Persistence Pays!
Three cheers for Miguel and Dan, two Bostonians who persisted and have succeeded in overcoming significant barriers to getting their buildings insulated.
Miguel owns a single-family home in Hyde Park. He had a no-cost Home Energy Assessment but had two barriers – old fashioned wiring and asbestos insulation – that prevented him from making his home more energy efficient. Luckily for Miguel, he learned that there are funds available to help homeowners overcome these two barriers. First Miguel tackled the task of replacing the old-fashioned knob-and-tube wiring. Making sure the old wiring was no longer live was essential because “live” knob-and-tube wiring can be a fire hazard. Then Miguel took on the problem of asbestos-tainted vermiculite insulation in his attic. That had to be vacuumed out before new, clean insulation could be blown into his attic. His persistence paid off this Spring when his attic was a completely re-insulated and he received a rebate check from Mass Save. This summer Miguel reports that his home “isn’t hot like it was before. I’m so happy!”
Dan owns a 3-family house in Mission Hill that he rents out. The walls are “balloon framed,” so any insulation blown into the walls on the third floor would just fall all the way down to the first floor. The standard practice in balloon-framed buildings is to start insulating on the first floor, then work upwards. Dan’s building, like many in Boston, has a mix of market-rate and low-income units. In cases like Dan’s, Renew Boston works closely with ABCD so that the contractors from the market-rate and low-income programs can coordinate the insulation process smoothly. One of the tenants needed months of hand-holding to accept that the short-term inconvenience of having the insulation contractors work on her apartment would be outweighed by the benefits of having a more comfortable home. Thanks for persistent support from ABCD and Dan, the building’s walls have now been completely insulated and the residents can expect to be more comfortable and pay much less for their utilities this coming year. And Dan had to pay only $400 to have the entire 3-family building insulated!
Renew Boston is here to help you at every step of your project, whether it’s a in a condo, a single-family home, or a rental property. Just call Lourdes at 617-635-4189 to let us know what help you need.
If you’re ready to schedule your no-cost Home Energy Assessment now, just grab your electric bill and, if you have one, your gas bill, and call 617-635-SAVE (7283). If you’d prefer to start on-line, take this 5 Minute Online Assessment to get a custom home energy profile, an estimate of potential savings, and cost-effective upgrade advice.