Learn to Love Your Attic.....
As home energy auditors we often re-introduce our customers to places in their home they would prefer to forget. The basement crawl space with no vapor barrier, the original window that has been cracked open so long that people have forgotten it isn't closed, the water heater with storage boxes stacked all around.......and so on. But it's the attic, which for many is truly the land that time forgot. "I haven't been up there since we moved into the house over 20 years ago" one homeowner told us recently about his highly accessible attic - "and quite frankly I don't intend ever to go back." Yet when it comes to energy efficiency, saving money, reducing carbon and making your home less drafty and more comfortable, you have to learn to love your attic - because it is the first place to look for quick wins. Your expensive conditioned air likes nothing better than to move up and out of your home. And most homeowners, if you take the time to look, will discover that you are making it easy for that expensive air to blow out of your roof: there are gaps and cracks around pipes and ducts and chimneys and wall partitions - and sometimes there are literally 18" square open spaces where you can shine a flashlight and see down to the basement. Oh yes, there may be a thin layer of old rockwool or fiberglass insualtion - but the air moves right through that with little or no problem.
So fall in love with your attic. Get some help to seal up and block out all those cracks and gaps and holes: and then get yourself some real insulation. Blow in a thick, and I mean thick, luxurious carpet of cellulose or, if you can afford it, consider putting icynene foam on the slopes. It may never be your favorite place to hang out, but if you make some fairly modest investments (especially after rebates and tax credits) you can make your whole home cheaper to heat and less drafty.
