For Home Owners

[Chris Stewart]

Welcome to Inspired Habitat.

We are trying to make this a place where you can have access to the home building industry and a friendly place where you can ask questions and find information about houses.

We are trying to attract people in the home building industry who believe public service is part of their obligation as professionals. We also try our best to be courteous.


How can you use Inspired Habitat?

You can use the guest account to log on and ask questions without having to register or you can ask questions in the Inspired Habitat Guest forum without registering.

If you want to have a personal account with your own user name you can register. We do not track or keep any information on users. You may use your real name or any other name you choose. You will not be added to any mailing lists.

You could have a thread devoted to your project which could serve as a central place where all the information on your project is kept.
You can also start a blog about your project or anything else that interests you.

The web is quickly becoming the communications conduit of choice because of it's speed and versatility.

Just make yourself at home.

[CSTXmom]

Chris,

I live in CS in a 2400 SF home with high ceilings that was built in 2001/2002. We are struggling with energy efficiency and keeping our home cool. Our A/C unit is undersized (3.5 ton, 12 SEER) and the duct work was a mess. We had an energy audit from CS Utilities in fall 2006 which pointed out those two problems. Additional A/C contractors told us our duct work was some of the most poorly designed they had seen, so we had ClimateMasters replace it in spring 2007. Another central Texas summer showed us that didn't do enough and our house is hot. We will likely replace the A/C unit in early 2008, but I am concerned we are getting too much heat from the sun exposure on the front (west-facing) side of our home to make much of a difference. We invested in solar screens for part of the west-facing windows by late summer, but it's still not enough. Can you give us some advice? My two very young sons and I are home all day, so we have really high energy bills that seem wasted since it's still hot in our house almost every afternoon of the summer (plus much of the spring and fall). I have attached a couple photos of the west side of my home though it is prior to the solar screens being placed on the two smaller windows with arched tops (not the door area).

Thanks,
JFG

[Chris Stewart]

Hi JFG,
the photos did not get attached somehow.

Unfortunately the average home in our area just isn't designed for efficiency. 3.5 tons is a bit on the low side and would have trouble making up for other problems. When you say high energy cost how many KwH's did you use in August?

It is difficult to go back and improve efficiency without quite a bit of cost. Trees of course will help a lot but take a long time to grow, also the solar screens should help some. Ductwork will make a bit of difference in your ability to balance airflow but unless they added to the insulation will not make a big difference in operating costs. Attic insulation is something easy to add but it seems like the energy audit would have told you if you had a deficiency there.