Understanding High Performance Homes

 

What features give the best benefit to High Performance Homes?

Air sealing is a key component to the High Performance Home to insure that you are not heating and cooling the outdoors. Zip wall system, silicone caulk, and specifically placed can foam sealant really give the most benefit in creating a tight home.

What features do customers feel are a must in High Performance Homes?

Clients really respond to the lower energy bills and the improved indoor air quality. There are many features that go into getting results in both of these categories but showing how you do insulation differently than what the code requires is always interesting to clients.

What do you see as the 2014 High Performance items?

Most clients don’t want to spend extra money to make a home perform better. But the clients who do should look into energy monitoring devices that can help them modify the ways they interact with their home, to save money and live better.

What do you look for when buying a High Performance Home?

First it would be the CHIP Logo Sticker on the electric panel. This will tell you that the home was built above code and inspected by a third party. Next it would be the HERS Score. This will tell you how well the home performs against homes built to code.

What makes a home High Performance?

A High Performance Home is a system of parts that are all working together to give the occupants a better, less expensive home environment. You cannot look at only upgrading one part of the home because the other parts won’t perform at the ideal level. One quick example is, if you modify your insulation package and still put in the same size HVAC system then this system will not perform well and actually create harmful effects on the living environment. This is why a qualified third party inspector is required for High Performance homes – to make sure all the systems are working together and harmful effects are avoided.