Massachusetts Super Insulation Project

Renovation Nation

2010-01-13T00:08:00.003-05:00

Finally, 14 months after it was shot, our episode of Renovation Nation with Steve Thomas was broadcast on the Planet Green Channel (a subsidiary of the Discovery Network). Anywho, our 30 minute episode was pure entertainment. I was labeled a "green bully", the downstairs neighbor was labeled "unconvinced by the project", while my wife was wise enough to head to work. Both families watched together over pizza and enjoyed our onscreen personas. We could hardly wait to see what we would do next!!

Let the Befores and Afters Begin

2009-11-16T21:40:00.008-05:00

FRONT OF HOUSE: right view

BEFORE

AFTER

FRONT OF HOUSE: left view

BEFORE

AFTER

LEFT SIDE OF HOUSE

BEFORE

AFTER

REAR OF HOUSE
BEFORE

AFTER A

AFTER B

LOOKING UP
DURING

AFTER

Heat Goes on First Time and other details

2009-11-06T23:29:00.005-05:00

The temperature dropped below 62F inside for the first time this year. A combination cloudy weather and lack of cooking drove the fall in temperature while a sick kid, and a wife raised near pineapple farms, drove the raising of the thermostat..........ok, but just one day. A warm weekend is forecast.

I'm continuing to fail getting a whole house electric meter working. The Blue Line Power Cost Monitor is supposed to be fastened outside on the electric meter and then read and transmit wirelessly to a indoor station. Why? Because we can....or thought we could, but so far we can't. I had hoped to be able to nail down what the hardwired and 220V appliances were using (dishwashers, dryers).

The average 12 month oil usage pre-construction was 1300 gallons between the two units.
The June 2008 - June 2009 oil usage was 738 gallons. This was the construction year that started in October and included full removal of roof and siding and windows and doors, and contractors trapsing into and out of the house. The insulation itself was not completed until mid-January. This year should be better, because it couldn't be worse. If we are able to upgrade our heating system with a smaller unit, it could be much better. We'll keep you informed.

Mass. Dept of Energy Resources Commissioner Philip Giudice took his first tour of the house (see VIP link to right for photo). Phil is a special friend of the project having given the final OK for the state's participation.

Testing the Heat

2009-10-16T08:11:00.002-04:00

With temperatures dipping below 40 F for the first time this year, we experienced our first heating events.
Unit 1 has an oil fed steam boiler which produces both heat and hot water. The hot water component has never shut down, but the heat has been effectively off since March. The thermostat dropped low enough to kick on the steam heat for the first time October 14.

Unit 2 has an oil fed steam boiler, but since November, hot water has been moved to a tankless in-line system. Without it's hot water component the boiler has slept since March. Boilers hate that. The Unit 2 is thermostat driven, but it's been manually shut off as well. Today we turned the unit on for a test, not entirely sure that the boiler was going to be in the "mood" to be "on"........but our worries were misplaced.......our lovable boiler jumped to action and pumped out 30 minutes of heat. We switched the unit back off, hopefully for a few more weeks.

We'd like to keep the heat off until sometime in November.
Temperature October 16
Outside: 35 F
Inside: 65 F

The final buttoning up

2009-10-01T22:33:00.010-04:00

So many tiny projects to finish up. Can you bear with me as I just quickly run through them? They may look small, but they still included contractors tromping through the house to use the bathroom.

New back steps new back trim........who likes to paint?

Drywalling all 3 basement entrances (1 for each unit + the exterior entrance) covering the spray foam......because we're worth it.

Installing the two new Velux skylights into the holes which had been roofed over since October 2008

Adding lead to seal the chimney. I love lead ! What the heck did we have instead of lead for the last 10 months. Probably best not to ask.

Enclosing the ugliest deck roof ever.

Rebuilding the entire front entrance with new cylindrical columns and Ipe decking that won't splinter. We have some Ipe guilt (comes from some warm place), but somehow we convinced ourselves that it was the way to go. Wait until you see the finished job.

And the beginning of the clean up.

Huffed and they Puffed.....

2009-04-28T23:37:00.008-04:00

After months of insulation working through one of the worst winters in memory, we come to where the butter hits the toast. Sort of. We are performing the blower door test to see how tightly the house has become.

Larry Masland arrived from the Department of Energy Resources, Gary and David arrives from Synergy Construction, Kohto arrived from Building Science Corporation, plus two guys from Conservation Services Group which will be performing the blower door test.

For the blower door testing, we closed all windows and doors, put these lovely red frocks on the back doors, engaged the fans inserted within said frocks, and started sucking the air out of the house to reduce the internal pressure. For those of you concerned about such things, the fan was not of a power to make us gasp for air, boil our blood, bulge our eyes, or make us float around the room.......which would be more of a gravitional problem.....ANYWAYYYYYY

Here's what the test looked like.

How'd we do?
Here are the results.

The results are not official, but the house is around 60% - 65% tighter. The walls and the roof were not really serviceable. They were as tight as they were ever going to be. But air still flowed into the basement, and therefore somehow up into the house through the basement ceiling. With the fan drawing, with some smoke pens, with a few cans of insulation foam, we should be able to walk around the basement, and then track and kill each tiny ceiling leak. But this was not to be, as everyone's schedule would not permit. Big disappointment.

UPDATE: To answer the comment from Jerry Marin: "So what was the cfm? Enquiring minds want to know."
With the basement door open the leakage was 2825 CFMs (cubic feet per minute)
With the basement door closed the leakage was 2275 CFMs
(Explanation: These leakage rates are during a highly de-pressured test, not during normal usage.) The original pre-project leakage rate in August was 7800 CFM (more or less until I track down the exact test result).
The team was very pleased with the results, but I know that we can do better. I am confident that with 60 minutes we could bring that result south of 2000 CFMs. The disappointment here is that the basement ceiling is completely at hand and reachable. I will attempt to get some sort of de-pressurization using the building's 2 kitchen fans and 3 bathroom fans, get some incense "punks" (are they called "punks" anymore?), armed with a can of foam. Only problem is that we will never have a new reading of the results.

Chickens come home to roost

2009-04-25T23:24:00.003-04:00

If you plan on taking a house from the age of leakyness-as-virtue to the new age of super-insulated energy efficiency, one imagines that you will occassionally run afoul of the laws of unintended consequences. And so we have......at least a little.
With the addition of super-insulation, and the conversion of hot water to a gas on-demand unit, our 25 year old boiler was firing up less often and for shorter burn duration. By the end of March, we weren't firing at all, so we shut it down. But when a cold snap hit in April, we couldn't get it back on.

The Fawcett Oil servicer informed us that these units were never designed to be cold, never designed to have the hot water portion removed, that by removing the hot water we had essentially signed its death sentence. (evidently Fawcett servicers are very protective of their boilers). I was to learn that to maintain boiler health, the boiler needs to reach full operating temperatures to clean out its pipes and eliminate condensation.......or something like that. Long story short, we were warned to have our boiler cleaned twice a year, September and January, instead of only once. I guess that's not so bad.

Foam Touch-Up

2009-04-13T23:00:00.008-04:00

Anderson Insulation, who were here for 10 hours in December, fit us into their schedule on short notice for a final foaming touch-up prior to the blower door testing which will mark the end of the insulation phase of the project.
We needed to fix the areas where the cable guys, the plumbers, and the electricians did their damage, as well as get at an area we didn't have access to in December, and a window that was removed.
December 2008: Window still in place

April 2009: Window removed. It's a storage area, who needs a window? On the other side of that window cavity is 4" of rigid foam.

April 2009: The Anderson folks having finished the foaming.

More work in the basement.

Particular attention to the areas where the cable guys, the fiber guys, and the electricians were ripping and tearing at the foam to get their wires in place.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit That

2009-04-12T22:05:00.013-04:00

Two Fantech HRVs (Heat Recovery Ventilators) are installed for unit 1 and unit 2 to bring in fresh air, exhaust stale air, AND salvage the heat from the stale air to heat up the fresh air.
The Unit 1 HRV is installed in the basement. Since the bottom of the unit is below grade it was going to be something of a challenge to get the condensation drain out of the building....but then who knows how much condensation is expected in winter. We decide to drain into a bucket and see if evaporation can keep up with condensation.

Unit 2 had its own challenges. To reduce breaks in the envelope, the HRV for unit 2 would exhaust through the 2nd floor bathroom exhaust duct. At the same time the 3rd floor bathroom, which never had ducted ventilation, also was going to be connected to the 2nd floor bathroom exhaust duct. It's a busy duct.

This image is looking up to the 3rd floor soffit. The vent on the right is the exhaust damper for the 2nd + 3rd floor bathroom and the Unit 2 HRV. The small hole on the left has a small clear hose protruding so condensation can drip out.

The HRV was designed to pull from the 3rd floor back room and vent into the 2nd floor back room. Because the connecting staircase is in the front of the house, the air circulates throughout the house. The air intake is not visible as it is hidden within the new soffit. Normally this might be fine, but the soffit is fabricated from a PVC material, and I'm not comfortable having our fresh air filtered through a solar heated PVC box.......of course I could be nuts.

We get our exterior water spigot back, while finally solving that mysterious leak in the wall. This is just in time for spring grass re-seeding.

We got the bulk of our backyard back as the contractors start pulling materials and equipment out.

The mason arrived to fix the foundation which had split. This shows the opening the Mason made to fix the guts of the wall.

Here we're all finished.

Anderson foam is coming in for a final spray to fill in the few areas ripped out by various electricians, plumbers, and cable guys and to spray an area where the drywall had not been removed prior to the main spraying back in December.

