My High Efficiency Life

Usually after coming home from a family trip I like to have a day to reclaim my life and my home. This time that was not an option. We came home Monday evening to a clean house only to litter it with all the things we had brought along: laundry to do, new Christmas gifts that needed homes, snack food messes from the car, you know the drill. We got a ton done Monday night but by Tuesday morning the day care kids were here and so was Kath to install our new high efficiency furnace.

The men were here until after lunch in and out and up and down the basement stairs. We survived the chill with a space heater in the living room and heaters in the kids rooms for naps. It was really just an inconvenience more than anything. But my high efficiency life was just getting under way...

On Wednesday morning Seth and I went to ECFE as usual and came home to a crew working to insulate our home. Yeah, we are going all out thanks to a grant - why not sign away a little more of your life and be warm in the winter?!

This is where the real fun begins.

The crew has to drill holes all around the house at various levels every foot. They use the hole to blow insulation into the walls. Our home had NONE so this was quite the project. It makes the house look like we were the victims of a drive by and serious guns were involved!

Two workmen outside our home - see the holes. The sound of them being made was amazing. At times I thought the whole house would just cave in on itself!

Our beautiful new exterior will be replastered in the coming months. Thank the Lord that they have to do that and not us!

My husband realized very quickly that he had not adequately prepared me for what was really going to happen. The mess was bad outside but the inside was just as bad. There was a layer of dust on everything when we got home and the path where the men were getting in and out and upstairs was full of dirt, snow and insulation mush. All the decor on the walls had to be taken down due to the pounding on the walls and were laying all over the couch and beds. I was a bit shocked and wondered how I could survive two to maybe three days of this. Seth and I ate lunch while I tried to get my head wrapped around the whole ordeal.

Then while I was washing up the lunch dishes as much as possible in our dust covered environment there was a large gust and a woosh. The next thing I knew dust was surrounding me and insulation was blowing out from underneath the kitchen sink. I started screaming for Jason, who was home for this whole process. He came running and they got the equipment stopped but too late in my opinion. The cabinet under my sink had apparently had a hole which allowed the blown in insulation to fill the area.

It's hard to tell from the photo but that grey matter is insulation, basically finely ground up newspapers and paper products. Thanks the Lord is is non-toxic and non-allergenic but what a mess! This member of the crew started up the vacuum but it took another hour of washing and cleaning to do justice to the job.

So Jason and I spent our Wednesday AND Thursday night wiping down every inch of our main floor so we could actually live and breath in it. My husband worked so hard to make it easy for me and I praise the Lord for him and his patience. We got the work done both nights and were able to get some sleep too. Thursday while he worked with the crew at home we went to our day care families house for the day to be out of the mess. While that was an adventure in itself - I was grateful to have a place for the kids to sleep and play in peace.

The upstairs was also completely insulated and all doors were weather stripped and sealed. The mess was unbelievable! There is a think layer of dust from the ceiling all the way to the floor. I figure it will take me most of the weekend to reclaim our upstairs bedroom. All the beding and curtains will need to be laundered too. What fun. But there is a good ending to all this misery. They expect us to save 40% on our energy bills and we have a sizable energy refund available to us from Excel Energy. That is what makes it all worth it!

Thanks to having a Home Energy Audit from Excel Energy, which I highly recommend to everyone, and the Neighborhood Energy Connection we will be enjoying a warm cozy home all winter long.