Near Santa Barbara, a Home Performance "Horror" No More

Music to a parent's ears:

"Dad, it's warm in my room!"

We hosted a fun contest on daily5REMODEL in June called Home Performance Horrors. Sponsored by the Building Performance Institute, its goal was to show how skilled home-performance auditors and contractors are solving all manner of problems in homes related to health, air quality, efficiency, safety, comfort and more.

The winning entry came from Allen Associates, in Santa Barbara, Calif., with this account of a young family struggling with comfort issues and indoor allergies in their Craftsman-style home.

Wrote Lucas Johnson of Allen Associates:

"Everything looked well maintained (landscaping, building exterior, interior design, etc.). That is, until we started exploring behind the walls and in the attic.... 

"The furnace was more than 25 years old, in horrible condition (with cracks in the heat exchanger) and connected to extremely leaky ductwork, which was wrapped in asbestos insulation.... 

"Lastly, the attic had dirty and poorly installed insulation on the attic floor, insulation entirely missing from the knee walls, and a significant amount of air leakage through can lights, bath fans, Solatubes and framing interfaces."

That was the "before," of course.

Click here to read the story. Congratulations to Allen Associates for winning the $550 BPI certification exam, and thanks to everyone who entered.

You can see all entries here, along with entries for the many other contests we've held on d5R, including the current Old Home Renovations contest.