Rutland, Vermont - January 5, 2012
Dave Williams installed a wood-burning stove in an attempt to cut his home heating costs.
"We would have been spending $3,000 a year to heat the house. Now I burn about three cords of wood in a winter and last year we burned 120 gallons of oil," he said.
It's just one of a few upgrades he's made to his home over the years. He's also installed new windows and replaced his furnace, saving him about $1,200 a heating season, but not solving his biggest problem: "We had the problem of ice dams in the winter. And we were getting water infiltrating into the house," Williams explained.
Experts say needing such costly upgrades in order to reduce monthly bills is a common misconception made by homeowners.
"Tackle the performance of the house first and then make upgrades to your heating system," advised Bill Morrissey, who owns a weatherization company.
Morrissey conducted an audit of the Williams' home to determine what upgrades were most needed.
"Air sealing first-- that's the part of our work that is least understood and probably most important is finding the cracks and gaps," Morrissey explained.
And he says repairing those cracks and gaps can be much cheaper than installing a new heating system and can still have a big impact on your energy bills.
For Williams that meant installing new attic insulation.
"We kept this insulation right down to the soffit. This roof shouldn't get cold enough, or rather warm enough to melt a significant amount of snow and cause these destructive ice dams," Morrissey said.
And in the basement there are a few other small changes you can make to save big, like upgrading old fiberglass insulation around the foundation to keep hot air in.
"Most homes it's the equivalent of 200 gallons of home heating oil-- having un-insulated portions of foundation walls," Morrissey said.
Morrissey says sealing a home from top to bottom can cost on average about $4,000, but could show up to a 30 percent decrease in home energy costs.
And there are rebates from Efficiency Vermont of up to $2,500 for upgrading your home heating. Click here for more information.
