The Southface phone lines ring constantly. Often people with technical questions are prime candidates for our field services. Each question listed below represents a unique situation encountered by a field staff member designated to apply one or several of the technical services available. Included with each question is an introduction to the service offered and a peek into the knowledge and personality of our technical services staff members Rob Johnson, Josh White, Katrina Rumsfeld, Sean Enright, Howard Katzman and Mark Newey.

"Dust seems to collect very quickly in several places in my house. I have had to pay a lot of money just to clean furniture and curtains. What suggestions do you have for reducing the amount of dust in my home?"

Rob: I recommend first of all checking the furnace filter to verify that it is intact and that you have changed it recently. It also may be necessary to upgrade to a more effective, pleated filter that has more surface area to collect dust. Next, I would recommend checking for leaks in the duct system, a service Southface can provide. In particular, we check all joints and connections, any branches in the system, connections to the floor and wall vents, and connections into the unit for leaks. Unsealed gaps in the system can pull in dust from the attic and crawlspace and can create problems in the house. It is also important to make sure that all holes between the house and the attic or crawlspace are completely sealed. Often air leak paths are not obvious or visible when inside the living space. A small, unsealed area can cause major comfort problems as well as introduce dust and possibly mold.

Southface offers blower door and duct blaster services. The blower door test is used to find spots where unconditioned air is leaking into the living areas. By depressurizing the home, we are able to find leak paths and determine the amount of natural air changes per hour in the house. Some places such as around the attic hatch and around penetrations into the attic are common leak paths. A duct blaster test can also be performed on the home to determine the percent leakage based on the square footage of the house. This is achieved by pressurizing the house and the duct system to a constant pressure and measuring leakage into unconditioned space. This helps us pinpoint problem spots. You spend a lot of money on heating and cooling your home, why waste money heating and cooling your crawlspace? That is essentially what you are doing with a leaky duct system. Get the air to go where you want it. Wet applied mastic is the best product for duct sealing. Paint it on-duct painting is a lot of fun! Actually, taping doesn't work-duct tape does not seal ductwork! I think that the best use of duct tape I have ever seen was last week, when someone used it to tape his cleats together before a rugby game!

"The floors are always cold in the winter and it seems like we are constantly running the air conditioner in the summer. What can I do to improve the energy efficiency of my home?"

Josh: Cold floors are usually a sign of poor or non-existent insulation in floors or basements. This often indicates that the house does not have a properly defined building envelope, which is the continuous air and insulation barrier between the inside living areas and the outside air. I recommend an Energy Audit in order to help the homeowner. The energy audit itself is an overall evaluation of a home's energy consumption. When I perform an energy audit, I visually inspect the house first. This allows me to determine the most effective way to eliminate all gaps in the building envelope. Sometimes I then need to perform blower door and duct blaster tests to determine exactly where the main leaks are in the house. After the audit and tests are done, I walk around with the homeowners and show them what I have found. My job allows me to make recommendations to fix the problems rather than just finding the problems. I follow up the house visit with a report, including a list of observations with prioritized recommendations for solving the problems I discovered.

During inspections, I usually find a leaky house and leaky ductwork. This is what has been accepted as standard construction throughout the years. After completing more than 100 inspections for Southface, I can tell you your house probably has a problem without setting foot inside. One major lesson I have learned from multiple field inspections is to always look for the little things. Too many times I will head out thinking I am going to find a huge problem, but I'm happy when I can tell the homeowner it is a small and simple item that just got overlooked by the builder or HVAC installer.

"As a builder, I have been building energy efficient homes for several years. I would like to find out if these homes qualify as Energy Star Homes."

Katrina: Energy Star Homes meet EPA performance guidelines that indicate energy efficiency, meaning the certified homes are good for the environment, more comfortable, more durable and cost less to own. In order to certify a home Energy Star, Southface needs to perform a home energy rating on the home. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS), which is part of our Home Assessment Package for homeowners, is used to determine the efficiency of a home. Homes that are at least 30 percent more energy-efficient than required by the 1993 Model Energy Code can be certified as Energy Star. The rating involves a visual inspection, pressure testing and computer modeling. The rating can be done on a new home, existing home, or renovation. Information about the house (volume, insulation, equipment types, wall and window areas) is input into a software program that determines the energy consumption of that particular home. We compare the score to a national standard. If you are a math lover like me, this kind of thing is fun. In my opinion, the greatest thing about the Home Energy Rating is that it allows us to generate a prioritized list of energy-efficient improvements based on money savings. Most people ultimately want to find the most economic improvements with the fastest pay back time. I think it is great that saving money goes hand in hand with reducing a home's negative impact on the environment. When I am out in the field, I focus on educating each homeowner and looking at the bigger environmental picture.

