All of us here at NCF Home Improvements Inc are looking forward to a productive and busy 2014. It seems recently that we have been hearing a lot of homeowners asking about energy savings, and for good reason considering the winter weather we have been experiencing here in Richmond for what seem like an eternity! YES we can help you. 

 Living in the climate that we do we have three major things to take into consideration when it comes to insulating your home. Draft, Insulation and Humidity. Once your home is built there is only several things (cost effective things) that can be done to assist in your overall thermal loss. Below is a list of items that we would check for if we were to do an analysis on your home. Lets start from the ground and work our way up 

1. If you have a traditional crawlspace then we want to see both a proper vapor barrier and also automatic foundation vents. Another option would be a climate controlled crawlspace (thats another discussion) And of course an insulated floor system

2. A large percentage of heat loss in your living areas occurs at your doors and windows. This one is pretty self explanatory. Basically if you have older, wooden doors or single pane windows you are essentially throwing heat away. 

3. Attic insulation requirements have changed. You should have a minimum of R-38 insulation, thats 12 inches! I'm willing to go out on a limb and say you probably do not have  insulation in your attic

3B. Yes you probably noticed that there was a B part to attic insulation, this one however concerns your roof system's ability to breathe. YOUR ATTIC MUST BE CORRECTLY VENTED! You would be shocked to know how many peoples homes I have had to address this issue. The enemy here, in the winter is humidity. Just the same as your crawlspace, it MUST be regulated.

Not sure about your home's overall energy efficiency? Give us a call, we will be happy to help you reduce your heat loss = electricity bill

 In the fast paced world we reside in, do you at times feel like quality is a thing of the past? Everything from fast food to high speed internet connections have satisfied our need for "right now". There are however things that we prefer quality over speed. If you are looking at a medical procedure that is potentially life changing, your obvious main concern is the qualifications of the doctor and the quality of the work being done. Now that is much more important than any work done on your home, but wouldn't you agree that for your ultimate satisfaction you would put quality ahead of most other factors? 

 Just a few years ago, for an example, many builders looking to cut costs would skip seemingly mundane steps in building homes. House wrap (i.e. Tyvek) wasn't required by many codes until recent years. Now the technology was out there, the tests had been done, the results were clear. Building a home without house wrap properly installed GREATLY increased your risk for water damage in the future. If your curious, YES I have many examples 

 Now to wrap the average home in house wrap you would be looking at a cost to the builder of about $500. If you were building a $200,000 home would you like to guess the percentage of total cost? 1/4 of one percent. What about the average repair cost a decade later? We personally have seen numbers over $50k in extreme cases. 

 Lesson here? Don't always decide solely on price when considering a contractor. Compare "apples to apples". Ask questions. Be direct. Don't allow a high pressure, fast paced sales pitch to make you feel cornered. When you are deciding on someone to do honest and quality work on your biggest investment, do your research and decide based on the work, not the cost. As we have learned from our small example, the contractor who did the right thing may have been marginally more expensive. But how many of you are so well off that you can afford to do it twice?