Making the exterior of your home more energy efficient. The key to reducing your energy bill is keeping the cool or hot in your home for as long as you can. The longer your A/C unit or heater unit waits to cut back on means greater savings for you. An A/C unit or heater furnace that runs one hour a day verses 6 hours a day to keep your home cool or warm means a 500% savings on your A/C bill or heating bill. Most homes in our area are brick veneer many are wood or partial wood and brick, stucco, or hardi or vinyl siding. Lets address totally brick or brick veneer with partial wood first. Before you start sealing your brick, check for cracks in your brick or mortar and fill them using mortar sealer in a caulking tube.
1. Scrape and recaulk around your windows using a good top brand of GE or premium brand window caulk.
2. Super seal your brick. Purchase a 2 gallon pump up sprayer container at your local Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware or etc. store. Buy a gallon of paint thinner and a gallon of brick and mortar sealer, for starters you may need more according to the size of your home. Mix 1 gallon of paint thinner with 1 gallon of brick and mortar sealant. Mix them up or simply shake them in your sprayer.Rinse your brick off with your water hose with a sprayer nozzle on it or use a pressure washer. A clean surface is always better for a good seal job. (You may want to add some washer ingredient in your pressure washer like TSP or one recommended at your local hardware store.) You can add a cleaner on your water hose as well using a hose dispenser bottle. Spray your brick making sure it is entirely wet with your first coat. Your second coat use pure sealer no paint thinner added. Again make sure you cover your entire brick surface wetting it good all over. The energy savings to doing the caulking and super sealing of your home will vary. The before condition of your brick and mortar affect the results as well as the type of brick on your home some are soft brick as well as the mortar some are hard brick with hard mortar.
3. Put hard scouring sponge pads in your brick weep holes as much as 13% of your cool and heat are lost here.
4. Screens- Solar screens come in 4 basic colors black most common gray, brown, and white. They will block 80% and 90% of the sun’s rays from penetrating through your windows. Since they come in 80%, and 90% webbing in the solar screens the closer the webbing the less light that comes in your home. You may prefer the view instead of the savings. Savings are variable you decide how much you need to save on your cooling and heating bill here. Real savings are 20% and up. I suggest to my customers use the 80% or 90% solar screen on the east and west sides of your home. This is where the sun comes in the morning and evening. Another alternative to solar screens and less expensive is simply coating your screens with HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive I don’t have the final savings results but it works great for me.
5. Adequate ventilation- most homes do not have enough soffit, gable or roof vents for proper ventilation. Code calls for a vent every 6 linear feet; this may vary since some vents are 8 inches wide by 16 inches long. Dead air space such as at your front or back door areas makes your A/C or heating furnace work harder and longer to cool or heat your home costing you more money on your bill. Use your common sense and add as many as you deem necessary it will help make your home more energy efficient saving you money.
6. The gable ends or other wood areas on your home- Paint them with HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive. It blocks out 99% of the UV rays of the sun and its micro dead air space helps keep the heat in during the winter.
7. Check the space at each side of your ridge vents it should be 1 1/2 inches to either side of your top roof rafter if it is not then you are not getting the maximum benefit of your ridge vents. If your home has 12 inch turbine vents make sure they are spinning when the wind is blowing. If not replace the top with a new one preferably a wind braced type. Check and see if you have turbines at your garage or branched off areas of your home such as a bedroom section if not add one there.
8. Some homes have stationary vents some called sky hawks I recommend one of these every 8 feet.
9. Power vents in your attic are costly and in the coastal area they seem to wear out quickly but if you keep them clean they last a long time and work really well. PS- don’t fall through the ceiling cleaning them. Having a radiant barrier installed in your attic is good if you do your research and get a good one, some in my book are a joke. I recommend HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive. I have used it for years it works great when properly applied. I spray mine own using the clean out of my paint spray tip of mine paint sprayer, since a small paint tip burst the tiny spheres making the product not very good at all. In a really hot summer day with the attic temperature 160 degrees after applying HEATSHIELD-R20 it drops to 90 degrees as soon as it is applied. I have applied this product to roof decks before roofing or reroofing them it works great but over spray is a real problem here. You can pre coat the felt before roofing or reroofing your home this is the best and safe way of doing it. The savings are 20%, 30% and up on your energy bills.
10. Your blown or batt attic insulation- Check and make sure you have enough to insulate you home. After several years old insulation tends to lose its thickness and packs down losing its insulation qualities.
11. Coat or wrap your duct work in your attic. I painted mine with HEATSHIELD-R20 it really helps. Also check your duct work for leaks and tape them with aluminum clad duct tape or you can use plain old duct tape.
12. Make sure your outside A/C compressor unit is adequately shaded if not it will really work excessively harder in t he summer time to keep your home cool and comfortable. You can build an inexpensive wall to shade your A/C unit. I coat mine with HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive really makes a difference. You can build one using landscape timbers for your posts and plywood or metal panels etc. for your walls. Coat the exterior of your A/C unit with Heatshield-R20 paint additive also every little bit helps.
13. Lets address wood stucco steel and rock siding paint them with
HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive using Dulux ICI Fortis Lifetime paint or a good premium brand paint if Dulux ICI is not close to you.
In vinyl or aluminum siding jobs we paint the house wrap or insulation boards with HEATSHIELD-R20 paint additive. Hardie jobs paint the 4 foot X 8 foot sheets or horizontal siding with paint of your choice with HEATSHIELD-R20 additive in it. (I use lifetime warranty Dulux Fortis Paint)
We have a package for a one story home of 2500 square feet or less for $728.00 or a two story home package for $928.00.
Light power washes your brick
Super seal your brick = 6%-8% on your electric and heating bills
Install brick hole filters =13% savings on your electric and heating bills
Purchase a one story package. Your job is schelduled out.
Purchase a two story package $928.00 your job is schelduled out.
You have the option to purchase this exterior package via pay pal. See carts at individual packages.
281 513 9111 or 281 224 8129
