Category Archives: Energy Focus Articles

Windows offer more than a view, but you have to know what you’re installing

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By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: What windows are preferred for a passive solar home, double- or triple-pane? With or without coatings? Which coatings? What type of glass? Assuming standard building insulation, what is the sweet spot for percentage of glass area?

A: The idea for a passive solar home is a good one, but offers some significant challenges in our climate.

Based on a 1970’s study by University of Alaska researchers, in Fairbanks, for every month of the year besides December, a net energy gain with south-facing windows is possible, but only when the sun is out.

Given that our winters are very cold and have much longer periods of darkness, the heat losses through windows during the dark periods are much greater than the gains we make when the sun is shining. The solution here is a system of insulated exterior shutters. Then, even here in Fairbanks, you could have a house which benefits from a net solar gain for 11 months.

Unfortunately, a perfect heavily insulated shutter system has yet to be invented, but people have built their own shutter systems in typical Alaska style — anything from putting on a piece of 2-inch blue foam to a raise-able shutter that can be engaged with a hand crank from the inside. Keep in mind that, as with all sources of energy, you will make maximum use of solar gain by having an extremely well-insulated building shell. If you have an underinsulated, leaky house, you won’t get the same results.

In a cold climate, we want a window with a low U-value. The U-value represents the rate of heat transfer through the glass. The U-value is usually listed on a sticker on the window or is available from the dealer.

Currently, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation requires a “5-Star Plus” home in Fairbanks to have a window with a U-value of 0.25 or lower, which typically means a triple-pane window.

When it comes to glass and coatings, because we are primarily interested in optimum thermal performance, nearly all windows geared toward our climate will have some variation of low emissivity (low-E) coating designed to reflect radiant heat. Low-E glass usually has some type of metallic film bonded to one of the faces.

For a window with good insulating value, we want a coating that allows some of the short wave infrared energy from the sun to enter the house while minimizing how much of the long wave infrared radiation escapes from the heated space through the glass. This is a balancing act that is dependent on the types of coatings used, and which side of the panes of glass they have been placed on. Coating technology is improving steadily and it is worth the time to research the performance for any type of window line you are considering for purchase.

When it comes to finding the sweet spot of how much surface area should be glass, this varies too, depending on what you are trying to achieve.

In order to comply with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation “5-star Plus” home requirements, the total window surface area should not exceed 15 percent of the above-grade wall area. The Fairbanks City Building Department uses the same standard. If you go over 15 percent, you will have to make up for those energy losses somewhere else. Often this means adding more insulation to another part of the building. The location of the glass also factors in: south facing works best while north facing should be minimized.

There is much more information on the subject than covered here, but an excellent resource is “A Solar Design Manual for Alaska” written by Rich Seifert from the UAF Cooperative Extension Service.

The book is readily available and accessible online.

Also, Seifert usually teaches a class on solar design in the spring, which is highly recommended to anyone interested in the concept.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

Several issues contribute to icy vents and that nasty smell

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By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: My upstairs bathroom roof vent keeps plugging with ice. This causes a sewer smell in the bathroom. I have to go up on the roof and clear the ice about once a week when it gets below zero. I just put a 90-degree pipe on the roof vent but it still plugged up. Any suggestions?

This is one of those problems that plagues many people, especially as it gets colder.

Proper plumbing venting is critical to the operation of the drain system.

The vent allows pressure to equalize in the system by providing a path for air to be drawn in when wastewater is being sent down the drains.

It also allows the septic system to vent outdoors, rather than into the house — this is the problem you have, and it often becomes more pronounced in winter.

As hot air rises and escapes, or if fans are exhausting air, the replacement air has to come from somewhere. If the vent is plugged, replacement air can sometimes be drawn into the house from the septic system. Usually this happens when a trap is allowed to run dry. If you haven’t used a sink, a shower or a garage drain in a while, the water in the trap can dry out.

This will open up a path for sewer gases to enter the house. The other place it can occasionally happen is with your heat recovery ventilator.

Your HRV system drain may be tied into your plumbing system and have its own separate trap, which is an easy place to overlook, especially if it is in the crawlspace.

Often a roof vent is sized too small, especially in older homes. As a general rule, the size of the roof vent should be the size of the main sewer vent, usually 3 inches. There are many exceptions to this rule, however a 3-inch vent is going to be less likely to freeze up than a smaller vent. In some cases it may be necessary to upgrade to an even larger 4-inch vent, depending on the number of fixtures (such as toilets, sinks and so forth) that are part of the line.

How far the vent travels is something to consider. You may also want to inspect the attic to see how much insulation is around the pipes. If a lot of piping is exposed, it can contribute to freezing, as the outgoing air is going to be more likely to condense and freeze in the pipe.