Final Details

2009-03-26T23:15:00.006-04:00

The final trim piece is installed by Rick and Mike, closing off the last nesting spot for the irrritated birds. We started on the walls on November 17, and now some 120 days later, the walls are finished.

Dryer vents are removed from the window and built into the wall. There's nothing quite like a dryer vent through the window to mark one as hmmmm something less than fully cultured.

Bathroom dampers are finally reinstalled for the 1st floor bathroom.

In a moment of unplanned excitement, Mike lost control of his coffee, spilling it down the wall. Mike is house broken though as can be seen in the photo.

The Great Buttoning Up

2009-03-24T23:35:00.006-04:00

Final soffit and trim work.

Here's the final final front of the house....prior to the entranceway rebuild and gutter install. It is very nearly miraculous in its rebirth.

New Pella sliding windows get installed in the basement.

A Little Rework

2009-03-23T00:35:00.006-04:00

Since we started on the roof before the walls, there were many educated guesses taken as to where the wall surface would be when finally building the soffits. You win some and you lose some.
Here we are adjusting the length of the roof to balance the left and right side. I'd been looking at the bloody roof line for 2 months and never noticed anything, but seems the contractors in Synergy had, and swore a blood oath to fix it. Three hours later and we were only more perfect. I really should be more demanding.
You have no idea what this is I'm sure. There is an icicle there in the photo at the bottom that grew between the Tyvek and the foam. Somewhere on the wall water is leaking into the wall behind the foam. The only place for the leak is the window. The flashing above the window will have to be corrected.

UPDATE: OK, there may be another reason. This is coincidentally the exact location where the exterior water spigot was located before it was temporarily sealed up and the siding went on.

Nearly Champagne Ready

2009-03-03T01:10:00.010-05:00

February 23: A stupid little roofing project
The team re-roofs the tiny back deck so the shingles match.

Boring, but its gotta get done.
The more interesting story was the 8 year old roof it replaced. That roof was installed by an octogenarian, Gino, and Angelo, 72, who do handy projects to get out of the house.
Why would I send 2 nice old guys on the roof? Well....they used to be full time roofers, but more importantly, better them than I.
The morning they were up there was a beautiful day, September 11th, 2001, but otherwise the worst that I had ever lived through. I stuck my head out the window and reported the news as it unfolded, the events, the theories, the horror, and finally the cloud of dust. These guys never came in to look, didn't seem particularly shocked, and never missed a nail. When they finished up there they popped in for a quick peak at the tube, and then headed home.
Building runways across the South Pacific while under fire seems to really toughen you up some.

February 25

February 27: Finishing the Front

March on Washington (actually February)

2009-03-03T00:00:00.005-05:00

Rayburn House Office Building, Washington DC

The Subcommittee on Energy & Environment held a hearing titled:
“Energy Efficiency: Complementary Polices for Climate Legislation”
9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 with Chairman Ed Markey

Excerpted Testimony of Philip Guidice
Commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
"Let me give you some examples of what is happening in Massachusetts as a result of this activity. A homeowner named Alex Cheimets is in the final stages of a major renovation. This started – as these things often do – with a small water leak, and ended with a bold project that is expected to reduce his energy use by half or more, through thorough air sealing of the building envelope and adding four to six inches of foam insulation to the sides and roof of his house, as well as installing an air to air heat exchanger and monitoring equipment. His is a typical Massachusetts home – an eighty-year-old two-family house which leaked badly but now will be a model of what is possible."

For Philip's Guidice full testimony.

Everybody's Testimony

Or download the audio.

Look Down There! It's Grass!!!

2009-02-23T00:18:00.005-05:00

We protected our tiny patch of lush green grass against the harsh winter by compressing it under tons of construction waste. Now with the Dumpster leaving for good, we are once again free to fully enjoy our backyard............

........more or less.

Closure

2009-02-22T15:24:00.006-05:00

The last 100 square feet of wall are tackled all at once.
The last two windows (excluding basement) are removed and replaced, the last shingles stripped off, the last wrap is taped up, the last layers of 4" rigid foam insulation are carved to fit and fastened down tightly with 6" screws through the last firring strips.
The pointless 2" x 6" rakes are removed from the center roof line showing what the roof thickness will look like in the end. It's really a sleight of hand trick though, which avoids a roof of bizzarro thickness.
The rafters will no longer be in that volume behind the soffits, behind all the architectural cues which scream, "Here's the Roof!!!", but instead will be hidden under it all. Everything that looks like the roof, is really sitting on top of the structural "roof".

Before the Beginning of the Beginning of the End

The Beginning of the Beginning of the End

The End of the Beginning of the End

This small stretch of wall is not expected to have a measureable effect on the home's performance in comparison to the 96% of the house already battened down. Nonetheless, February 20, 2009 marks the completion of the insulation phase of the project. Data analysis has already started based on the 96% of the project completed as of January 29, and will continue on through the end of the heating season.
The project was envisioned being completed by December 15, 2008 to allow a nearly full season of data collection, but the abbreviated schedule should be more than enough.

Natural Life Magazine

2009-02-18T23:46:00.002-05:00

Natural Life Magazine publishes our story. Nice piece.

Their credo is: The original frugal, green living magazine, founded in 1976. Natural Life is trustedby readers around the world who want to learn how to create a greener,healthier, more self-reliant lifestyle for themselves and for their families.

Mosquito Coast

2009-02-18T00:11:00.005-05:00

A run of warm weather melts the blanket of snow hiding 2 months of construction waste and protecting me from my need to clean-up.

Grabbing a bag each day to walk the neighborhood and harvest the wind blown shreads of rigid insulation the snow gives back. It's just lovely over here.

The Soffits

2009-02-07T23:59:00.009-05:00

Did you really think that a 6" edge of insulation would become a permanent detail of the roof? Though if we were to leave it uncovered, it would hardly be the ugliest feature up there. No the ugliest feature would be, hands down, the rotting rafters which slowly shed paint chips upon the lawn. The neighbors have put up with alot from us.
Enclosing the soffits and hiding the rafters has been an obsession haunting my every thought since moving in. Covering the 6" edge of insulation? Well I guess that's nice too.
Prior to the start:

Rafters are cut and extended

2x6s are fastened to the rafter extensions to provide strong, wood support for gutter attachment.

NuCedar fascia is fastened to the 2x6s and NuCedar bead board is fastened to seal the bottom.

Completely enclosed soffit, sans gutters. Only about a hundred feet of soffit to go.

Another snow storm, another lost day February 3.

Tour de House

2009-02-07T23:17:00.003-05:00

The pace of visits and tours increases, there being 1 or 2 fun filled foil faced weeks left until we revert to just another boring house.

-Members of the Energy Smackdown joined members of Sustainable Arlington to visit during biting cold spell on January 31.

Also toured by:
-Arlington High School's Ted Fiust and both his Engineering and Environmental Science classes.

-Heather Clark of the Winn Development Company and a member of both the Energy Efficiency Advisor Council and the Governor's Zero Net Energy Task Force dropped by along with her colleague David Thunell.

As the week progressed, my tours got less and less pleasant as the flu took over the controls of my life, and sleeping became the goal of my every waking moment. You know the feeling.

Just after dark, with the moon overhead: 15 seconds exposure

Reflections

2009-01-30T23:02:00.011-05:00

It's a little bit of a challenge to install siding in bitter cold (I'm told), or when the roof is dribbling on your head, or if supported 20 feet off the ground by a platform shiny with ice, or when the coffee runs out. Synergy plows forward pushing towards completion.
November 13, 2008

January 29, 2009

One of the challenges siding over 4" of foam on an 80 year old house, is that the house has settled, the walls bow slightly. They may even have been built that way. Wouldn't be surprised. To reduce these imperfections they torque the firring screws, better aligning the exterior. It is an imprecise science.

Night Shots

2009-01-27T01:10:00.011-05:00

These may be the last interesting night shots of the project. Siding is going up quickly now, and will soon cover the dazzling reflective aluminum foil. These shots show that the entire front has been covered in rigid foam except for the 3rd floor.

For safety, the 3rd floor will be de-windowed, re-windowed, flashed, stripped of shingles, tyveked, insulated and sided all at once.

These 15 second exposures were long enough to capture the stars above but not long enough for the blur of Earth's rotation to set in.
The right side of the house is lit by a clean white 75 watt bulb in the neighbor's house. The front of the house is unfortunately yellow, lit by the sodium vapor street lights.
Click on the photos to see the full "compressed resolution", but let me tell you that the full uncompressed photos, too large to upload, are awesome.

Firring strips screwed into the wall through 4" of rigid foam using 6" screws. As the firring strips are tightened the foam pulls in tight to the house, and only then as the air is squeezed out between the layers and the house, does the insulation really go to work.

NuCedar Siding

2009-01-27T00:51:00.005-05:00

It's unlikely that you have seen this new siding system before, but you will be seeing lots more of it. It's brilliant. NuCedar is a solid engineered pre-painted clapboard made of vinyl. It installs in a similar fashion to wood clapboard, but because the vertically adjacent pieces lock together there is no face nailing. It's attached loosely to allow expansion into the specially designed trim pieces, and does not require caulking like wood and fiber-cement. Because it's solid, and installed piece by piece, it has the shadow lines of wood clapboard.

The Pella Parlay

2009-01-27T00:10:00.003-05:00

The fine people at Pella asked me to speak this weekend at the Boston Home Show about the project, and I was thrilled to be asked, and looking forward to doing it, and brushed up on my rusty PowerPoint skills, and printed up handouts, and fretted about how exciting insulation really is when you get right down to it. Oh, I know I shouldn't have worried. Who doesn't love to talk about insulation? See Pella printed a great sign as well.

