Help Appliances live longer

Locating ducts within the conditioned spaces of your home

The typical home in Rockwall Texas has the air distribution ducts located in unconditioned areas such as attics, crawlspaces, garages and basements. Residential duct systems located in these areas can lose between 20 and 35% of the energy in the air they distribute. Those losses can almost entirely be eliminated by simply locating the ducts within the conditioned areas inside the building thermal envelope.

Attic temperature will mimic the outside air temperatures during the winter or heating season and can easily rise to 50 degrees above outside air temperatures during the summer or cooling seasons. The conditioned air is protected by minimally insulated ducts, typically R-6 to R-8, and will allow the conditioned air to lose energy. That is energy that you are paying for each and every month with your high gas and electric bills. Moving the ducts down into the building thermal envelope and used a drop ceiling in hallways can totally eliminate that energy loose.

Increasing the duct insulation can help achieve more energy efficiency, but sizable increases can also be achieved by tightening the duct connections to plenums, registers and junction boxes. Sealing these duct connection with a special mastic can reduce leakage and generate significant energy savings. This is a great Do It Yourself project that most homeowners can do during the cooler months of Winter, Spring and Fall. The job can be done during the Summer months, but the high attic temperatures reduce the working time of the mastic and workers.

For more information about energy inspections in Rockwall and Dallas Texas, check out our website at www.DallasEnergyInspection.com

Jim Hemsell

A Closer Look Home Inspection Servcie

Dallas Energy Audits

New Construction Home Inspections

When purchasing a newly constructed home, the typical buyer makes many assumptions about the condition home and quality of the construction. They can see the quality of the model home and this reinforces trust with the builder. The builders hire engineers, architects and inspectors to advise them along the way.  Cities have building code departments that checks on the construction. The sales agent is friendly and helpful, always speaking glowingly about the quality of construction and strength of the builder. There is a one year warranty on everything in the house and 10 year warranty on structural items. Why would any one ever worry enough to hire an independent inspector when purchasing a newly constructed home?

The truth is your house is built by a committee made up of the Builders Super attendant who may have just gotten out of college, the lowest bid framing contractor and his crew from Mexico, lowest bid Electricians, Plumbers and other contractors. No one was ever in the same location at the same time and sometimes even have flagrant disregard for other contractors work. Your new house was inspected perhaps 8-10 times during drive by inspections that may last about 5 minutes while he or she is no the way to inspect 40 other houses on any given day. That means during the months of construction, a city inspector probably spent less than 1 hour looking at everything that went into building your house. The company architects and engineers have probably never seen your house, and if they ever did, it was to specify a repair because someone screwed up while building your house. The sales agent is probably not licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) or adheres to the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) ethics and standards. Basically they can say anything they want and you waive all of the verbal statements when you sign the contract. The Builder probably does not hold a Builders license with the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). The warranty is possibly farmed out to a third party warranty company that you have never heard of based on a warranty document that you have never seen before closing.

A licensed TREC home inspector that is an International Code Council (ICC) member and trained to perform code inspections is the only person who is qualified to look at the house and protect your interest. Most people are not aware of the code requirements so they would not see little safety issues like pull down stairs that are not properly attached to the ceiling. Not a single person has tested every outlet, light, faucet, window, door, A/C system, water heater and appliance in your new home. Each was installed by one contractor and perhaps tested by someone else when checking that contractors work. The home inspector will look closely at your home before you close and lose all the power in the real estate transaction. Once you sign the papers, you are forced to accept their promise to fix or address something.

Jim Hemsell

New construction Dallas Home Inspector

TREC #129    ICC #5242295-79

Denton Home Inspectors have different levels of experience and qualifications that should be evaluated by home buyers. Selecting the best Denton Home Inspector for you will depend on different factors that only you can chose. There are some great deals out there with lower sales prices and foreclosed properties. Getting a great price on the house means that you can easily afford getting a better Denton Home Inspector for just a little more money, if their home inspection services provide a better value.

Inspecting homes in Denton, Dallas or McKinney relies heavily on prior experience inspecting homes. Texas has educational requirements for Home Inspectors, but on the job experience is necessary to understand the type and scope of defects that can occur in a home. TREC license numbers are issued sequentially since 1987 when Home Inspectors became licensed. My number is 129 and indicated 27 years of experience. New TREC license numbers are in the 10,000 range. You want to select someone who has years of experience, not someone who just got out of school. Always ask your Denton Home Inspector or Dallas Home Inspector their license number to learn the experience level of your home inspector.

Experience is just one factor to consider when selecting your Home Inspector. There are other factors to consider, but choosing your Denton Home Inspector based on price is will burn you every time. You don’t pick your stock broker, heart surgeon or attorney based on price. You need someone good to help protect you. The same can be said for your Dallas Home Inspector.