So to summarize the solutions: Make sure the traps have water in them, insulate the pipes in the attic well and make sure the main vent pipe is large enough in diameter.

Q: I recently upgraded the outside venting range hood in my kitchen. I am wondering if you have any suggestions on how to minimize the amount of cold air that comes in through the vent?

You will likely need some kind of back draft damper to keep the air from being drawn in. Local sheet metal shops carry inline back draft dampers.

They are made to fit snugly inside your pipe with compressible foam around the edges. They have sensitive spring-loaded “butterfly” flaps that open under pressure when the fan turns on.

You will want to install the damper where you can get to it in the future, usually from the outside.

Be sure to put it far enough into the pipe from the outside wall that it is in heated space so that it can’t freeze when moist air hits it. Inline dampers are also good for bathroom fan vent pipes. You never want to use them for dryers though, as they can obstruct the duct, which will collect lint and cause other problems.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at mailto:akhomewise@cchrc.org You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

Frosty rooftop vents might mean trouble in the attic

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by CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: I have a cold roof. The other day I noticed frost on the vents that are high up on the end walls of my house.

What should I do?

Frost on roof vents of a cold roof indicate you might have air leakage and moisture coming from somewhere inside the house, more than likely through the ceiling. So you have warm air getting into the attic, then out through the vents where it condenses and forms hoarfrost. There are a lot of places this leaking can occur. You could have a chimney or plumbing penetrations going through the ceiling that aren’t sealed properly, poorly sealed can lights, holes in your vapor barrier, or bathroom vents and fans that are broken or not properly connected to the outside.

When it warms up, crawl up into the attic and take a look. If there is so much frost that it is building up on the outside, then there could be some moisture damage inside.

Q: Are there any cautions for replacing windows in the winter?

Flanged windows, especially vinyl ones, get brittle in the extreme cold, so handling them takes a bit more care. Also, expanding spray foam, used to seal the gaps between the window and the framing, doesn’t cure well in low temperatures. The can instructions are pretty specific in this regard, and if you install a foam backer rod into the gap first, which stops the airflow from the outside, then you can spray the foam and it should work.

Q: What are some general rules on when to plug in your automobile?

The rule of thumb that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservations provides is to plug in for at least a couple hours when it’s 20°F or colder.

I think most of us have realized that if it’s 20°F, you can get by plugging in at a lesser amount and if it’s quite a bit colder you need to plug in longer. If you find you need to leave your car plugged in substantially longer before it starts smoothly, then you car may need some maintenance.

Q: I hear the word “retrofit” being used a lot in talks about fixing up an old house.

What’s the difference between retrofitting and renovating?

Renovating simply means restoring something, making it look new again, or repairing it.

Retrofitting is modifying something old with new technology. In a home, upgrading an older energy system, using a new technique to insulate walls or replacing outof- date windows with new ones are examples of retrofitting.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

A heat pump, for what it’s worth

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By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy, and the many other parts of home life.

Q: What is a heat pump and can it work in Fairbanks?

A heat pump is a mechanical system that uses a series of liquidfilled pipes or tubes run underground to heat (or cool) a building. The liquid captures the ground heat and uses it to heat your home. You might think our Fairbanks ground would be too cold to support such a system, but even at lower temperatures a heat pump can still function appropriately. In Alaska, this tubing has antifreeze added.

In Fairbanks, these tubes need to be buried below the frostline (about 10 to 12 feet down) where the temperatures are fairly stable across the seasons. Heat pumps use more electricity than the typical house, but the increased costs are offset by the savings in fuel. There is some concern that, depending on your site, the heat pump will take enough heat from the ground to cause freezing, however more research needs to be done on this question. Locally, we’ll probably see more of these systems being installed in the next few years, but for now, it is an emerging technology for our area.

Q: My boiler needs to be cleaned. Is that something I can do myself, or should I call a professional?

You can do it yourself but it is a messy and sometimes difficult job. Older boilers may require removing side shields, top pieces, gaskets or other parts that can be damaged and cause leakage.

Most newer boilers have hinges and open from the front, making them much easier to clean. These boilers make it simple to get a brush onto the heat exchange surfaces and leave few places to gather soot. In the long run, it is probably best to have a professional do the cleaning.

Q: If I want to build a higher tech home and add some solar panels or wind power, how does orientation play into that?

Fairbanks is a tough place for wind power because it is generally a calm region of the state. The orientation of your home will not be a hindrance to adding any type of wind system as long as you have the wind resource. High areas in the hills around Fairbanks have the best potential for this kind of renewable energy system. Fairbanks is certainly a good place for solar much of the year. Solar systems should be oriented to the south in order to catch as much light as possible.