Lovers of insulation were to miss out though. My sensational presentation was derailed by the failure of the Bay Side Expo's public address system. They can't come if they don't know. Foul play by Big Oil you ask? One never knows.

Know anyone who wants to hear a sensational Super-Insulation presentation?

Side Show Moves to the Center Ring

2009-01-26T02:08:00.004-05:00

Siding was last installed on November 18, when Steve Thomas and his Planet Green TV crew were filming Renovation Nation, and they needed to see a little bit of everything.
No longer needing to entertain the Hollywood folks, the contractors reverted to their normal system of installing all the rigid foam before installing any siding. With the foam insulation nearly 98% complete, the NuCedar engineered siding becomes the primary focus. For the record, Green is a fine color, but the look of polished aluminum just blows me away, and I'm not the only one. Why isn't this an option anywhere?

Snow melt

2009-01-25T23:24:00.019-05:00

Walking the kids to school and back one passes all manner of roof ice and roof insulation problems. The neighborhood is marked by gutter freeze, and big honking icicles. What people tell the world about their homes, and particularly their attics through the snow melt.....if only they knew.

Frozen gutters. Extensive icicle growth.
Icicle formation requires that the outside air be warm enough to allow the escaped heat to melt the snow, yet cold enough to refreeze the water before it falls to the ground. The less effective the roof insulation, the warmer the roof, and greater the snow melt. Super insulation will minimize melt and icicles by cooling the roof surface. There will still be melt during warm sunny days, but then icicles are impossible.
January 21: neighbor

January 21: neighbor

January 22: neighbor

The lower roof melt areas here are wider than the higher ridges. Guessing, the insulation in the attic is on the floor and the area between the roof rafters are uninsulated. The heat that does escape into the attic travels to the roof and passes more easily between the rafters (the wider areas) than through the somewhat more insulating rafters (the thinner areas).
January 22: neighbor

I would guess this to be the opposite. Insulation is in the roof rafters. The rafters here are the weak link and show the greatest melt.
January 22: neighbor

Another example of attic floor insulation, shown with the wider melt areas, demonstrated with a kind of shingle lithography. The thermal properties of the roofing shingles comes right through.
January 22: neighbor

The roof area to the right of the downspout in this December 7 photo is a new addition with a cathedral ceiling, and one assumes extensive insulation in the rafters. You can see that the rafters on both sides of the skylight are doubled up as is the practice, and we can guess that there are two recessed lights, one on each side of the skylight. The roof to the left of the downspout is a cold attic insulated on the floor and sealed from the cathedral ceiling. The diagnal telltail? No idea.
UPDATE: Read the reader comment below for a brillaint sugestion for the cause of the diagnal telltail.

This is our roof in a photo taken January 21. Like a Westminster Kennel Club winner, this blue ribbon roof has a nice shiny coat of snow, and is completely house-broken with only a few stray icicles. A roof like this should have a very small range of icicle producing temperatures.

Giddy

2009-01-22T00:23:00.011-05:00

Near zero temperatures, and 2 or 3 pretty incredible snow storms. Contractors miss 2 days but it's not a complete loss; the pond skating is fantastic as long as you dig out a spot.

The sun room wall is fully insulated and actually quite cozy, and the new tiny windows are slick.

The team starts on the front of the house zipping towards completion of insulation. The boiler is spending long periods off.....even when outside temperatures are frosty. We're using less oil, but some post-project number crunching is required to know exactly how much less.

I have a new hobby. I'm driving down the street looking at the contours of other people's roof snow. You can figure out alot about a house's attic layout and rafter insulation just by looking at snow. We'll get some pictures up here soon.

Our Story Goes Regional, National and Global

2009-01-17T10:44:00.010-05:00

Associated Press reporter Jay Lindsay releases the story to the wires:
Mass. hopes to learn from 'super insulated' house
ABC.com
It found a home at a few national outlets; ABC.com, MSNBC.com, a few global environmental websites, a slew of regional newspapers, and something in Australia. It wouldn't seem to me that Australia has a problem staying warm.
Homeowner Alex Cheimets shows the two-inch-thick insulation on his house in Arlington, Mass. Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Cheimets' house is part of a super insulation pilot project designed to conserve energy and control heating and cooling costs for the homeowner. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

The timing could not have been better for the story of the super insulation research taking place in Arlington Massachusetts and the team of supporters and sponsors behind it. The story hits after several days of "tuchas" freezing weather across great swaths of the United States, and just days before Barack Obama takes his place, and turns the page on alternative energy and conservation and our expectations of government and ourselves.

Also picked up by the websites of the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Worcester Telegram, WHDH channel 7, CW channel 56, Examiner.com, The Danbury CT News Times, Fosters Daily Democrat of NH, The Day from New London, CT,

Windows, Doors, and Lights

2009-01-12T21:17:00.008-05:00

DOORS
The glorious custom Lemieux oak doors are installed, dusted and polished, and the door's low-E windows have been cleaned of the residue urethane and cherry stain.
They look so good, feel so solid and heavy, and work so well in comparison to the doors that they replace, that they carry the entire house several notches up the status chart. Even without the siding, they make a huge contribution to the view from the street.

WINDOWS
The project includes window size reduction in the Unit 1 and Unit 2 sun rooms, converting a wall of windows overlooking the driveway to a mostly insulated wall that could be lined with bookshelves, or upgraded with a wood stove, or simply a space to hang a poster showing your basic cuts of beef. The sky's the limit.

The plan was to re-use the trim so that the new low profile windows look like they were always just that way.

ELECTRICAL
Notice the beige surface mounted outlets below the window in the first photo? Now seems like a bang-up time to rip those out and re-locate 12" higher in the new window voids. Only 3 outlets? Heck I can do that myself. I even know to shut the circuit breaker at the service box so as not to jump-stop my already beating heart.

The sunroom is directly over the basement electrical box, so I plugged a work light into the sunroom outlet and dangled it out the window 12 ft to the ground. In the basement, I switched off the circuit breakers until the light outside the basement window went out.

Circuit breaker 11 did it. Great. Returned upstairs to do my electrical magic only to find to my surprise that most of the house was dark. Breaker 11 is one busy little circuit breaker, with its tentacles secretly controlling nearly everything we do. Just look at this inventory of its domain:

2nd floor sunroom ceiling light + all of its plugs
3rd floor storage room
3rd floor front bedroom ceiling light but none of the plugs
3rd floor stairway light
3rd floor master bedroom and one of its plugs
2nd floor dining room light and one of its plugs
AND the power to the kitchen range hood and gas oven

How have we put most of our lives in the hands of breaker 11? Were we asleep at the switch?

Since all the lights are now CFLs the electrical load has never been lower, but still this is kind of whacky, and needs to be fixed. If only we can keep breaker 11 from learning our plans.

The Home Stretch

2009-01-08T21:46:00.014-05:00

The team slogs through the measuring and carving of the rigid foam, cutting in every bloody slot to make way for every bloody rafter tail to finish this drama free "Quickie" wall. It's always the details that kill you, and Mike is taking on a crazed look. No more coffee for Mike today.

Finished with that, they turn the corner and start stripping the 2nd floor above the front entranceway.

We learn that the two front columns are NOT weight bearing. Just there for looks. That chunk of house is just cantilevered over the abyss. A cantilever would be rocket science for the hacks that built this house (and that field stone foundation).

The electricians arrived and whipped through their work orders:
-Fixed the bizarre basement wiring, organizing and fastening lines to the ceiling and eliminating dead lines.
-Re-wired the rear lights, the front entryway lights, the back deck lights.
-Moved the dryer hook-up for Unit #1 next to the washer for unit #1.....and just as quickly moved it back. I guess that was a mistake.
-Shifted the main electric service connection from the driveway-side around the corner to the front of the house.

The driveway width was always barely acceptable before........in fact if ever a passenger, I normally closed my eyes. Now it will be 5" less acceptable. To avoid the loss of our electric meters (again) to a wayward vehicle, we're shifting the service pick-up to the front and crossing our fingers that it can made to look somewhat less than a festering sore on the house, a wound, a scar, a blight.....not that I'm fixating on the wiring. OK, I am fixating on the wiring.

We are actually so proud of our wiring and electrical service, that we asked for an extra coil to be up there banging against the wall. That's going to get fixed.

We had considered reducing the insulation on that one wall segment to 2" thick, or just 2" thick within 6 ft of the ground, and then transitioning back to 4" to the roof. Sounds fussy and complex doesn't it? Keep it simple. Learn to drive or get off the driveway.

The reflective foil is looking pretty slick.

January 7 is a freezing rain day. No one shows up and the kids leave 2 hours late.

The team returns to work the 8th, finishes stripping the front, starts stripping the last sections of the old siding on the sun room, and rips out the entryway doors.

The doors going in are of standard height, which is shorter than the doors coming out. Some trim surgery is required above the door.

With day's end, the last of the ugliest shingles on Earth await their execution on the peak of the roof. The magnificent Lemieux doors are installed and accessorized with such things as knobs and locks. We are totally unworthy.
More un-insulated voids are found and stuffed. House wrap is applied over sheating.

I don't want to jinx anything here......but... Can I confide in you? Can you keep a secret?
I can actually visualize completion.

Basement Archeology II

2009-01-05T21:50:00.004-05:00

Just when we were having fun....
What better way to spend the first weekend of the new year than to Shop Vac the basement, inspect the foaming work and look for any air leaks? You should try it. With the plaster shielding finally removed, the first full inspection in 80 years would now be possible. The unusually "cold" cold would make the hunt for air leaks a snap.