"My bedroom feels damp and smells like mold. I have seen mold on my clothes and am concerned about health impacts. What can I do to my home to get rid of the mold?"

Howard: I like to get basic information over the phone in order to get a sense of what is causing the problems. Often these questions can be answered over the phone or through email, but sometimes Southface needs to complete a field inspection. I need to get a clear idea of what the house looks like. Is it one or two stories? Where is the problem? How long have you noticed a smell? How do you heat and cool the house? Are there any comfort problems? Are there any health impacts? Usually the mold is a result of a larger moisture problem. I try to narrow down the sources of moisture. Is it a crawlspace problem? Are there bulk water issues? The main question is: How did the moisture get into the house to create a viable environment for the mold? With answers to all of these questions I am able to paint a picture of the house and its problems.

One recent client has a child with severe allergies. Her second child is beginning to develop allergy problems as well. They are wondering if they need to move out of their new house. If the homeowner feels the health problems have surfaced from living in the home, we will definitely provide a field visit. In the field, I am constantly looking around for possible problems. I look for red flags when I check the attic, crawlspace, exterior drainage and examine the interior of the home. I focus on water and moisture sources, but try to look at all parts of the built environment. I make literally 1,000 or more observations during an assessment. Usually the mold is part of a bigger indoor air quality issue. We want to identify and offer recommendations to eliminate the bigger problem. I really enjoy helping people solve problems while educating and empowering them. Each house is unique. I feel like a detective and I really enjoy the challenge.

"I am going to build a new home and I want to follow the energy efficiency guidelines set in your publications and resources. How do I know if my plans are as energy efficient as they can be in my price range, and can you oversee the building process to check and see that things are getting done correctly?"

Sean: First of all, we would schedule an appointment for a design review. The homeowner needs to have his architectural plans ready, and it helps if a site is already chosen. In addition, he should have ideas on budget, size, style, scope and goals for the project. During an appointment, the homeowner comes to Southface, and we sit down and review the plans together looking for potential comfort and efficiency problems. For example, attic kneewalls often do not get the proper attention. Kneewalls need to be insulated and sheathed. We need to make sure the building is planned using a systems approach, which means looking at the whole system-including construction, heating, air and how they all play into one another. After this we zoom in, looking for finer details and other aspects of green building that the homeowner might not have considered. Then we give suggestions. People often have good ideas and intentions, but the actual applications are not as effective as they could be. The design stage of the building process is the easiest time to identify and correct possible, potential problems. From my experience, I would say it is always more expensive, and sometimes impossible, to fix problems after construction begins. I take notes throughout this review and report findings to the client. I also offer complimentary, unlimited follow-up to answer any questions that might arise after our meeting. As far as checking to see if the building process is moving along correctly, I would recommend a pre-drywall walkthrough.

"I'm remodeling my house and would like to replace my current air conditioning and heating system with a more energy-efficient one. How do I know what size and type of air handling system I should purchase?"

Mark: It's important to take into account energy-efficient design when sizing your heating and cooling equipment. Many times HVAC subcontractors don't take into account insulation levels, window orientation, leakage and infiltration and location of ductwork. Because of this, systems that are too large for the home are commonly installed. A load calculation takes into account all the aspects of the home that would affect the homeowner's comfort and the resulting calculation sizes the equipment appropriately. Doing this can save the homeowner money and improve indoor air quality.

For example, a former client lived in an old, one-story house and he was finishing the attic. He wasn't sure whether he could use his current furnace and air conditioner to service the now larger home including the second floor, or if he needed to install a new furnace and air conditioner. He was also making some improvements to the first floor. He needed Southface to perform a load calculation to figure out if the current system could handle conditioning both floors. We recommended to the homeowner and the HVAC contractor that they put in a smaller system than what the contractor would have chosen. I met with the contractor and explained that the smaller air handler wouldn't work if the duct system was poorly installed. He agreed to install a smaller furnace and spend more time on proper duct layout and design. Because of the load calculation, the homeowner got a smaller air conditioning system, which means the system is better sized for dehumidifying and is less expensive. More importantly, the homeowner increased the comfort level of his home.

People look to Southface for answers because we are a non-profit organization, our consulting services are one way we accomplish our mission to promote sustainable homes, workplaces and communities. Also, we understand energy-efficient improvements and our working relationships with builders and subcontractors allow us to talk to both homeowners and builders from an unbiased standpoint.

Fees for these services vary. For non-members a flat fee of $60 per hour is assigned and this includes preparation, fieldwork, and any follow-up office work. Reduced fees and package services have been created for Southface members. Call Southface at 404/872-3549 to discuss your building science needs, the technical staff at Southface are experts in defining design strategies and construction techniques that make buildings more energy efficient, environmentally responsible and healthier places in which to work and live.