THE BIG GREEN HOME MYTH AND THE REAL GREEN REVOLUTION; HOW TO SEPARATE FACT FROM FICTION: A lot of marketing hype (Fiction) and a lot of good stuff (Facts) have come to light due to the general public's recent interest in Green Homes.
Ten years ago when we talked about how energy efficient and maintenance free our homes were people kind of tuned us out.
Now they pay a lot more attention when we tell them all the great things that we can do to make their home energy efficient and lower its operating and maintenance costs.
The problem is that now that everyone has jumped on the Green Building band wagon it is hard separate the Facts (Good Stuff that is really going to make your home a lot more energy efficient and save you a lot of money) from the Fiction (Marketing Hype that is just trying to empty your wallet and will give you no or very little return on your investment).
FIRST OF ALL DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT YOU READ OR SEE ON TV.
WINDOWS: Advertisements claiming that your house is automatically not energy efficient if its windows are over ten years old are pure (Fiction).
The (Fact) is that high energy efficiency low maintenance windows that are just as good as anything made today have been available for well over ten years.
The question really is did your Home Builder do a quality job on your home to start with or did he use the cheapest labor and material that he could find when he built your home.
If he used a good quality window with a good energy rating then there is no reason to replace those windows.
So make sure that you really need new windows before you start shelling out money that may not make that big a difference in your energy bills.
HEAT & AIR: Claims that your home's heat and air system automatically needs to be replaced if it is a few years old are Fiction.
While it is true that major gains in the efficiency of heat and air units have been made in recent years, it is also true that if your home was built using the best equipment and installation techniques available ten years ago it is probably not cost effective to replace the system until it has lived its useful life.
By the same token if your unit is worn out and/or was a poor quality unit from the start this is an improvement that if done right, will pay for itself in a relatively short period of time and save you a lot of money over the years to come.
ROOFING: If your home is less than thirty years old and someone is telling you that you need a new roof, get a second opinion.
If your home was properly built using good quality roofing materials and they were properly installed the roof should last a good thirty years or more.
Instead of wasting money replacing a roof that that doesn't need replacing use that money to install thermostatic roof vents and really save some money on your heating and cooling bills.
The way that we determine the value of energy efficient home improvements is to make an estimate as to how long that they will take to pay for themselves and start putting money in your pocket.
For example, if the difference in cost between a top of the line high efficiency heat pump and a builder grade heat pump is two thousand dollars and that investment will save you a thousand dollars a year on your electric bill we are talking about a cost effective home improvement.
Better yet if spending a hundred dollars to replace all of the damaged or worn exterior door seals in your home will cut ten percent off of your heating and cooling bill every month that is a really cost effective home improvement.
The list goes on and on.
If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of this subject go to our web site.