First, if you have a minute, a little background on foundations:

Your modern poured concrete foundation, with their "finished" basements, toy rooms, shag carpet, and home theaters, are designed for all those shallow people with weak constitutions. You know the type? Think folks with hoop earrings and cheese whiz. These are people who have trouble committing to anything larger than themselves......like a basement.

Your field stone walled basement, on the other hand, is something akin to the darkest corners of the Bastille. Children will never willingly go into a field stone basement because they know that an under-lit New England basement is where nightmares are born, and sometimes are secretly buried. A field stone wall is a living, breathing, heaving, moving entity just barely held together by a lime-based mortar softer than your fingernail. As they age, the ancient walls poop little piles of lime dust. They form cleaving cracks that several generations of immigrant Italian and Irish labor have toiled to keep stiched together.

How does one maintain a field stone basement? The sage advice fluctuates between, "It's 80 years old, and it's going to survive you, your children, and your grandchildren", to a recommendation for regular annual checks and touch-ups which end only when you die.

The "foundation" of this most recent foundation concern can be seen in the corner behind our state-of-the-art, gleaming laundry center. (Why, you can just about eat off the floor!) Not the 4 ft gaping crack leaking arctic air, no not that. That we can fix. No, what spooked me, was behind that crack. A void opening at the top roughly large enough for Jimmy Hoffa. Truth be known, I almost stuck my whole arm in there, until Jimmy Hoffa came to mind.

Oh no, what to do?
An urgent call to the mason (stone mason not the cult with the protractors) was met with a rapid response, "be there in 30 minutes". The mason arrived, looked around, and said, "ehh, no big deal, we fix it after your project is done. You know, this foundation is 80, and will last another 100 years no problem."

Basement Archeology I

2009-01-03T00:37:00.006-05:00

Look what we found in the basement.
A new, unused in the box, Underwood Electric Dry Shaver, and as the sign says, "...equal in quality and performance of any $15 shaver".

Manufacturered sometime between 1938 and 1941 just 67 - 70 years ago.
The razor came with a "Lifetime Guarantee Service Card", but since the company, their employees, the salesperson, the customer, and the poor slob who never received this as a gift are all dead......I wondered if the razor itself might still have some life left in it.

The wire insulation had disintegrated, so I rewired it with a new cord set, and electrically taped it up. No on/off switch, just plug it in and hope for the best.

Wouldn't you know it? Not only did I not get electrocuted, I was able to coax it to remove the random arm hair. A 70 year old shaver that jumped to life on its first shave. This is exactly the kind of quality that Americans are capable of assuming that there were any factories left in America still making consumer goods. Well we still make great building materials, like every one of the products used in this project. They will still be on the job keeping this house warm and comfortable, for generations to come.

Finally, a Quickie Wall

2009-01-01T00:54:00.012-05:00

December 29 - 30, 2008

Finally the wall that we've all been waiting for. No angles, no porches, no challenges, no personality at all, just a quick strip, wrap and full size boards of Dow Tuff-R insulation. Our guys should have been able to go to town on the wall blindfolded, but the weather had a few curve balls up its sleeve. 30 mph gusts.

Pre-Project photo of the wall December 29, 2008: a quick strip Notice the 1st and 2nd floor sealed windows. These are two bathroom windows that were closed off 20 years ago when the duplex was converted to condos. Those contractors from a generation ago, could not be bothered to stuff a little fiberglass next to either bath tub. The voids are stuffed tight this time.

December 30, 2008: Two hours before the Fastened Wrap. Unrolling and attempting to staple 10" wide house wrap in 30 mph winds. It was a bit nuts.....and would have made a great picture.

December 30, 2008: The crew nearly completes cutting and applying two layers of foam and completing the wall before the arrival of the New Year's Eve snow....but not quite.

Massachusetts Super Insulation Blog

2008-12-31T00:24:00.013-05:00

December 23, 2008
After 2-1/2 months the project turns a corner...to the front. Actual work (excluding windows) is finally visible from the street. The front sunrooms are being prepared for the electrician to shift service around to the front wall.

Another Dumpster pickup, and another unfortunate weather situation. The lawn and driveway are frozen solid and therefore safe, it's just that the truck can't get up the icy driveway without all hands on deck.

December 18, 2008
The contractors arrived at 6:30AM to get the basement ceiling stripped in time for Anderson Insulation's 8:00AM arrival. A new wave of banging, ripping and crashes and a new wave of dust rises to meet us while we attempt to drink our coffee.

The Anderson Insulation truck arrives at 8:30AM. After a tour of the attic, the basement, the entrance way and two smaller outside overhangs, the Anderson guys head to the attic and start removing the insulation. What followed were 30 full contractor bags chucked from the 3rd floor windows.

With Anderson fully engaged in the attic, the contractors continued in the basement, hauling the wreckage to the dumpster, while one man ripped out the ceiling over the front entrance way in a blizzard of cellulose snow and two additional men climbed up the ladder to change out windows.

Anderson then started to spray the Icynene foam one crawl space after another. A second Anderson truck pulled up after lunch and pitched in spraying urethane foam in the (3) small outside areas. At 4:30PM, after the contractors had left for the day, the Anderson folks started into the basement, wrapping the walls with plastic and spraying the ceiling and rim joists. Though I was confident that work would not be completed in one day.......there they were, done and packing up at 6:00PM.....proof positive that "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel" is required reading at Anderson Insulation.

With a second layer of plaster dust, add clumps of cellulose and the stray bit of fiberglass tracked in, then mix in the urethane smell of drying icynene foam. More than enough to rate a night in a hotel. But the odor passed too quickly to pack, and the 2nd floor office was a comfy place to end the day.

December 17, 2008
Demolition of the Basement Ceiling and Evacuation of the 3rd Floor and Attic
"Most" everything is out of the basement except for (2) new entryway doors, 6 old chairs, 5 old doors, 4 old door frames, 3 tables, a rug, 6 major appliances, the contractor's hardware, 2 lawn mowers, 2 oil tanks, 2 oil-fed steam boilers, 1 instant hot water heater, 80 years of live and dead electric and telephone lines, water lines, steam lines and gas lines.

The contractors removed what they could and then tore into the basement ceiling with hammers and pry-bars ripping out the 80 year old horse hair plaster on lathe. Horsehair plaster has the weight of cement, is noticeably unpleasant when it falls on your head, and breaks into chunks and microscopic dust on impact. The Anderson Insulation trucks are scheduled to arrive 8:00AM December 18 so there is an urgency to the work. Our 2 guys with hammers aren't optimistic that they will finish in time, and of course they were right.

Photo 1: Electrical Service room: demolition
Photo 2: Electrical service room: Demolished
Photo 3: Electrical Service room: Wrapped for foaming (Sept 18...next day)
Photo 4: Electrical Service room: Fully Foamed (Sept 18...next day)

The basement space took on all the aspects of a collapsed coal mine, and our intrepid workers played the unfortunate victims of the collapse, frequently exiting the mine to spit out dust and to fill their lungs with fresh air filtered through a cigarette.

The dust rose from the basement through every crack and crevice into the living spaces and landed on every surface on every floor on every thing.

While a hell on earth is unfolding in the catacombs at the bottom, it is only slightly better at the top. In preparation for removal of fiberglass and foaming in the attic, 4 crawl spaces needed to be emptied of 15 years of hmmmmm stuff we couldn't possibly live without AND every bedroom adjoining a crawl space was boxed up and tarped. To seal the knee wall connection of the roof to the walls, the attic floors were cut to allow foaming access.
For Unit 2 all this disruption and chaos meant 4 people sleeping in a second floor office.

December 15 - 16, 2008
A ventilating window is added where one was not. More foam is added to the walls.

December 10 - 12, 2008
Week lost to acts of God.
Biblical levels of rain shuts down the project in Eastern Mass, while Central Mass is hit with the worst ice storm in forever, knocking out power to 300,000 people, 6 of whom are our contractors. One of the contractors is unable to extricate himself from the arboreal wreckage draped across his driveway.
With their own homes and families at risk, the contractors still demonstrated their dedication by scheduling a pick up for the full dumpster. This was one accomplishment we could have done without. The truck extruded a 3 foot width of water drenched lawn from between its tires.

December 8, 2008
Just look at this attention to detail. Panels carved to fit perfectly around every rafter tail. Sure they could be in Italy carving marble, but where's the satisfaction in that?

December 7, 2008
Spying on the Neighbors
The neighborhood is full of scientists who are experimenting with one thing or another so there was no difficulty convincing two neighbors in similarly constructed homes to each take on one of the Onset data loggers. We promised that it ONLY recorded temperature and humidity and they promised not to soon update their homes with a state-of-the-art insulation system. Today they were put into place and started collecting data.
These two families will take one of the most important, yet most thankless jobs in all of science; they are the control group.....and it will be their jobs to make us look great.

Now to find (2) control families to go the whole winter with no heat all. No one said science was easy.

Insulating the Basement: The Dilemma
It was decided to blow an expanding foam into the basement ceiling to insulate the basement from the living spaces. The consultants had recommended a different path.

The consultant's written report recommended that the walls of the basement be insulated and that the entire basement space become a part of the home's thermal envelope. As part of that recommendation, the (2) oil boilers would need to be sealed and upgraded with a power venting system bringing in air for combustion, and the (2) oil tanks would need to be moved inward to make room for a framed and insulated wall with fire resistant covering (like drywall).

Q: What drove the consultant's recommendation that the basement be in the home's envelope?
A: To keep the residual heat of the basement boilers in the living space

Q: What drove the consultant's recommendation for the direct vent system?
A: To eliminate the risk of carbon monoxide being pulled down the chimney into the basement and then back into the living spaces when running the bathroom or kitchen vents.

