For Homeowners
What is Home Performance?
Home Performance testing is about discovering how the different components of your house work together to deliver the comfort, efficiency, safety, and indoor air quality (IAQ) your family deserves.
Comfort: Comfort is usually key for homeowners, and Home Performance technicians can solve comfort issues such as drafty rooms, poorly performing heating systems, and low insulation levels.
Efficiency: Using advanced tools such as a blower door, duct blaster, and infrared (IR) camera, Home Performance technicians have the skills to maximize the efficiency of all of your systems—and to lower your energy bills.
Safety: Every system in a house affects every other system. That's why home performance technicians test the combustion safety of gas appliances, which can emit dangerous carbon monoxide into houses with poorly performing building shells or mechanical systems. Home performance technicians test before AND after work is performed, so that you can be sure your home is safe.
Indoor Air Quality: Many chronic illnesses have a link to the environment. Mildew, mold, dust, and other contaminants can be dramatically reduced by sealing the building shell and duct system. Home performance technicians are experts at mitigating these common indoor air quality (IAQ) problems and ensuring healthy levels of ventilation.
What is a test like?
Testing involves several elements and tools, depending on your goals and the types of systems in your home.
Visual Inspection: The technician will look for any moisture-related issues or combustion-safety concerns and will take detailed measurements of your home's walls, roof, windows, duct system, and insulation levels. The technician can also learn a lot looking for tell-tale problems.
Combustion Safety Testing: Combustion appliances such as gas water heaters and furnaces pose serious health and safety risks when they do not properly vent combustion gases from the home. Home performance technicians set up "worst-case" conditions to detect venting problems, which can then be addressed.
Blower Door Testing: This procedure involves placing a large fan in an exterior doorway. This fan exhausts air from the house and pulls it in through openings around pipes, chimneys, light fixtures, and other areas of leakage. The technician measures the total leakage and identifies the areas where it can be most easily addressed.
Duct Blaster Testing: The technician temporarily seals duct registers and attaches a fan to the duct system to blow air through any gaps. .The technician quantifies the total leakage and identifies the areas where it can be most easily addressed.
Heating System Testing: Home performance technicians can diagnose, test, and repair a range of HVAC-related problems. Renewable Resource Testing: A Home Performance technician can assess your ability to use renewable energy on site, including solar electric, solar thermal, or geothermal. This may not be offered by all contractors or on all tests.
What does it cost and what do I get? Test costs range from $300 to $800 depending on the depth of analysis. You can contact home performance contractors from the list and learn about their services.
In general, tests take from 3-6 hours. The technician will consult with you to develop recommendations and a scope of work tailored to your goals, budget, and timeline. A detailed report will explain test results, and the Home Performance contractor will provide a no-cost proposal for recommended improvements.
