There are many ways to improve the home you live in. As homeowners, we’re constantly thinking about the small and large changes we can make to our houses that will improve our lives. Many forms of home improvement are based around adding things to your home, from a coat of paint to a remodeled bathroom. But what is home performance? Home performance focuses on making your home more energy efficient, comfortable, and healthier for you and your family.
Home Performance: Improving Where You Live
In short, home performance is a form of home improvement that focuses not on the amenities that a remodel or renovation might bring but on making existing systems perform the best possible along three key axes:
- Energy Efficiency: Reducing home-related costs in the form of lower utility prices and less maintenance or replacement of systems.
- Comfort: Making your home the temperature you want, when you want it, regardless of what room you’re in or season it is.
- Health: Improving the health of you and your family by dealing with home hazards, especially air-quality impactors like mold and dust.
We talk about this more in our blog, What is the Whole Home Approach to House Health & Comfort?
How It Works: Targeting Home Systems
Home performance is about identifying issues with the various systems your home is comprised of and addressing them with targeted solutions. These typically include:
- Home Exterior: The barrier or building envelope that separates the exterior from the interior, which includes siding, windows, doors, roof, and more. Repairs and replacements to these features may be needed to keep them performing at their best.
- Insulation: Keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter, insulation ideally surrounds your home. Inspection of current insulation and replacement or additions—especially in the attic or basement—may be needed.
- Heating & Cooling: Your heating and cooling systems, typically including a full HVAC system or separate systems like a furnace and window-mounted AC units. Making sure these are maintained, dealing with underlying issues, and looking at replacement if necessary with more energy-efficient models.
- Ductwork: Inspection of the ductwork to make sure there are no issues, such as mold growth or dust build-up. Cleaning the ducts, performing sealing, and adding new ductwork to support improved ventilation where it is needed.
- Air Leaks & Air Quality: A home evaluation may uncover issues such as hot and cold spots where air leaks out of the home, as well as air quality problems. These are solved with air sealing and ventilation solutions.
These are closely related to the US Department of Energy’s whole-house systems definitions, which look at major factors that impact homes and their energy efficiency.
When Do You Need Home Performance?
Typically, we see homeowners reach out to a home performance expert when they encounter an issue. This could be something like a continual rise in utility costs year over year, an unpleasant persistent odor, or life changes that make you concerned about air quality, such as children, the elderly, or respiratory conditions. All homes, especially older ones, should get an evaluation by a home performance expert if you haven’t gotten one since you moved in.
St. Louis Home Performance Experts
At Greenmark Home Performance, we believe the best home performance starts with a home evaluation that combines an energy audit and air quality screening to diagnose your home’s issues fully. Then, we’ll work with you to create a plan to tackle any and all issues so your home is more energy efficient, healthier, and more comfortable than ever. Contact us today to get started or call us at (314) 845-9144.
