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Drafty B&B in Kentucky
Joan and Brandon Booth own and operate Bodewell Bed & Breakfast in Petersburg, KY. The home, built in 1865, had many of the most common issues that large older residential buildings have. The Booths reached out to a Home Performance Division Manager, Jonny Lang, after a recommendation from National Heating & Air since they were having a difficult time with keeping the Bed & Breakfast warm. They knew comfort was an important part of their business and many of the rooms throughout the home felt drafty and cold. Keeping the temperature consistent was difficult and the constantly fluctuating temperatures were causing unnecessarily high utility bills.
ENERGY AUDIT RESULTS
National performed a whole house comfort evaluation of Bodewell B&B and discovered significantly degraded insulation from many years of air infiltration. They performed extensive duct testing which revealed that four rooms did not have any airflow at all through the supply ducts. Upon further investigation, using the thermal imaging camera and visual inspection of the crawlspace, National found that the supply ducts were not connected to the HVAC system. A previous job had likely been abandoned at some point when the system was replaced by another “Chuck in a truck-type company.”
SOLUTIONS
National was able to make significant upgrades without wasting time or incurring unnecessary costs. They removed the existing degraded insulation and air sealed the attic spaces to prevent any future detrimental air infiltration. They repaired the balloon-framed walls and then blew in R-60 fiberglass insulation. To keep the crawl space air from entering the home, National corrected the abandoned ductwork and made sure the ducts were clean and clear. As a continuing effort to make the house more efficient, the Booths also decided to work with National to install a mini split heat pump system that will allow their guests to adjust the temperature in each room to their personal preference and consolidate heating only to the rooms that need it.
PROJECT OUTCOME
After the air sealing and insulation work was done, Jonny performed a “test-out” using a blower door to verify the air infiltration reduction in the home. The tests showed that the upgrades achieved a 41% reduction in air leakage.
TESTIMONIAL
“We are Joan and Brandon Booth owners of a 150-year old home that we run as a bed and breakfast. After a significant cold spell in November 2014 we discovered that a few rooms in our house could not get above 50 degrees and the heat pump struggled to get up to our request of 65 degrees on the thermometer.
We knew we needed professional support when the auxiliary heat was stuck on for 3 days straight. We called National Heating and Air based on a referral from a relative and Jonny came out the same day to assess our situation. He saw the seriousness of our situation and scheduled an audit. In a timely manner, the gentlemen of National removed all the old insulation, foam sealed the attics, and reapplied new insulation. They also went above the call of duty by removing other stuff in the attic (snake skins, old ductwork that was unattached and left to sit in the attic) in order to do the best job. They were courteous, very mindful to keep our house clean (wearing booties, etc.), and communicative. We are quite a distance from their company, yet that didn’t keep them from applying every resource they felt needed (trucks and equipment) to complete the job.
Now, our house feels warmer and the space heaters we have in the rooms with heat do a much better job keeping rooms at at least 60 degrees. Though we are not finished (we need those mini-splits), we are confident that once National completes their services for us we and our guests will comfortable in our home and we will see lower energy bills."
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