Available Literature for BIBCA Members

     There is a wide open opportunity in whole house air sealing, also called home weatherization, and home testing for contractors looking to branch out and improve their business. There are hundreds of millions of existing homes that could be fixed to improve energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and  safety. This is and will continue to be a growing opportunity because of rising energy costs and environmental pressure. In most areas of the country there are few, if any, companies doing this. It is cost effective for the consumer and if you can make money and help the planet, what's not to like?
     Air sealing is sealing the penetrations in the building envelope where outlets and ceiling fixtures are visible and also sealing the penetrations that you can not see like where wires go down into the walls through the top plates, and pipe penetrations go through the walls. There are a lot more areas that leak than these, and classes are necessary to find them all and figure out how to fix them. Once the home is sealed up as much as possible, you also have the opportunity to add to the existing insulation.
Air leakage is the number one cause of lost heat or cooling energy. In cold climates, if you add attic insulation to existing insulation without air sealing first, moisture that was leaking out of the envelope with the warm air could be trapped in the added insulation. This moisture could get through all the insulation but be cooled off enough so it will not make it out of the vents.   It could condense on the bottom of the roof deck, causing a structural problem. There are many other areas in a home that leak and need to be identified, fixed and insulated. Cavity insulation of any type in a wall does not seal a house. Homes usually leak far more through rim joists, windows, doors and other unblocked penetrations.
     Another area of opportunity is in home testing with a blower door and a thermal imaging camera. The blower door measures how much air is leaking into a building and from where. In my opinion, every home should be tested. Again, if you are going to do home testing classes are necessary. If you want to do air sealing and not home testing, you can have it done by a Resnet qualified home tester. It would be a good idea to work closelyl with a Resnet tester because they pass tests in building science areas and others related to air quality and combustion safety.
     As an example, we get a phone call from an unhappy homeowner saying they need insulation in their attic. We try to talk them into having a blower door test done before we go to the home. We live in Zone 7, so we always explain why the attic should be air sealed first. We usually refer them to our website which explains why air sealing is needed first. This saves a lot of phone time. Then when we do go to the home, the first thing done is an examination of the heating unit and hot water heater. By taking a combustion safety class, you can identify possible carbon monoxide leaks and how to fix them. If a contractor changes anything in a home, putting in a new window, changing a door, air sealing a home, or adding insulation, it could trap CO in the home that was leaking out that window or door, harming the inhabitants. We notify the homeowner if there is a problem and/or advise them to get a safety test. In the last 2 years, we have found 7 homes that have had a definite or suspected CO leak.    
     Moving on, we look in the attic and figure out how much insulation they need and how much it will cost to air seal. We will not add insulation to an attic without airsealing first as a matter of company policy. If the homeowner does not like this, they can get someone else. We can't fix all the homes in the area ourselves anyway. We also look at indoor air quality when in the home. Are there bathroom fans, do they work, and why they should work. Indoor air quality is another issue that is coming to attention as 90% of homes have worse indoor air quality than the outdoors.
     In looking at the whole home, we have gone back to a home repeatedly to fix problems that they weren't able to afford at once. The neighbors see what is going on, ask questions, and we get more business. It can be a good idea to have literature to hand out explaining what you are doing and you are in their area, so why not them? Most areas have very few people doing home testing and air sealing. Utilities and local through federal units of government are increasingly developing programs to assist homeowners make their homes more efficient. Someone has to do it - why not you?!

REMEMBER

TRAINING

• After BIBCA certification, your entire crew and office staff can better promote your BIBS and BIBS HP business.
• New employees benefit from our high-quality training, and long-time employees can correct bad habits.
• Hosting visitors will allow you to compare best practices with other BIBS dealers.
• This is the most cost-effective way to train the greatest number of employees.
• We comet o you, calibrate your equipment, and hlep insulate one of your job sits.Expense and travel time are at a minimum, we travel so you don't have to!
• Training is mandatory for all members before January 2010.
• Fiber and netting are often generously donated to the host company for use in the training.
• Your training costs will be a fraction of the usual cost.

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