The first step of the conversion was an energy audit, which among other techniques uses infrared detectors to map a building’s “thermal nosebleeds.” Greene had removed the asbestos insulation from her house’s crawlspaces years ago, so the next step was to expunge all mold from the crawlspaces and basement, first with bleach and then with an organic cleaning product called Thieves, which has a lovely spicy scent. All wood structures in the basement showing any signs of rot were removed. The DER crew was then able to coat the floor and perimeter of the crawlspaces, and the interior of the basement’s concrete-block walls, with spray foam insulation.
Upstairs, new superinsulation layers were installed both from the inside and outside of the building envelope. The house’s old aluminum siding was stripped off and replaced with a layer of Tuff-R — a sandwich of treated insulating foam with heat-reflective surfaces on either side — covered by a green exterior product called HardiBoard. “It’s made from cement mixed with recycled wood fibers,” Greene explained. “It’s very strong and lasts a long time, yet you can cut it and treat it like any other kind of siding.” The HardiBoard’s exterior surface is molded to mimic wood clapboard siding and pre-painted, and the manufacturer supplies matching-colored caulk for sealing the seams. An eight-inch-thick layer of foam insulation with a moisture barrier was also added to the roof, topped with standard-issue asphalt shingles. “This building should stay very cool in summer” as a result, said Greene.
Greene brought more sunlight into her interior space by replacing some old casement windows with Thermopane bow windows. She added superinsulated front and back doors, eliminating the need to have both a storm door and screen door in back by opting for a door with a built-in operable casement window. That provides access to a mudroom where you can still see how interior insulation is being added to the house’s drafty spots. The old interior paneling was removed, along with batts of fiberglass insulation that had been well-chewed by mice to make their nests. The void in the building envelope is now superinsulated, thanks to the addition of blown-in dense-pack cellulose — currently covered with a layer of garden netting prior to the paneling being replaced.
The blown-in insulation has surprisingly little “give” when pressed. “It’s made from recycled newspapers and phone books, treated with boric acid,” Greene explained. “You can take a blowtorch and try to catch this on fire, and you won’t be able to. It’s totally fire-retardant.” As residents of formerly cockroach-infested apartments know well, boric acid is also renowned as an environmentally safe and very effective pesticide. “It stings bugs’ mucous membranes,” said Greene, noting that it also deters rodents. “I haven’t seen any mice at all since the retrofit.”
When completed, the retrofitted house will be so thermally tight that ventilation becomes an issue. Greene decided to have a simple ventilation system installed, powered by a single quiet fan, that draws in fresh air near ground level, circulates it through a heat exchanger in the basement that (in winter) warms it with ambient BTUs from the oil burner, then blows it into the upstairs bedrooms. The loop is completed by drawing steam and odors from the kitchen and bathroom and venting them outside. “It is so delightful to be in a warm space and have this breeze of fresh air coming by,” said Greene happily.
Even though the project is not yet completed, she reports, “The house is so much less drafty. It’s so much more comfortable.” And the construction process was not as intrusive as one might visualize, only taking about four months. “I was able to live in the house the whole time, except for a 24-hour period when they were spraying foam.”
“Most people think only of the money they’re going to save on fuel consumption, but I think that the comfort benefits are underestimated,” Greene stressed, obviously pleased with the outcome even though her heating bills have yet to reflect the changes. “I do expect my oil bills to be cut in half.”
That brings us to the truly innovative part of NYSERDA’s approach: how your Deep Energy Retrofit gets financed. Instead of laying out a big chunk of change up-front and keeping your fingers crossed that it’ll all pay for itself someday, you pay for it out of your energy savings over time through an add-on to your electric bill.
Here’s how the process works, according to Greene: “First you apply to Green Jobs/Green New York, get an energy audit of your building and apply for On-Bill Payment. They assess your energy bills for the past two to three years and calculate how much you can afford to spend on a retrofit, based on your energy savings. They calculate the amount of your payments and your payback period.” Greene wanted to pay off the cost of her renovations within a ten-year period, but it can go longer, like a mortgage, if you want to spend more on high-tech improvements like an active solar hot-water system.
In special districts formed by Croton and some other Westchester towns, she noted, a coalition of municipal agencies is taking on the role of lender, floating bonds to fund weatherization projects. “You pay off the money that you borrowed along with your taxes,” she explained. “They’ll be addressing some of those financial details on April 13.”
The Rosendale Energy Expo, “Retrofitting for Resilience: Preparing Our Homes and Businesses for the 21st Century,” will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at the Rosendale Recreation Center at 1055 Route 32. Guided tours of Manna Jo Greene’s Deep Energy Retrofit pilot project will be offered from 5 to 6 p.m., with car pools leaving from the Rec Center.
Admission to the Expo is free, thanks to sponsorship from NYSERDA, the Rosendale Environmental Commission, Verdae, LLC, the Upstate New York Chapter of the US Green Building Council and Central Hudson. Please preregister by filling out the registration form at www.surveymonkey.com/s/retrofit4resilience. For more information, contact Jennifer Metzger, chair of the Rosendale Environmental Commission, at (845) 658-8967.