The consultants do not believe that the basement can be entirely sealed from the living space even with expanding foam in the ceiling, and even if it could, some future repair work might break the seal. If vents in Unit 1 or Unit 2 create a negative pressure system in the living spaces, it may suck in air from the basement........which may result in CO and other boiler combustion products coming back down the chimney and up into the living spaces. This would be a rather negative result that you might read about in the paper.

Q: Why did we insulate the ceiling and not follow the consultant's recommendations?
A: Less expensive, less intrusive, less heated space, less mold and moisture risk. We also felt that in the event that there was a problem, we could always decide to more closely follow the consultant's recommendations. We discussed this issue with other experts and it was their feeling that our path was low risk

Based on the consultant's concerns we will upgrade the (2) inside basement access doors with exterior-type insulated metal doors with weather seals. An additional CO sensor will be installed in the basement, and two of the new basement windows will be permanently gapped for pressure equalization. When the post-project blower-door test is done we will be ready in the basement with smoke wand and spray foam to attack each and every leak with the gusto of a Ghurka.

December 7, 2008
First Comfirmation of Roofing Performance
Pre-Insulation Roof Shot: January 9, 2001.
A myriad of melted snow areas, matching up with sealed uninsulated spaces, mindless fiberglass stuffing, goofs and gaps.

Post-Insulated Roof Shot: December 7, 2008
Ahhh. What a relief. The insulation insulates. No awkward explanations necessary.

The new insulated roof next to a less insulated neighbor

December 7, 2008
Finishing the Doors
The two Lemieux solid oak entryway doors came from the Canada factory via the local distributor Bridgewater Mill Works, pre-hung on a solid oak frame. These are heavy-duty doors, custom made to fit our unusual 34" width. Why settle for a stock door from Home Depot when you can choose from a myriad of styles, window designs and wood species custom crafted for the same price? We stained cherry and followed with 3 coats of spar urethane. Although we were wholly incompetent, we rose to meet the challenge, made and fixed our mistakes (as far as you know), and the doors came out marvelously.

December 6, 2008
With the deck reattached, the team zooms through the back wall, insulating to the roof line of the back wall. In the process they create a 26' x 24' foil faced reflective surface visible from space.

December 3, 2008
Amputating the Back Deck
These contractors are completely anally retentive......and this is good when the goal is blocking any possible escape of our hard earned heat. For example, the back deck was bolted directly to the house with a 2x12 plank. Unless dealt with, heat will just spill out through the plank and the bolts that fasten it to the house. The decision is made to amputate the deck from the house, create an unbroken insulation barrier, cut down the width of the deck to make room for the insulation, and re-attach it........while standing on the deck to do all this. Since I was pretty sure that the deck was going to accordian, killing the contractors and flattening my beloved BBQ; I couldn't watch.

The deck is bolted to the house through the foam insulation, and just under the new life changing sliding door. The BBQ is not squished, and the contractors live to hammer again. Good news all around I say.

December 1, 2008
New Sliding Doors on the Second Floor
Is it wrong to get emotional about a new sliding door?
There was an old sliding door before this new one, and what was, not to like about that one?

it slowed the wind just a bit on its way into the kitchen.
the mis-aligned wheels ground the track into a metal dust.
the bug screen flew off its tracks whenever the kids used it.
lacking a privacy shade our cooking was somewhat....hmmm....self-conscious.

Not anymore. The Pella Designer triple-pane sliding door now fully installed is simply AWESOME. It is a pardigm shift in the art of deck-access door design. A game changer. An engineering marvel with privacy shades between the glass. Between the glass!!
See, even YOU are tearing up a little.

November 20, 2008
Cold, cold, cold. Contractors pick up the pace stripping shingles and applying Dow rigid foam. Though they will complete the wall started with Steve Thomas, the plan is to revert to normal procedure of insulating everything before siding anything, a practice only broken for the Hollywood folks. It's a huge challenge adjusting the firring strip depth to correct for problems in the under-lying wall. Great swaths of old siding are stipped away. The contractors don't get all the house wrap up before closing for the weekend. Finishing the wrap might have been nice since the winds were fierce and temperatures hit 19F during the weekend.

Bullet-Proof Window Flashing
Whether new windows were included or not, the super-insulation strategy recommended by the contractors required that every window be removed, reflashed, and re-installed.
Windows are removed. Flashing is attached to the bottom sill with a wee bit extra to go up each jamb to keep the water moving out of the house. Fiberglass is stuffed into the voids, and weight pocket. More flashing is pressed into the side jambs and folded over the front casing, and then the top. Attention paid to be sure that ALL water that falls in will flow out. A bead is applied of high end sealer with acrylic and silicone before pressing the windows into place.

Windows are installed and fastened with screws. More flashing on the outside, and more acrylic sealant inside between the window and the stops. Windows are then ready for application of the house wrap as the final layer. For a more in-depth review of the bullet-proof window flashing system......click here.

November 19, 2008
The contractors cannot believe their luck. Cameras are gone. Home owners are gone. Finally they can get some work done.
Two custom oak entryway doors arrive from Lemieux Doors and Bridgewater Millworks and are hauled back to the garage. Getting colder.

November 18, 2008
Instant hot water heater.
The current hot water system runs by pumping water through a heat exchange in the same oil boiler which heats the house. The unit keeps 5-10 gallons of water in storage, and the boiler fires every time hot water is drawn OR the 5-10 gallons of water drop below the "set" temperature. It's unknown exactly how much oil is used all year to heat water, but >200 gallons of oil are used between heating seasons, from spring through Halloween and all of that oil is for water heating. A gas fired instant hot water system is tankless, and fires ONLY when there is demand for hot water. No standby losses, no firing to keep the stored water warm or while we are off working or away for a weekend. It fires only when hot water is needed. Of all the retrofits, the consultants promise that this has the fastest payback.

We didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the installation as we were busy shooting "Renovation Nation", but there were 3 people in the basement all day assembling the system. The unit is a big 200,000 BTU whole house unit and required an upgrade to a larger gas line in the basement. As long as the plumber was plumbing, we asked the plumber to add a 'T' fitting to allow for a future upgrade to a gas boiler.

Two Weeks Later
We have not been disappointed with the changeover, though it does require a little more time to get the hot water to the faucet. Savings? No idea, and we may not know until we shut off the heat for the summer.

November 18, 2008
The day is spent organizing a more perfect reality for the reality television people from the Planet Green Channel's show, Renovation Nation with Steve Thomas, and the visit by Massachusetts Secretary of Energy Ian Bowles.
For the contractors, unfortunately, it's a lost day. It is bloody cold.

November 17, 2008
Contractors kick it into high gear to prepare several stages of work on 3 sections of wall for Planet Green's return on the 18th when the nation's most famous contractor, Steve Thomas, will dig into the project. The contractors strip off another section of siding while installing two Pella windows + flashing, extension jams, house wrap, Dow foam and tape. The house is as ready as it's going to be for filming.

November 14, 2008
Performance Evaluation
Sure we could go on and on about roofs and walls all day, who couldn't, but there's more to this project than polyiso rigid foam and double-pane windows. Other energy saving upgrades are critical to the project, like water heating, basement and attic foaming, and data collection for performance confirmation. We are selfishly partial to the ventilation upgrades and carbon monoxide sensors for comfort and occupant life extension.

Onset Computer: Data Loggers

We searched everywhere for a residential temperature and humidity sensor that could log the temperature and humidity measurements. Everybody and Radio Shack sells a 2 piece wireless system which displays inside and outside weather, but they only display current readings and only record the highest and lowest data point since reset. We needed all the data recorded. Enter Pocasset, Massachusetts' own Onset Computer with a catalog which included some of the coolest data loggers and measurements toys anywhere.

We received 7 Temperature and Humidity data loggers.
Four for installation on each floor. Two would be located in adjacent homes with similar construction as a control. One special exterior unit was screwed to a porch column to track the outside temperature conditions.

VisiTank: Remote Tank Level Monitoring
Seemed a shame to rig the house with the best insulation known to man, but yet have no idea how much energy the house was using or saving. No idea, that is, other than the bill which came with each intermittent oil delivery. Certainly there are many better ways to track oil usage as it is being used. Well it turns out there's actually only one: VisiTank.

The VisiTank technology was designed to help home heating oil delivery companies manage their delivery assets (trucks and truck drivers). As luck would have it, VisiTank collects exactly the data we required to understand the performance of our insulation retrofit.

VisiTank works by using a rocket shaped sensor affixed to an access port on a home's oil tank, and uses sound waves to measure the distance to the oil surface. As oil is used the distance increases. The readings are wirelessly transmitted to a modem which stores the data for the once per day call-in to the oil company, in this case the Fawcett Oil Company of Cambridge, MA. Fawcett Oil uses the technology to reduce deliveries, reduce costs and improve service. This data will be analyzed with interior and exterior temperature measurements to understand how spectacularly successful the project will undoubtedly become.

November 14, 2008
Rain day, so no contractors on site. The Planet Green crew sans Steve Thomas set up shop to videotape interviews with the contractors, the consultants, and the home owners. One minute of broadcast time takes 3 hours of taping, delayed by the noise of 8 garbage trucks, a UPS delivery, and several waves of middle school escapees. With evening there is a change of venue to a rockclimbing gym where I'm pretty sure Planet Green is hoping to catch us breaking our necks on camera. Why are we rock climbing and not insulating? I am not qualified to answer, but we did have fun.

