When you’re looking to solve issues with your home, especially around higher energy costs or heating and cooling, your first stop might be an energy audit. But if you want the full story of what might be wrong with your home, as well as addressing home comfort and air quality health issues, you should get a home evaluation instead. Learn the difference between an energy audit and a home evaluation before you commit.
1. A Home Evaluation Contains an Energy Audit
A home evaluation is a more exhaustive look at your home than an energy audit, but it also includes a full energy audit as part of the process. Home energy audits are a great way to learn about issues with your home, but they don’t tell the whole story, and acting on just the information they provide doesn’t mean your home will be issue-free. A whole home evaluation is a more comprehensive inspection, especially focusing on comfort and health.
2. A Home Evaluation Looks at Health & Comfort Issues
While an energy audit’s primary focus is on where energy is wasted with insulation issues, HVAC and appliance inefficiencies, and other places that can impact your utility bills, a full home evaluation focuses on both health and comfort issues as well.
- Home Health: We review conditions in the home that can make you and your family sick or contribute to chronic allergies, including potential mold growth, stale air, and overall air quality.
- Home Comfort: You shouldn’t be uncomfortable in your home. We review issues with air leaks, drafts, stale air, and humidity and provide solutions. The perfect home comfort is the one you’re not even aware of.
For more information, see our blog, What is the Whole Home Approach to House Health & Comfort?
3. Overlap in Technologies Used & Procedures
While an energy audit and a home evaluation look for different things, a lot of the same tools and procedures are used during the process. Thermal imaging, blower units, and the procedures of home performance experts can all be used not just for efficiency, but also for home health and comfort. The difference we look for is providing more solutions in both whole home ventilation and renovations that tackle more at once.
Home Evaluations in the St. Louis Area
At Greenmark Home Performance, we’re proud to offer complete home evaluations in the St. Louis area. Efficiency, health, and comfort are the pillars on which we base our business, and rest assured that at the end of our evaluations, we’ll provide a full report of our findings. This will include any issues we find, the data behind them, and our suggested next steps. Schedule your home evaluation today or call us at (314) 845-9144 to learn more.
