What type of contractor do I need?!

[Anonymous]

Our home is small, but still does not heat or cool evenly. We have had new air conditioning and heating installed within the last few years, but it hasn't helped.

One bedroom is over an integrated garage, and is always hot in summer, cold in winter.
Our kitchen and living room/dining room, have cathedral ceilings, so no attic overhead. They tend to heat up like a hot house in the summer.

So, what kind of contractor do you recommend?
Someone to check the vents to all the rooms to make sure they are functioning properly? (we had them cleaned out and it didn't help at all)

Or do we need an insulation contractor? How would they insulate a cathedral ceiling with no attic overhead?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
We were considering getting an energy audit, but I don't think that would address our specific concerns. We just want to be comfortable in our own home!

[Anonymous]

Actually, I think an energy audit would be a great first start because they could field your questions and suggest the types of tradesmen you should look into.

With high ceilings, I think you are going to need some ceiling fans, though.

[Anonymous]

An energy audit would address your concerns and would give you a gameplan for what to do next regarding insulation and HVAC. This is exactly what these guys do -- they look at hot and cold spots and where/why they are happening. They also look at general air leakage -- the more leakage you have, the less benefit you are getting from your HVAC.

I had an audit and it was well worth it ($400). I used Home Energy Detective in Manassas but they go all over. I also have a bedroom over a garage and they recommended reinsulating the garage ceiling which it needed.

They also sealed my ducts with Aeroseal (I had no idea what duct sealing was) and they found a 8"x12" hole in my duct work that had been there since construction. It was behind drywall and I never would have known it was there. They sealed that up and the house has improved in its leakage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An energy audit would address your concerns and would give you a gameplan for what to do next regarding insulation and HVAC. This is exactly what these guys do -- they look at hot and cold spots and where/why they are happening. They also look at general air leakage -- the more leakage you have, the less benefit you are getting from your HVAC.

I had an audit and it was well worth it ($400). I used Home Energy Detective in Manassas but they go all over. I also have a bedroom over a garage and they recommended reinsulating the garage ceiling which it needed.

They also sealed my ducts with Aeroseal (I had no idea what duct sealing was) and they found a 8"x12" hole in my duct work that had been there since construction. It was behind drywall and I never would have known it was there. They sealed that up and the house has improved in its leakage.

How on earth did they find this?

[Anonymous]

Not PP, but they probably have cameras that snake into the ducts.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP with the hole that they found. As they do the Aeroseal procedure, they monitor on their laptop the reduction in air leakage, so as they monitored it, they could tell it was taking longer than usual. This usually means there's a large hole somewhere because the sealant will only seal small holes. So they walked around the house trying to find a stronger scent of the sealant, and they smelled it in the workshop. So they put a camera in the register and saw the hole on the camera. Then they opened up the drywall, with my permission, found the hole and sealed it up.

I couldn't smell anything at all when I got home, but perhaps it smells more when they first do it. They also said that large holes are common and that most homes are losing about 30% of their efficiency through small cracks in the duct work. I was losing closer to 40%.

[Anonymous]

OP here,
Wow, the story about the hole in the ductwork is eye opening!

I think I will look into the Enery Audit after all. And I will specifically make sure they check the ductwork!

[Anonymous]

We also have a master bedroom over a garage that is uninsulated and it is never comfortable. We also have cathedral ceilings in some rooms and those rooms aren't comfortable. We looked into adding insulation to the garage, but I didn't want to deal with them having to remove the existing batt insulation to install spray foam insulation, so we haven't done anything. You could look into baseboard heaters for the room over the garage in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also have a master bedroom over a garage that is uninsulated and it is never comfortable. We also have cathedral ceilings in some rooms and those rooms aren't comfortable. We looked into adding insulation to the garage, but I didn't want to deal with them having to remove the existing batt insulation to install spray foam insulation, so we haven't done anything. You could look into baseboard heaters for the room over the garage in the winter.

Have you thought of installing underfloor heating? That was one of the things on my wish list that we didn't do when they built the bathroom. I found a system that you could install in the rafters without tearing up the floor. Unfortunately thats probably last on our list of stuff to do.

[Anonymous]

Do you live in MD? If so, there is some govt program under which home owners can get energy audit for free (or very minimal fee). The funds were coming from Feds I think. Do a google search for it.

We got a big report after the audit and some recommendations. Then you can go to any contractor you want to get the recommended stuff fixed.