Charlie: David in Greatwood, who do you recommend for an energy audit? Do you recommend energy audits from Homestown?
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Tom: Not really. I don’t know… here’s the deal with energy audit. An energy audit is done by a company that wants to sell you a lot of stuff. There’s not an independent energy audit that I know of. If there was, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. But as far as anybody that will say, oh we’ll give an audit. Before you know it, you’ll have R67 in your attic. You’ll have four layers of radiant barriers. You’ll have 67 solar powered air vents on your roof. I mean they really do, do the upsell with it. So that’s why I’m not keen on it.
Charlie: You missed one.
Tom: Which one?
Charlie: Nest thermostat. You’ll have nest thermostat.
Tom: At least 20. One in every room, even if they don’t have wires to them.
Charlie: Right.
Tom: So, no I’m not really into that because it’s a sales gimmick. If it was a true audit, it would be kind of cool.
Charlie: Let’s give them a check list then. If his has an energy efficient home, what’s he got?
Tom: Well you got the attic. So you want at least an R30 to 38 of installation on the floor of the attic. You want a radiant barrier and you want good attic ventilation. Okay now if you want to have your air conditioning system as energy efficient as possible, you would call some one like Absolute Comfort Air. Let them at least do a super good tune up or maybe even if it’s really old, do an upgrade to a more efficient system. So you got that going too and then if your windows are really lousy and it’s time for that. It’s energy but it’s also comfort and security and everything. Then you go to Gulf Coast Windows and you have that done. But the attic is where you start first. Air conditioning would be second and then you have windows third. And I don’t know what else you would do beside weather stripping on the door if it’s really bad.
Charlie: Okay fair enough. So, and on the AC I know one thing I’ve heard you say before is, don’t go for the bells and whistles, the variables. You just get the single speed system right?
Tom: Well that’s for me. I think it’s better as far as investment.
Charlie: Okay.
Tom: But Charlie, it’s like computers and stuff. I have a flip phone, you have the smartest phone in the world. Some people want bells and whistles, so make sure you get a company that can install the bells and whistles right because if you buy them and they’re always breaking down, they’re very difficult sometimes to install. You want to make sure you’re dealing with the right people. But if you want it, you can have it. I just don’t think it’s a smart investment.