Ever feel like you're heating and cooling the entire neighborhood? Don't know how to begin making your historic home more energy efficient?

Tell us your story and you may win a free home energy audit (a $350-500 value).

Contest open through March 31, 2010!

Homeowners often ask us about energy efficiency issues, many worried about their walls or windows.

In fact, in most older homes, uninsulated walls and single-pane windows are relatively minor offenders, and weatherization dollars are often better spent elsewhere.

We always recommend that homeowners begin their improvements with a home energy audit that will look at the energy efficiency of the home comprehensively and identify improvements strategically.

As part of our ongoing Community Conversations series, Preservation NC and the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission are co-sponsoring a contest to give away a free home energy audit. The winning audit will be videotaped to create an informational video about home energy audits and common problems and solutions. The video will be used online and at public events to promote home energy audits and energy-efficiency improvements in historic houses.

Attics, basements, windows and doors, oh my!

About the Audit

The home energy audit will be performed by Mark Bashita of Home Performance NC, Inc. Mark is a certified RESNET® HERS rater, a Green Rater, and a BPI Analyst, an NAHB verifier, as well as a Licensed General Contractor. He performs energy audits for homes and businesses, Energy Star ratings on new or existing construction, verify Green Homes according to NAHB standards, and manage home renovations, improvements, or weatherization projects as well. He and his team have 5+ years experience with projects across the Triangle. He owns and is renovating a 1914 Triple-A farmhouse near Pittsboro with his wife Adrienne.

The comprehensive home energy audit includes:

• A thorough examination of the home, including the crawl space and attic to assess the general state of energy efficiency of the home as well as to identify any safety issues;
• A blower door test, to allow us to see how leaky the home is and where the leaks are coming from;
• Photos of your home's interior, created with an infrared camera. This is done with the homeowner present, so they can see specific problem areas;
• A duct blaster test, to get an exact value of leakage so we know where to rank this issue in our list of suggested repairs; and
  
• If the home has any combustion appliances like a gas water heater or furnace we test for efficiency, draft and CO.
• We also perform pressure balance tests, fan tests and a few others.

A comprehensive energy audit usually takes about half a day, and we prefer the homeowner to be present. Within a few days, the homeowner will receive a report listing and explaining the test results and pictures. The report also includes a list of suggestions ranked to show the biggest return on your investment.

Contest Rules

The contest is open to properties that are

• 

  View map of all Raleigh Historic Districts
  
  For more information about individual districts, visit RHDC.org
  contributing structures in one of Raleigh's 24 National Register Historic Districts
• contributing structures in one of Raleigh's 5 local historic districts
• properties that are individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places
• properties that are Raleigh Historic Landmarks 

The home must have its original windows.

The most compelling and entertaining entry will be selected. Creative entries features photos and/or video are encouraged.

The selection committee will be made up of Preservation NC staff and board members and the home energy auditor.

Entries will be accepted online at www.PreservationNC.org/EnergyAudit between March 1 and March 31, 2010.

The winner will be notified by email and phone by April 9, 2010.

The audit must be completed by May 10, 2010.

Employees and relatives of the employees of Preservation NC and the City of Raleigh are not eligible.

Entries become the property of Preservation NC and may be used for public education and the promotion of our historic preservation efforts. 

For more information, contact Elizabeth Sappenfield at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it  

This project has been funded in part by a grant from the Terence L. Mills Memorial Preservation Fund
for North and South Carolina of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.