As houses age, utility bills rise, and homeowners spend more time indoors, home performance experts, energy auditors, and home renovation contractors are moving toward a whole home approach to addressing the issues of home health, quality, and efficiency. What this means is that when you work with experts in the home performance field, they’ll provide holistic solutions that address the root causes. What does that look like in practice? Let’s dive in.
The Three Parts of the Whole Home Approach
The whole home approach to home performance isn’t just about energy efficiency; it’s about making a home that’s more comfortable and healthier than your current one. As part of a home evaluation, experts will inspect your home for issues related to the following.
Home Health
It is essential that your home does not make you sick or contribute to chronic conditions. The biggest contributing factor to this is a home’s air quality: the amount of harmful particulates in the air of your house. These include
- Dust & Allergens: Dust builds up in a home, especially in ducts or HVAC systems that aren’t regularly cleaned. This, combined with allergens not properly filtered out, can contribute to chronic allergies.
- Mold & Gases: Mold can build up in areas of your home with moisture and temperature issues. Off-gassing can occur from improper seals, failing devices, and from household products. They need to be cleaned up and properly vented.
- Stale Air: If air isn’t circulating and being exchanged with outdoor air, it becomes stale and accumulates more pollutants. Ensuring your ventilation system properly exchanges air is vital.
Whole home ventilation is recommended when feasible for your home to dramatically reduce indoor air quality issues.
Home Comfort
The perfect home comfort is the one you’re not even aware of. A lack of hot or cold spaces in your home, no issues with drafts, stale air, or humidity: this is a sign of a home with great ventilation and insulation. To get your home to this stage, there are many systems that can work together, such as air sealing, replacing and supplementing insulation in attics, crawl spaces, and basements, and improving room-to-room air circulation.
Home Efficiency
Higher utility bills and HVAC systems that are constantly running can be signs of home efficiency issues. Typically identified during an energy audit, issues with current appliances, systems, insulation, and air leaks can all contribute to rising energy bills. Renovations to address insulation issues, use more efficient ENERGY STAR appliances, and upgrade HVAC systems can all lead to long-term lower costs.
The Whole Home Approach in St. Louis
Here at Greenmark Home Performance, we firmly believe in the whole-home approach, starting with a home evaluation, identifying all areas for improvement, and crafting a ventilation and home renovation plan that addresses these issues and more. Learn more about us and reach out to us today to get started: give us a call at (314) 845-9144 or fill out our contact form. Talk to you soon!