November 13, 2008
President of NuCedar comes to train the team on the finer points of installing the planet's most advanced engineered siding.
Planet Green Channel wants more going on and endless construction excitement so I secure a committment from the plumbers to install the instant hot water system on the 18th.
The contractors start installing the first windows, and learn that the one window I measured on my own, I screwed up. The contractors make it work.

November 12, 2008
The NuCedar truck arrives, and it is clear that yesterday's idea of hand unloading and going without Dan the fork truck pilot would have been partially insane. The partially sane part won the day and made sure Dan was called and did his business. With a yard populated by dumpsters, a stocked garage, foam up the wazoo, and a driveway stacked with siding, we were at the project's maximum inventory. Contractors start stripping off the old siding.

November 11, 2008
The Pella truck arrives exactly on schedule and the windows are hauled to the garage. 1/2 the garage was emptied of insulation and piled under the trees to make room for the windows.

November 10, 2008
Can't start the walls while the roof work continues. The flotsam and jetsam will bang up the new siding and windows.
Can't start the walls until the Pella windows arrive, since the windows and window flashing are the critical step.
Can't really show people around when the only work is the roof, since it's not safe and nearly impossible to see work get done on the roof.
At least since October 22 we've known that the Planet Green Channel was interested and planned to film us on November 14 and 17, and since November 10th we've known that someone from Governor Deval Patrick's administration would be coming to meet with Planet Green, but as of November 10 no wall work had started.
Antacids just don't seem strong enough.

OCT 4 - 30, 2008
Rain throughout October made a dent in the roofing schedule, but the walls wouldn't start until the Pella windows arrived at their appointed time November 10....so really, why rush? We also took this opportunity in the front to correct a confusing roof line and a lack of window overhang.
BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER
Notice that the roof leans much more towards "white" than the roof it replaces. It was the whitest shade available to us. If we could have chosen a much whiter roof, as white as the color of new snow, we would have. A white roof is a gift that keeps on giving. It dramatically and directly reduces shingle and roof temperature extending the life of a roof. A white roof also reflects heat back into space, cooling the neighborhood, and cooling the planet. Obviously a single roof is a level of cooling too inconsequential to discuss. If, on the other hand, the "white roof", and the "white street" were part of a global initiative it would have a measureable effect on global temperatures. Staying ahead of the curve is what this project is all about.
Some background info:
ASHRAE Journal 2002: Venting of Attics & Cathedral Ceilings
Times of India January 17, 2008: Painting the town white could reduce global warming

COMING UP
-(2) Skylights removed during roofing to be replaced as soon as they arrive.
-The front 2x6 rafters, that hang from the roof and support nothing will be rip-cut to reduce the height of the roof. In fact the roof will look no thicker than it did before the retrofit.
-Soffits will be enclosed and gutters attached after the walls are completed

OCT 3, 2008: Roofing Begins
Tearing, ripping, stripping...Repeat.
What can one say, when 4 words say it all?
A super insulated roof seems easy enough to understand.
A) 2 layers of foam, seams taped and staggered.
B) 1 layer new plywood sheathing
C) 10" screws through the sheathing, through the 6" foam, through the old sheathing, leaving 2" of screw left to get into the rafters.
D) Roofing membrane
E) The shingles
Well it's easier said than done.
After clearing off the old roofing in the area to be worked, panels of 3" Dow Thermax foam, carved to fit jigsaw puzzle-like were laid down and taped to adjacent panels. Then a second layer of 3" Thermax was laid upon the first, seams staggered from the first layer, and those seams were then taped. The contractors did mention how much they enjoyed applying foil faced foam under a glaring sun.

The (2) layers of foam were followed by the application of the plywood sheathing which was then fastened to the underlying house using 10" screws. How does one find a roof rafter blind with a 10" screw through 8" of material? Once found, how do you get those screws to drive home?

In the beginning it was a slow slog of roofer unhappiness, what with the jammed screws, sheared screws, and the colorful language from one and all. But as you know, every problem is simply an excuse to buy a new tool, and this was no exception. Armed with a set of new impact drills and the benefit of a little pre-drilling, relatively quick work was made of the rest of the installation.

The final steps are the same the world over. Roofing membrane and roofing shingles.

SEPT 30, 2008
Atlas Roofing joined the project as a supplier of the roofing and roofing membrane. Atlas specified a striking shingle design in their Storm Master line. We specified the Chalkstone Slate color for maximum reflectivity, and we're in business.
Another flat bed with shingles arrived from Ohio by way of New Jersey, but this time we were surprised when it pulled up. No one was on site to assist in the off-loading. After 90 minutes of lugging roofing shingles the 75 feet from the street to the garage it all become very clear why I didn't get into the roofing arts. Another question answered.

The roof wrap, Atlas Weathermaster Polyseal, is manufactured in nearby New Hampshire, so when asked "Will Call?", sure no problem, we'll pick it up. Imagine our surprise when we discover that 11 rolls of the stuff hits the max cargo capacity of our little runabout. That stuff is like lead?

SEPT 24, 2008
Another 20 wheel 60 ft monster flatbed from Pennsylvania, another visit by our pal Dan the fork truck driver with his 40 ft flat bed. The Dow Thermax arrives, is stacked neatly in front of the garage, and is tarp covered. The weather report is 3" - 5" of rain over the coming days, so the contractor canceled work until after the weekend.

SEPT 21, 2008

The foam to be used for the walls arrived first from the Dow factory in Pennsylvania. Delivery was moved from Monday to Sunday as it is the best day for hired gun Dan the fork truck operator with his 40 ft flat bed + 14,000 lb fork truck, and Bob, the world's most polite truck driver with his 10 wheel 60 ft monster flatbed. The wall foam took up 1/2 of the truck. Half of that truck was coming here...WHERE HERE? Dan and Bob, unloaded pallet after pallet after pallet, and gingerly shoe horned them into the garage with inches to spare in every direction, until 95% of the garage volume was foam. In some end of world scenarios, the garage's buoyancy would have come in handy.
(Photo: Garage 1/2 filled by 1/4 of truck)

SEPT 20, 2008
The consultants recommended 2 layers of 4" foil faced polyisocyanurate rigid insulation with a value of R6.5/inch for both the walls and roof.

Dow Chemical, makers of all sorts of building insulation products, was quick to join the project and agreed to supply all of the rigid foam used. We chose 2-layers of Dow's 2" foil-faced Tuff-R-brand polyisocyanurate for the walls but after deep consideration of the total incompetence displayed in the the last attempt to insulate the roof 20 years ago, it was decided that thicker would be better. We went with 2-layers of 3" foil-faced polyisocyanurate foam on the roof. Polyiso of this thickness was only available from the commercial division under the Thermax brand.

COMMENTS
Anonymous said...
Wow, that's one serious Residential Roofing job
December 23, 2008 3:42 AM

Anonymous said...
I'm suprised you didn't do a ventilated roof system. After the foil foam, you could have laid down 1 inch furring strips. Then fasten the plywood above the strips. Then you leave adequate vents in the soffits. The air flow under the shingles will extend their life in the hot summer months.
December 27, 2008 8:04 PM

home owner said...
I wondered that as well but the consultant felt a vented roof was un-necessary and referred me to this study which shows shingle color to be many times more important than venting when discussing shingle temperature.http://www.customfoaminsealators.com/images/air_venting.pdfI therefore chose the lightest shingle color available.Because the shingles are not vented, the warranty is void.
December 27, 2008 11:27 PM

Anonymous said...
there is a material called cedar breather which is a brillo like mesh that you put on under wood shingles to keep them cool here on Martha's vineyard.. does not need any special venting conditions at edges. that should do the trick if you are worried about venting the shingles.Jamie WeismanTerrain Architects
January 8, 2009 5:26 PM

THE HOUSE PRE-PROJECT

See the project goals and project backers: Introduction to our Project

Media Attention and V.I.P. Visits

2008-11-21T08:15:00.109-05:00

Certainly the best known project of its kind in North America, with national media in both consumer and professional outlets, broadcast, print, and online.
This project has gotten plenty of attention.....but is it ever enough? Nahhh.

April 29, 2010
Green Building Advisor
Energy -Efficiency Retrofits: Insulation or Solar Power? by Martin Holladay
The story asks the right question, "Are there other ways to get to the same place?", or in this case could you spend the same money on solar power and be ahead of spending the money on insulation? The author though ignored information which we had provided which did not support his contention, and padding costs unrelated to insulation to make it look more expensive and less attractive. Read the story, and then read our response below it.

April 21, 2010
Massachusetts Dept of Energy Resources
Zero Net Energy Buildings: Residential Case Study
Deep Energy Retrofit, Arlington, Mass.
The state summarizes our Arlington project, which has become the template for all programs of their type in the state.

April 12, 2010
Builder Online
Massachusetts Super-Insulation Project Reveals Impressive Results by Nigel Maynard
The results of all our hard work for all to see.

March 12, 2010
CNET
'Deep energy retrofits' take root in homes by Martin Lamonica
Photo of our house makes the story which touches on many other projects.

March 10, 2010
Building 10
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association Convention (NESEA)
Deep Energy Retrofits: Case Studies
Presentation: "Teaching an Old House New Tricks"
Home owner presents the result of 68% heating oil reduction.
The Full Presentation at NESEA
This project is either the "It" project...or I'm hyper-sensitized to references to it. There is near total awareness of our project by contractors and architects at NESEA. That's their interest, so it shouldn't be a complete shock.
But, it is truly unbelievable how many people outside the trade are familiar with the project. You have no idea what a relief it is to have attained a 68% efficiency, and not look like a complete dope.

