I have to admit I love Mid-Century Modern architecture and I feel very fortunate to get the chance to work on this fabulous house.
Built in 1958 by famous Texas architect O’Neil Ford, this home is one of the architectural gems in Dallas. It has been kept in great shape over the years and all repairs and upgrades were done in a way to preserve the architectural integrity of the home itself. This has its pros and cons, especially when it comes to energy efficiency. At 4,678 sqft the home is an energy hog…. so the homeowners have enlisted EGC Custom Homes to come up with a game plan how to make this beautiful residence more energy efficient without destroying the architectural integrity.
Our first course of action will be to perform a home energy audit. Besides the very obvious sliding doors with no weatherstripping, numerous open roof penetrations, single pane glazing and a very old and outdated HVAC system – this audit will show us the actual performance of the home based on scientific measurements and calculations. The resulting report will establish a so called HERS (Home Energy Rating System) index.
The HERS Index is a scoring system established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). It establishes a scale in which a home built to the specifications of the HERS Reference Home (based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code) scores a HERS Index of 100, while a net zero energy home scores a HERS Index of 0. The lower a home’s HERS Index, the more energy efficient it is in comparison to the HERS Reference Home.
Each 1-point decrease in the HERS Index corresponds to a 1% reduction in energy consumption compared to the HERS Reference Home. Thus a home with a HERS Index of 85 is 15% more energy efficient than the HERS Reference Home and a home with a HERS Index of 80 is 20% more energy efficient.
A home energy audit is performed by trained and licensed home energy raters. EGC works with one of the best companies in the Dallas Metroplex – Tex Energy Solutions. As part of the audit, the rater creates a plan of the home and assesses several vital parts of the structure, such as thickness of the walls, insulation, age and efficiency of the HVAC system, percentage of glass compared to solid walls etc etc etc. In addition to that, the raters perform a “blower door” test and a “duct blaster” test. These tests measure the air loss and infiltration of the home itself as well as that of the duct system.
After all of these tests and assessments are completed, the results and values are entered into a computer and specialized software calculates the HERS index. Based on these calculations the rater can then make specific recommendations on how to best improve the energy efficiency of the home. These recommendations are then discussed with the homeowner and EGC Custom Homes performs the work. But it doesn’t stop there. Any serious remodeling contractor or home builder should then perform and “out” test. Essentially it is the exact same audit as before – except it is done AFTER the work has been performed. Why is this important you ask? Iit is important because we can then provide measured and certified results of the improvements to our clients. Example: Before we did the retrofit your HERS index was 108 – after we performed the work the HERS index is now 82 – A measured 26% improvement.
This home will be challenging, but challenging projects are what we live for. If you are interested in the process and the outcome, check back soon – I will be posting several more videos and blog posts detailing the testing, our findings and the actual energy retrofit work we will perform.
Article written by:
Marc Kleinmann