Answer
May 05, 2020 - 05:17 AM
Here are some tips you can follow easily. The following is by no means a comprehensive list.
1. If you use natural gas for heating, your gas supplier, National Grid, sends you a monthly report that compares your gas use with other similar homes in your area. Although it is a rough measure, you will learn from that report whether your home is like the average in that respect, lower or higher. It is a useful first approximation.
2. Recessed lights on the floor below an unfinished attic create large air leaks unless encased in unique insulating covers.
3. Check if your windows and doors are drafty in winter.
4. Touch the external walls when the weather outside is cold. If they feel cold, you probably have too little insulation in the walls or no insulation at all.
5. If your unfinished attic is warm in the winter, you are losing heat from the interior of the house. You most likely need better insulation on the attic floor.
6. You can do another useful test in the winter after a snowfall. Look at your roof: if the snow melts faster than on your neighbors' roofs, you can be sure that you are losing heat from the interior of the house. The formation of large icicles is also a sign of inadequate roof insulation.
7. The best way to evaluate your home’s energy efficiency is to take an infrared picture of your house from the outside at a time when the temperature outside is very different than inside.
8. To know more about your house's energy efficiency, you should schedule a free home energy assessment through MassSave.