January 7, 2010
Renovation Nation with Steve Thomas
Green Planet Channel
Nearly 14 months since it was filmed, with more post-production work than Avatar, and now finally broadcast. It was entertaining, it was funny, you got a taste of what was happening in the project but it was a sort of an alternate reality reality television. We all played our characters well, and no one was particularly damaged in the telling.
And the best stuff......some of the best stuff anyway didn't make the cut.

November 19, 2009
Project toured by Building Science Corp. President Betsy Pettit with Ken Neuhauser, National Grid's Residential Building Science Specialist David Legg, and hailing from Colorado at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was Senior Engineer Marcus Bianci. They all seemed to like the project though our decision to insulate the basement ceiling and not the roof was discussed as being non-optimal.

November 13, 2009
CyberGreenRealty's Blog
So you think you can insulate, by Tim Cahill
More discussion about our project

November 2009
Journal of Light Construction
Retrofitting Exterior Insulation by David Joyce
The project contractor principal David Joyce speaks up about the details of the project in this 8 page extravaganza.

November 5, 2009
Philip Guidice, Commission at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), reporting to the Secretary, made his first tour of the project, along with DOER project champion, Larry Masland. Mr. Guidice had approved the project and included it in his testimony to Congress (see February 24, 2009). (Larry left, Alex center, Phil right)

October 29, 2009
The Fraunhofer Institute USA comes for for a full tour of the project. The Germany R&D institute is studying how to reduce the cost of a thermal retrofit.

April 24, 2009
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
Testimony by Mass. Sec of Energy Ian Bowles to
US House Subcommittee on Energy & Environment and
Committee on Energy and Commerce
with Chairman Ed Markey Washington DC.
Text of Ian Bowles Testimony (referred to in page 3)

April 13, 2009
ABC Boston Affiliate WCVB-TV Channel 5 News
Stock footage from March 31, 2009 and December 22, 2008 used to illustrate green jobs and job training issues.

April 6, 2009
Remodeling Magazine (print & web)
Laying It on Thick by Nina Patel

April 6, 2009
GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
(a Joint Venture of Taunton Press, publishers of Fine Home Building Magazine)
Superinsulation Pilot Program Paves the Way to an Energy-Efficient Future
by Rob Wotzak

March 31, 2009
ABC Boston Affiliate WCVB-TV Channel 5 News
Going Green Boston segment with David Brown
Take Advantage Of Tax Credits To Go Green: Homeowners can recoup expenses

March 11, 2009
GETTING TO ZERO
Final Report of the Massachusetts Zero Net Energy Buildings Task Force
The Task Force was charged by Governor Deval Patrick with developing recommendations to bring the state's homes and businesses to zero energy.
Our project makes the final report as a Case study on page 25, as well as making the cover.

February 27, 2009
Boston's Greenest Houses
"Radio Boston" on WBUR
"Alex from Arlington" caller #1 at Min 14+. You will have to follow the link above to hear the audio.
Pretty good though we were slammed on the total cost.

The key point on cost, which was written on my notes but I forgot to bring up was brought up by caller #2, Project friend, and fellow super-insulator "Eric from Newton". Eric stressed that this is work you would do when ALREADY doing a major renovation. Doing a roof super-insulating upgrade when already doing a new roof, for example when most of the cost of an extreme energy retrofit is covered by work you had to do anyway.

The show spent time discussing both Extreme retrofits and the caulking solution. Caulking is fine, and certainly economical, but it is not enough to reach carbon reduction goals and energy independence.

February 24, 2009
Testimony to US House Subcommittee on Energy & Environment with Chairman Ed Markey
Washington DC
Hearing: “Energy Efficiency: Complementary Polices for Climate Legislation”

Excerpted Testimony of Philip Guidice
Commissioner of Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
"Let me give you some examples of what is happening in Massachusetts as a result of this activity. A homeowner named Alex Cheimets is in the final stages of a major renovation. This started – as these things often do – with a small water leak, and ended with a bold project that is expected to reduce his energy use by half or more, through thorough air sealing of the building envelope and adding four to six inches of foam insulation to the sides and roof of his house, as well as installing an air to air heat exchanger and monitoring equipment. His is a typical Massachusetts home – an eighty-year-old two-family house which leaked badly but now will be a model of what is possible."
For Philip Guidice's full testimony.

Everybody's Testimony

February 24, 2009 - March 10, 2009
A Flurry of Hanley-Wood trade publications run the story

Residential Architect Online: February 24, 2009
Massachusetts Pilot Project Explores Super Insulation for Old Houses by Nigel Maynard

Custom Home Online: February 24, 2009
Massachusetts Pilot Project Explores Super Insulation for Old Houses by Nigel Maynard

Builder Online: March 9, 2009
Pilot Project Explores Super Insulation for Older Homes by Nigel Maynard

EcoHome Online: March 9, 2009
Pilot Project Explores Super Insulation for Older Homes by Nigel Maynard

ProSales Online: March 10, 2009
Pilot Project Explores Super Insulation for Older Homes by Nigel Maynard

February 11, 2009
Natural Life Magazine March / April 2009
Super-Insulated Retrofit Keeps The Heat In by Rolf Priesnitz

January 29, 2009
The Boston Globe: Northwest Region
Green makeover, home edition by Sarah Metcalf
Above the fold, big color photos, and I get photo credit.

January 26, 2009
Remodeling Magazine Blog by Ted Cushman

January 19, 2009
Mass Climate Action Network
Arlington Home Gets "Super-Insulated"

January 16 - 29, 2009
Story Explodes Across the United States
Reporter Jay Lindsay with the Associated Press releases his story for regional and/or national distribution.
Title: Mass. hopes to learn from 'super insulated' house
ABC.com
MSNBC.com

Homeowner Alex Cheimets shows the two-inch-thick insulation on his house in Arlington, Mass. Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009. Cheimets' house is part of a super insulation pilot project designed to conserve energy and control heating and cooling costs for the homeowner. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

The story is picked up by the websites of:
ABC News
MSNBC
Boston Globe
Boston Herald
Worcester Telegram
Examiner.com
The South Coast Today
The Stamford Advocate
The Danbury CT News Times
Fosters Daily Democrat of NH
The Day from New London, CT
WHDH channel 7 Boston
CW channel 56 Boston
WBZ Radio & TV Boston
Denver Post
The New Herald of Burke County NC
WLBZ TV Bangor
Ashbury Park Press from the Jersey Shore
BC Hydro via Canadian Press
Helenair.com (Montana Regional Newspaper chain)
Washington Energy Services
Lexington Herald of Kentucky
Providence Journal
South Town Star (member of Chicago Sun Times)
Leader Telegram of Eau Claire, Wisconsin and the Chippewa Valley
The Tennessean
Sun Journal of Central Maine
Stoneham Independent (Massachusetts)
Chicago Tribune
Nashua Telegraph
Berkshire Eagle
WCSH 6 Portland, ME
Citizen Newspaper NH
Orange County Register (S. California)
NH.com (New Hampshire's online hub)
Mail Tribune of Oregon
Cincinnati Enquirer

We have confirmed that the story was in the print editions of:
Boston Globe
Cape Cod Times
Worcester Telegram
Nashua Telegraph
Hampshire Gazette (Northhampton, MA)
Orange County Register (S. California)
Unknown paper near Gainsville, FL
Fall River Herald (Fall River, MA)
Mail Tribune of Oregon
The Sentinel of Lewiston, PA
We assume that several other newspapers printed the story.

The story was broadcast by:
WBZ-Radio 1030
Fox 25 TV Boston

also by peak oilists, and survivalists of Oildrum.com

December 28, 2008
A google search find that the CNET story from December 22, is reprinted in too many blogs to list here.

December 24, 2008
Greentech Media Blog

December 24, 2008
Zero Energy Intelligence Blog
Promising Start For Zero Energy Insulation Project In Existing Home

December 24, 2008
Enerblog: Dispatches from inside the Energy Revolution
Quick news: Extreme insulation by Jim Hutton Johnson

December 22, 2008
ABC's Boston Affiliate WCVB-TV Channel 5
"Going Green Boston" segment by David Brown
"Super-Insulated Home Could Be Model In Energy Efficiency"
Story broadcast Monday 12/22 @ 11PM, and Tuesday 12/23 @ 5AM & 6AM & 5PM.
Text Link
Video Link

December 22, 2008
CNET's Greentech News
Can you 'superinsulate' that home, please? by Martin Lamonica.
Reprinted on CBS.com
Can you "Superinsulate" it?
Great story.

December 22, 2008
The Governor's Zero Net Energy Buildings Task Force publishes a poster describing their activities and goals. Our modest project is shown in one of the four example photos: contractor Synergy Companies' mad-man Mike on the roof figuring how to get 10" screws through 6" of insulation.
December 14, 2008
Energy Smackdown Pilgrimage
Members of the Energy Smackdown's Leadership Council come to Massachusetts' newest tourist destination. The Smackdown is a friendly competition for carbon reduction between 30 families in 3 towns. The competition will roll out state-wide in 2009.

They are joined by:
Freelance reporter Michael Prager (behind the sign).
CNET Greentech reporter Martin Lamonica (far left).

December 5, 2008
Vinyl Institute Publishes Story with focus on NuCedar's Siding
Home Renovation With Vinyl Siding Becomes State Energy Project

December 4, 2008
Boston Channel 5 WCVB TV: Reporter David Brown
Mass. Dept. of Energy Resources Commissioner: Frank Gorke
NStar spokespeople: Bill Stack and Michael Durand

David Brown reports on all things green in his weekly "Going Green Boston" segments bringing the skills of a reporter and the technical background of a meteorologist.
Funny story really, how we bumped into David Brown on the escalator at the GreenBuild Expo in Boston, gave him our 30 second escalator pitch and we were off to the races.
The segment airs Tuesday December 23.

