthly service fee for natural (methane) gas. It’s about $30/mo ($360/yr.) To avoid this fee, stop using gas. The utility can remove the meter, and your fees.
15. Mold. Mold is always a visual sign of a moisture problem. Stop the moisture, stop the mold. Do this in two ways. First, exhaust moisture sources (baths, kitchen range, dryer) directly outside the home. Second, air seal the home. Moisture gets transported into and out of a home predominantly through air leakage.
16. This Is Not Texas. Bigger HVAC equipment is not better HVAC equipment. Oversized equipment leads to uncomfortable homes and high utility bills. “Load calculations” must be done to accurately determine the amount of heating and cooling the home needs. Then, and only then, should you go find equipment that can match the load.
17. Unstoppable. Heat transfer is constantly happening in our universe. Our best efforts, insulation, only slow it down. Insulation is measured by how much it resists heat flow – thus “r-value.” Bigger numbers are better here.
18. Sources. We can generate electricity from a variety of sources like wind, hydro, solar, geothermal, biomass, splitting atoms, or burning fossil fuels. This diversity of energy sources increases our local and national autonomy.
19. 2,000 Gallons. Breathing dirty air is like drinking dirty water. Your home is a pool of air that is two to five times more polluted than outdoors. You breathe 22,000x/day, taking in 2,000 gallons of air.
20. Sealing Windows. Air flowing into or out of a house needs a pathway (hole) and a pressure gradient. The greatest pressure differential is at the top (attic floor) and at the bottom (rim joist) of the house. Because there are holes in these locations, that is where there is the most air leakage. Seal here first.

Here are some things to consider.

No horse in the race. Don’t ask the barber if you need a haircut. We are an independent consulting company who is not selling any product nor getting kick backs from contractors. Our goal is to tell you the what and why of your home concerns.

Diagnose first. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. We are not giving you just another opinion based on what we have seen in the past. All houses are different. We are not guessing. We are testing. Pre and post tests help to ensure accountability on work you pay to have completed.

Zoom out. Homes are a system of systems. What happens to one system impacts the performance of other systems. It’s a domino effect. Your typical contractor comes into a house to look at the component he sells or fixes. In contrast, we zoom out. We understand and test how systems relate to one another and contribute to the issues at hand.

Tools. We use high tech building performance testing tools to diagnose the house. We care about what it is doing – about how it is performing. We can tell you the root reason for the issue you are experiencing, and how to fix it. We don’t just give you another opinion.  Our opinion is backed up with testing data.  We don’t guess, we test.

We don’t fix it. We are not the contractor that you call to fix your house.  We don’t swing hammers, we don’t add insulation, we don’t modify ductwork.  Moreover, we are not salesmen. We don’t push any product, or steer you to a certain action. We test, educate, and offer options.

We are the doctor visit. You can’t walk into a pharmacy and get whatever drugs you want without first going to a doctor. While a the doctor he will perform testing so that you can be accurately diagnosed. You would never be given a prescription without an evaluation. We are the doctor visit for your house. We diagnose homes and give you a “prescription.”

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning. It’s the engines or machines of the house.

Your HVAC system is important because it conditions the air in your home.  It makes the air warmer and more humid in the winter, and cooler and less humid in the summer.  In a way, we can say that the air inside your home is expensive air.  You pay to have it at a certain temperature and relative humidity so that you are comfortable. 

Most HVAC replacements (>75%) are done when a system breaks and homeowners are in an emotional state of emergency.  Needless to say, high quality decisions are a unicorn.  Plan ahead, or replace your system before it quits.  

An HVAC design can tell you how much heating, cooling, and ventilation your home needs so that you get the properly sized system.  Additionally, the design can tell you what building shell work will have the greatest impact on reducing the heating and cooling load.  In other words, it will tell you what upgrades are worth doing.

Building shell work (air sealing, insulating) that is done before installing new equipment will often lead to smaller HVAC system that delivers better comfort and is cheaper.

To get your HVAC system designed right, you need to follow the four-step process laid out in the four ACCA manuals. At the very least, you should have an ACCA Manual J load calculation performed so you know the demands of the house.

Manual J – Load Calculation

The first step of a proper HVAC design is Manual J. This process helps figure out how much heat your house loses when it’s cold outside and gains when it’s hot. You analyze each room in the house separately to understand how much warm or cool air it needs. It considers things like the size of the walls, how well they’re insulated, which way they face, and where the windows and doors are. Other important factors include how tightly sealed the air ducts are, how much air leaks in from outside, what appliances you have, how many people live in the house, and where the house is located. The results tell you how much heat each room loses or gains, and this helps determine how much air conditioning or heating each room needs.

Manual S – System Selection

The second step of a proper HVAC design is Manual S. After figuring out how much air each room needs, the next step is picking the right equipment. Are you going to install an air conditioner, heat pump, furnace, or boiler? This decision is crucial, especially for forced air systems. Each type of equipment has its own abilities, like how much cool or warm air it can produce, how much air it can move around, and how much pressure it can handle. These details are important for what comes next.

