20 People, 4 Hours, 21% Reduction in air-infiltration

Thank you for another great project Saturday.
20+ people swarmed over the home and did an amazing job while having a great time. Some people seemed to find their calling sealing the hole around the chimney in the attic, others set windows tight, and others seemed to discover a new hobby in using mortar. It was an amazing crew. Thank you.
Before I get to the good news about how much air infiltration you stopped, I should point out that due to ongoing renovation in the home AT LEAST ¼ of the holes in the home could not be sealed.
That out of the way, we went from 3345 cfm air flow down to 2645 cfm (after calculating for temperature) – a 21% drop! That translates to at least $123 in fuel savings/year*, $1230 over the next ten years, and will allow them to feel far more comfortable – no more drafty windows while sitting on the couch, cold air coming through the attic door, etc.
To that point the homeowners told me today “It was a great experience and we loved meeting the group. We woke up to a MUCH less drafty house this morning!”
It also means a reduction of 783 lbs. of CO2 per year.
Thank you all again for making yesterday such a success!
An aside: If you ever have suggestions what we should do differently, things we aren’t doing but should, things we shouldn’t do but are, or anything else we hope you’ll let us know – we’re always trying to improve the experience for all.
* – For the math inclined, each 100 cfm drop equals approximately 7 therms of saved fuel.
700 cfm/100=7. Therefore 7 x7=49 therms saved.
One gallon of oil equals 1.38 therms.49 therms/1.38 = 35.5 gallons of oil saved.
35.5 X $3.486 (avg. cost of oil in our area) = $123

1 thought on “20 People, 4 Hours, 21% Reduction in air-infiltration

  1. Nick Signore

    Have you tackled water-conservation on any of your projects? If nothing else but adding a dual-flush kit to a toilet, and installing rain barrels. I installed a dual-flush from HD last year and so far it’s worked well – looking into a rain-barrels for this summer. Some communities I’ve read have put hand-painted rainbarrels on display at events to generate interest. Arlington may be just the type of community where that would “soak” that up

    Reply

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