OPINION

KAREN MARTIN: Clearing the air in new, old houses

Karen Martin
Karen Martin

The guy sitting in front of me at a recent Quapaw Quarter Association Preservation Conversations lecture explains that a home energy assessment of his 1930s-era house revealed an interior humidity of 71 percent.

"That's really high," said Russ Craig, a Building Performance Institute building analyst with Home Energy RX Energy Efficiency Solutions. "Humidity is what makes us feel uncomfortable."

Craig is tonight's guest speaker; we find him wandering around outside the Paint Factory in Little Rock's East Village, where the gathering is being held, and help him get to where he's supposed to be. He's here to address the topic of winterizing houses--especially those of a certain age. His company specializes in home energy assessments and new home energy ratings that determine where energy is being wasted.

For those who live within Entergy and/or CenterPoint Energy service areas, the company's home energy audit is typically provided at no cost.

Fixing problems is not.

His presentation consists of a five-minute introduction of his company's range of services, then about 55 minutes of answering specific questions from the audience. Since most of them live in historic houses, they have plenty of problems to discuss.

I didn't think the subject of this gathering would be relevant to me--six months ago we moved into a brand-new energy-efficient house. But I go anyway, mostly for the fellowship, snacks, and a glass of wine. It turns out to be a fascinating discussion.

"Older houses are quite challenging to seal up," Craig said. "You should test duct work to see how much leaks out. The attic is where most leaking occurs. It takes a couple of hours to do an assessment. We can make a difference."

He takes the opportunity to knock the competition: "You see some atrocious things from heating and cooling people who have no business doing what they're doing. "

The most important areas of leakage are in attics and crawl spaces, Craig explains. "The more stories your house has, the more problems you'll have."

These three principles are key to solving energy problems within a house, he says:

  1. High temperatures move toward cooler temperatures (example: heat will enter the interior of a house through a fireplace if the flue is open).
  2. Moisture moves toward dryness.
  3. High pressure moves toward low pressure.

Back to the the guy with the 71-percent interior humidity (which means the air inside his home has a high moisture content). Levels between 35 to 45 percent are considered acceptable, Craig said. High moisture can damage a house (think mold, mildew, bacteria) and stuff that's in the house (like guitars, violins, pianos, and other musical instruments). It's not great for residents' health, either (increased risk of respiratory infections).

The goal of Home Energy RX, which was created in 2012, "is to transform the way homes are built and improve energy efficiency in existing homes" like the aforementioned house with high humidity, Craig said.

A home energy audit can include a test to measure whole house air leakage, another to measure duct system leakage, an assessment of attic and wall insulation, and development of a targeted energy plan and access to financial incentives offered through local utilities.

Fixes include insulation, air sealing, duct sealing and installation, crawlspace encapsulation (which provides better air quality and fewer critter problems), and spray foam application.

Weatherizing a historic building requires undertaking those measures in ways that have minimal impact on the historic building's design and materials, Craig said. For houses in historic neighborhoods, "Storm windows have the same effect as double-paned windows," which may not be allowed under historic district guidelines.

New construction can be problematic as well.

"New homes are being built as airtight as a submarine," he said. "All houses need a certain amount of air exchanges per hour. ... HVAC [heating, ventilation, and air conditioning] hasn't caught up; cooling units aren't sized properly. Builders are over-sizing AC units. That's causing lots of problems, lots of lawsuits."

His advice: Get a good AC tuneup, no matter the age of your home.

Our response: Glad we helped you find your way to the front of the room. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Karen Martin is senior editor of Perspective.

kmartin@arkansasonline.com

Editorial on 12/15/2019

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