Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Home Comfort and Performance: Myths, Expectations--Don’t Worry, We Can Help

Just because your home was, or may have been, built to code standards whenever it was built does not mean that those standards had your family’s best interest in mind. It's more than likely there is a room or a space in your home that you have no intention of ever going into by choice. Crawl space? Attic? Basement? “Bonus” room? No, thanks! You know there is something wrong, but you don’t really know, or don’t want to know, what may be causing it. It may be too hot, too cold, too musty, too stinky, too dark, or too something. To make matters worse, you actually pay to heat, cool and maintain this space. It's living space that’s not worth living in.

There are some others who like their homes, the colors, the layout, the location, but for some reason they aren’t sleeping well, or there are allergy or respiratory issues in the family, or they don’t understand why their energy bills are painfully high. They’ve never stopped to think that the house itself, or the way it’s built, could be part of the cause, and that a small change or two could transform it for the better.

It’s your home, folks. The place that you count on to be a place of rest and comfort, peace and security, a place to recover, rejuvenate, and renew. We’re finding out, more and more each day, that American homes sometimes do the quite opposite. You may be throwing money out the window, or into the yard, and suffering from pollutants building up, or poor ventilation. You let things go, blame yourself for not keeping up with cleaning, say you'll get around to it later. But, when you get around to it, who do you call? The window folks? The heating and air people? The electrician? The insulation installers? An interior designer? Where do you start? And, finally, you may be back to putting it off again.

The team at BuildSense has been building homes "right" for twelve years in the triangle area. Their team has well over 100 years of experience in environmentally responsible and energy efficient design and construction. They are Home Performance Specialists. They provide a single source of expertise in understanding building science, viewing the entire house as a system, and can put the pieces together. When most people think of energy efficiency, they think of replacing windows. The truth is that may not address their real concerns according to the actual problems in their home and their available budget. If a room or two are too hot or cold, do you call the heating and air contractor to see about replacing the unit? That may be jumping the gun. For most folks, when it comes right down to it, comfort is the number one priority in their home, and if energy savings comes along with it, that’s a bonus. The complexities can be overwhelming, and sometimes what we think we need turns out to be something with an entirely different solution.  How can you expect yourself to put the pieces of your home performance puzzle together when you have your own work and family life to keep in order?

Each house is unique, and each family is as well. Preferences, budget, how they use the home, all play into decision-making. How these two—house and household—fit together is critical when trying to meaningfully solve problems. You really need somebody who knows how to listen to them both. We believe that’s what homeowners who are serious about making lasting changes really want.