Bill Stack with David Brown Frank Gorke with David Brown

November 20, 2008
Arlington Advocate Newspaper
Story: Saving on Energy: House gets a parka in time for winter.

November 18, 2008
Mass. Sec. of Energy & Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles
Secretary Ian Bowles, who leads the Department of Energy Resources visited to speak to Renovation Nation and to see the Pilot Project himself.

November 18, 2008
Planet Green Channel's "Renovation Nation" with Steve Thomas
A full production crew and Steve Thomas, the last contractor-host of PBS's This Old House, spent 2 days helping our contractors, discussing our configuration of super-insulation, and throwing yours-truly under the bus for dramatic effect. This episode will air this spring on the Planet Green Channel which is owned by the Discovery Network. Fun was had by all....even in the end by me.
Overlooking the tire tracks on my back, Steve Thomas impressed me as one hell of a host and first rate contractor. He ducked and weaved with all of the video-rookies, redirecting the conversation based on the facts on the ground, while simultaneously keeping track of the post-production issues of continuity, pacing, unplanned product branding, and lighting in this semi-scripted format. As a host his questions turned far from the generic procedurial that I had expected, and instead to the very heart of what "Green" is and the big and small compromises we all make in the modern world. He belittled, and amused, and backed you right up to the edge of the ledge because he knew his stuff, "Green" and otherwise. He then used that knowledge to throw you the undeserved line which the format prefers. Only time will tell if I still get thrown a line in the final cut.

November 17, 2008
Governor's Zero Net Energy Building Task Force
Residential Working Group
A pilgrimage and a meeting. The working group is charged "with developing recommendations to achieve "broad marketability" of Zero Net Energy throughout residential markets by 2020 and "universal adoption" of ZNE practices for new construction by 2030.
November 13, 2008
NuCedar President Tom Loper
Siding supplier CEO Mr. Loper tours the project and trains the contractors on the lickity-split installation of the NuCedar system.

Project Work Today

2008-11-02T15:46:00.004-05:00

Click HERE to see where the project is today.

....Kicking and Screaming into the 21st and 1/2 Century

2008-09-15T23:40:00.050-04:00

How difficult could it be to retrofit an 80 year old two-family for state-of-the-art energy efficiency? Really. Stuff a little insulation here, a little caulk there, replace a few light bulbs and yell at the kids to take shorter showers......and you are done.
These are all great ideas, and by all means caulk away, but they won't get an 80 year old house (or any house already built) ready for 2050 when our carbon budget will be 80% less than it is today. You need to do more, more than can be accomplished with caulk, more than can accomplished by insulating the 3-1/2" deep cavities of your 80 year old walls, more than can be accomplished by screaming at your kids through the bathroom door. Trust us.

There are several competing ideas out there as to what "MORE" means, and this Pilot Project explores one of them in detail. We will be applying insulation to the OUTSIDE of a home, correcting for decades of incompetent cellulose installations and the cavities, gaps, and leaks those contractors never found as well as solving the problem of the 25% of any house made up of studs, joists, rafters, knee walls and beams which are never insulated.

Beyond learning the methods, materials, costs and performance of this retrofit, the more important results of this project will be an understanding of how super-insulation can be accomplished in stages. Super-insulating the roof when re-roofing, super-insulating the walls when residing; defining a path where most of the cost to upgrade insulation is already covered by a home's large though infrequent maintenance.

This Project would not have been possible without the support of:
Mass. Dept. of Energy Resources (DOER)
An agency filled with capable, empowered and entrepreneurial people who saw this project both as a tool for quickly building a real world knowledge base in super-insulation retrofits as well as an important part of Governor Deval Patrick's conservation initiative. Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said of the project, "This super-insulation project in Arlington promises to be a model for the type of innovation in the building industry that the Patrick Administration hopes will soon be widespread across Massachusetts."

NStar Gas and Electric
NStar is a regional utility which generates and distributes electricity and natural gas and is committed to the goals of efficiency and conservation. NStar's VP of Customer Care, Penni McLean-Conner said of the project, "This pilot project is a perfect example of how Massachusetts is quickly becoming a leader in energy efficiency." NStar is a principal partner with the state's other utilities in rolling out the Governor's far sighted Green Communities Act which eliminates many of the obstacles to both large and small scale alternative energy production and distribution. NStar get's it.

Pella Corporation of Pella, Iowa
Pella is a manufacturer of some of the most stylish windows anywhere. They knew what we needed before we knew what we needed. They were way ahead of us with their recommendation of their Impervia line of fiberglass-framed double-pane Low-E windows, which last forever, are Energy Star rated, which eliminate the nasty thermal expansion problems of vinyl windows, and yet are stronger than steel (by weight). As an added benefit, the windows are priced competitively to vinyl which fits the overall project goals of finding economic paths to super-insulation.

NuCedar Mills of Chicopee, Massachusetts
Manufacturer of a classy, highly engineered, highly advanced family of pre-painted clapboard and trim which simply revolutionizes the way houses will be sided in the future. A baked-on paint which resists scratches and lasts decades but which can be repainted, a fastening system that eliminates face nailing, a trim system which eliminates caulking, a cellular PVC clapboard "virtually indistinguishable from painted cedar", all locally made here in Massachusetts.

Dow Building Solutions of Midland, Michigan
The world leader in foam insulation products was an early partner on the project and is our exclusive supplier of rigid foam. Dow's Tuff-R and Thermax lines of foil faced polyiso rigid foam were chosen both for their exceptional insulation properties of R-6.5/inch, as well as their superior compressive strength of 25 lbs/in2.

Atlas Roofing of Franklin, Ohio
Atlas Roofing has grown from a single factory in 1981 to 15 production locations throughout the United States. Their products include all grades of residential and commercial roofing products as well as many forms of rigid insulation. Atlas recommended their high performance, StormMaster Slate line to meet our requirement for a Lifetime product. We specified their lightest color option, Chalkstone Slate, to reflect more light and heat into space, to reduce roofing temperature and extend shingle life, and in a teeny tiny way reduce global warming. You're welcome.

Anderson Insulation of Abington, Massachusetts
Anderson Insulation is one of the region's long time suppliers of insulation and insulation services. Nobody else has this much experience. They answer their phones, they do a good job, they stand by their work. They also are an endless fount of technical and building code information to make sure that both you and your building inspector stay on speaking terms. On this project Anderson will be blowing in the Urethane and Icynene Foams in the nooks of the attic to seal off the knee walls and other leaky gaps, as well as the basement ceiling and basement rim joists.

Fantech of Sarasota, Florida
Fantech manufacturers a myriad of ventilation products including blowers, ducts, and other air management paraphernalia. Fantech will be supplying 2 small boxes which will go a very long way to making sure that this much tighter house will still be a pleasant environment in which to breath. Fantech is providing 2 Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) which will continuously exchange stuffy inside air for fresh outside air while simultaneously warming the incoming air from heat salvaged from the outgoing air. HRV's go hand in hand with tighter construction.

Lemieux Doors of Windsor, Quebec
Bridgewater Mill Works (BWI) of Leominster, Massachusetts
Arlington Coal and Lumber of Arlington Massachusetts
The heavily cracked and damaged entryway doors necessitated full replacement. While Pella had some great insulated doors, the project's odd size and short landing before the stairs required a custom door size. Rescuing us from our door plight was 102 year old Canadian manufacturer Lemieux Doors which uses state of the art techniques to design and manufacture classic solid wood door styles. In partnership, BWI, will frame and pre-hang the door for a pre-tested fit and performance and simplified installation. Arlington Coal will make it all happen.

Onset Computer of Pocasset, Massachusetts
Where the rubber meets the road 1. Onset Computer manufactures equipment to monitor environmental conditions, water levels, weather, and electric energy use. Onset is providing the project with programmable USB connected HOBO data loggers which will record temperature and humidity every 15 minutes outside the building, AND on all 4 floors inside the building. Two additional loggers will be deployed in two adjacent similarly constructed homes for use as a control.

VisiTank of Ansonia, Connecticut
Fawcett Oil of Cambridge, Massachusetts
Where the rubber meets the road 2. The VisiTank technology allows home heating oil delivery companies to monitor their customer's daily usage of heating oil. With this technology your neighborhood heating oil company would see how full your tank is without the back of envelope guessing that goes on now.
Result: Fewer deliveries. Bigger deliveries. Fewer miles on the trucks and the drivers. Doesn't take a genius to see the benefits.
For our project, VisiTank is unique in its ability to economically provide day by day oil use data.

Combining the VisiTank oil use data with the Onset Computer temperature data, we will learn how efficiently this super insulated structure retains heat, how efficiently it is brought up to new temperature set points, and how well the heat is distributed throughout all 4 floors. This data will also be used to compare the oil use (corrected for external temperature conditions) against the consultant's projected oil usage and actual historic oil usage.

Synergy Companies of Leominster, Massachusetts
Who but the folks at Synergy to pull all of these moving parts together under the watchful eye of the media, political leaders, and a program manager & home owner who's had one coffee too many? Gary and David are the cool craftsman of insulation; fashioning, cutting and sealing the hundreds of rigid panels to fit together just so. Synergy specializes in zero and low energy construction and remodeling and may be the most experienced specialists in New England.

Marin Strategies of Arlington, Massachusetts
For weeks we marched around blind, making things up as we went, executing our own PR plan. We had some success, but we made it 3X harder than we had to.
When Marin Strategies joined the team they brought a knowledge and a professionalism that blew us away, and a rolodex that includes everybody who is anybody. So that's what it looks like when you know what you're doing?