Manual T – Terminal (Register) Selection

The third step of a proper HVAC design is Manual T. Once you know how much air each room needs for heating or cooling, you need to figure out how to spread that air around effectively. You want to make sure each room gets enough air to stay comfortable, based on the higher of the heating or cooling needs. Here are some questions to consider: Where should you put the vents that blow out the air? Where should the vents that suck air back in be located? What kind of vents should you use, and how big should they be?

Making smart choices here can prevent issues like feeling too breezy from the air blowing around or having uneven temperatures in the room. You might get enough air into a room, but if it just stays stuck near the vent, it won’t help much with comfort.

Manual D – Duct Design

The last step of a proper HVAC design is Manual D. Once you’ve figured out how much air each room needs, what kind of equipment you’re using, and where you’re putting the vents, it’s time to design the duct system. This means deciding where to put the main air handler, how far the ducts need to go, how many twists and turns they’ll have, and how much air they need to carry. The type of duct you choose is important too – metal ducts let air flow more easily than flexible or rigid fiberglass ones.

In simple terms, with Manual D, you’re trying to make sure the ducts deliver the right amount of air without causing too much resistance or pressure in the system.

Surprisingly, your car’s HVAC system is more advanced than your house’s HVAC system.  A single stage furnace can do at most 4 of the bullet points below.  Your car’s HVAC system can do them all.

• Heat
• Cool
• Load match – put out the exact amount of heating or cooling you need using the dial
• Dehumidify
• Ventilate (fan only)
• Bring in fresh air
• Keep fresh air out
• Direct air to certain areas of the car cabin using the rotating vents

• A typical furnace in Wisconsin burns a gas (methane or propane) which then releases heat that is distributed throughout the home.  A heat pump does not create heat by burning anything.  A heat pump only moves heat.  A heat pump moves heat from outside to inside in winter, and from inside to outside in summer.  So it heats in winter and cools in summer.  Think of a heat pump as a two way air conditioner.
• Because they do not create heat, heat pumps can be over 100% efficient.  The warmer it gets, the more efficient they become.  A 400% efficient HP is not uncommon.
• Heat pumps use refrigerant to transfer heat into and out of the home.  
• Heat pumps run on electricity.  
• Heat pumps become less efficient as temperatures get colder.
• You can purchase a “dual-fuel” heat pump which has a natural gas or propane back up for when it gets very cold.

No.

You are paying for an independent third party to give you an objective data-based diagnosis of your home. We are not selling any good or service beyond the diagnosis. We have no ulterior motives.

A “free” assessment that, for example, an insulation company offers you is not the same service that we provide. Also, it is likely that the cost of the “free” assessment is recovered in the price you pay for other goods and services from that company. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Lowest price: $389. Highest price: $1885+.

Each tier is a different price because of the time and equipment necessary to complete the testing and/or modeling. Generally, larger or more architecturally complex homes require more testing time and thus incur higher assessment costs. A 1907 Dutch Colonial is not the same as a 1986 ranch, and a 1500 square foot 3 bed/1 bath Cape Cod is different from a 5000 square foot 4 bed/4 bath lake home. All houses are different.

Additional fees will be applied for homes outside of our service area, larger homes, and homes with multiple furnaces, water heaters, heat pumps, or attics.

Some rebates are contingent upon a post inspection or the existing condition of your home. Detailed information is here.

• $675 – air sealing (post assessment required, must be combined with attic insulation and/or wall insulation)
• $525 – attic insulation
• $75 – foundation insulation
• $75 – sill box (rim joist) insulation
• $450 – wall insulation
• $150 – verified duct sealing (duct blaster test required before and after sealing)
• $200 – DIY attic air sealing & insulation (must follow M&I Standards, provide before/after photos)

No, simply because the state or federal government offers rebates and incentives doesn’t mean you’re automatically eligible to receive them. You must qualify based on factors like your income, the condition of your home, or both.

For instance, if you own a newer home that’s already well-sealed and insulated, the government won’t provide additional funds to further improve its energy efficiency. Your home must actually need these upgrades.

Each state and federal government program has its own specific requirements for qualifying for incentive money.

Before you get any work done to your home.

Slow down. Your first priority is to know your priorities. Then identify the best way to achieve your goals, and finally compare bids and get work done.

Frequently we assess houses that have just had expensive (20k+) and incorrect upgrades completed. This can be avoided. We encourage our clients not to throw money at an issue they don’t fully understand in hopes that it will fix something. Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.

Yes. We do hourly consulting on site and can do select tests based on your needs.

No. Nevertheless, it is highly advisable for homeowners to be at the house and easily accessible in case any urgent issues are discovered during the audit. Moreover, a post-assessment debrief provides an excellent opportunity to explain and visually demonstrate the identified home issues. This educational moment has proven to be valuable for homeowners, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of their home’s performance and potential improvements.