Go Green With Insulation

All this week, we have been showing you a house in Spartanburg County that is getting a 10,000 dollar energy makeover with our “Help My House” contest. Now, the family is ready to put it all together with the right insulation.

Eric and Melissa Drummond have had all sorts of visitors in their house over the last few weeks…painting their house “green” without any paint.

“We did get some insulation put into the walls last fall so we’ve been trying to make the improvements as we went along but it’s been a big process,” explains Melissa Drummond.

From new light bulbs, to energy efficient windows to new HVAC units…this house is getting a completely new look in terms of saving energy.

“It’s an older home and the things we are going to show you are common problems in the typical home around the state and there are some things that you can do as you see us do in our project,” says David Hammond with the Laurens Electric Co Operative.

One easy fix to cut your energy bill is to replace the insulation in your home.

“The insulation is a natural sealant at the top of the house and if the top of the house is not sealed, what happens? The air that’s inside can escape and the air in the top can come down as well. So we want to tighten up the house the best we can to make it more energy efficient.”

From the top to the bottom…this house is setting sail on a path toward being green.

“Down here in the basement, there’s no insulation at all right now or in the crawl space. So we’ll come in and either spray foam or put fiber glass bats up in the ceiling.”

Greg Peebles with Glenco Foam says the most money and energy wasted is in the attic.

“About 50 percent of the loss is up through the roof and the rest is through the floor or the exterior walls.”

So what can you do to “go green” at your house?

“You can add to what you already have if you have insulation and make it thicker and add to what you have or we can come in and take out what you have and put a complete envelope seal with the foam.”