If you are building a new home, orienting it as much as possible toward the south will be advantageous for any kind of solar energy collection, whether passive or panels.

If you want to add solar panels on to your house, place them on your roof or outside walls at the height they will collect the most light.

Before making any decisions it is best to contact a solar installation company that can do an assessment of your property. These companies can do an analysis that will tell you where panels will receive the most sun exposure year round.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at mailto:akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

Get the most out of that energy-sucking kitchen device: Your refrigerator

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By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: Refrigerators are expensive to operate. How can I make sure mine is using less energy?

In terms of energy efficiency, refrigerators are often ignored but use a large percentage of a home electricity budget. And typically, a new refrigerator with automatic defrost and a topmounted freezer uses about half the energy of a 1990 version.

So use that as a benchmark. If your refrigerator is old and needs repairs or is close to the end of its expected life (which could be around 15 years), then it makes good sense to replace it.

In terms of maintenance, check door seals. Sometimes the seals get brittle or lose their compressive memory which can cause small gaps. As a rule of thumb, you do not want to be able to take a piece of paper and slide that between the seal and the refrigerator case. Another method is to close a flashlight inside the fridge. If you turn off the lights in the room and can still see light coming out of the fridge, then it’s probably time to replace the seals.

Also, the refrigerator compartment should be between 36F and 38F and the freezer should be between 0F and 5F. You can’t always trust the dial in the fridge to do that, so if you really want to be sure, put a thermometer in there and use the fridge dial setting as a point of reference to make sure the temperature is correct. Another important thing to look at is cleaning the condenser coils once a year. Those coils are at the back or bottom fridge. When coated with dust they make the fridge work harder and thus use more energy.

The location of your fridge is key. If the refrigerator is in the sun, next to the stove, or any other warm space, it will use more energy trying to stay cold.

A fridge in a cool space will help save energy.

When you’re preparing food to go into the fridge, let it cool down fully before storing away.

Remember, a refrigerator is a temperature-regulating appliance. Hot food will raise the temperature inside the compartment and the fridge will have to work harder to bring that temperature down to the proper level.

If you are looking into buying a new fridge, top and bottom units tend to be more efficient than side-by-side units. However, the bottom line when buying a fridge or any appliance is to look at the yellow Energy Star tag.

Energy Star information will tell you kilowatt hours per year for your model, which you can compare with other models.

Q: Why is it so important to seal around fixtures like vents, can lights and such?

If these areas are in an exterior wall and not properly sealed, air and moisture will easily move through these areas. You don’t want to be losing heat, or pushing moisture into walls or the roof. Moisture getting into a roof can cause rot, mold, ice jams and a variety of other problems.

Typically on new construction these areas are sealed. Even more convenient: many new building materials have gaskets that seal to the vapor barrier. However, older homes have electrical boxes, recess lighting, exhaust fans and other components that often were not sealed when installed. Air can easily pass into the attic space through these gaps. To seal, use spray foam or caulk which should seal these areas well.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org.You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

Got icy window panes? Your home might be too humid

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By Cold Climate Housing Research Center Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: I have double-pane windows. Every year I get large amounts of frost buildup on the pane facing the interior of the house. I thought these were fairly nice windows since the house is only five years old. I’ve tried the shrink wrap window plastic, but that only works if I use it around the frame — in which case I can’t close my blinds. Can you explain to me what is wrong and the steps to fix it?

A: There are a couple of things that could be going on here. You might have high humidity levels in the house, especially if you don’t have an adequate ventilation system in your home. Target indoor humidity levels for human comfort and health are between 30 and 50 percent. You should be able to buy a digital hygrometer that will help you monitor your indoor conditions.

The windows are one of the first places you will see condensation forming because they are one of the coldest surfaces in the house. Here’s the bottom line: the higher the humidity and the colder the surface, the greater the condensation potential.

Several factors that will contribute to excess humidity in the home are: a crawlspace that doesn’t have a good ground vapor barrier; appliances that aren’t properly vented to the outside, particularly dryers and range hoods; aquariums; inadequate bathroom ventilation; firewood stored indoors; and high occupant loads to name a few. As an example, a family of four will produce roughly 10 pounds of water per day through respiration and transpiration.

The reality is that in a properly ventilated house in Fairbanks, levels of 30-50 percent humidity are difficult to achieve because the climate is so dry here.

In terms of condensation potential, this works to our advantage. With a tight under-ventilated house, however, it is quite possible to attain high humidity.

In periods of extreme cold, the indoor humidity levels should be lower to reduce condensation problems.

As you noticed, the shrink wrap plastic is effective as it essentially turns your window into a “triple pane,” improving performance. The other option is to insulate the exterior of the window. Rigid foam board is crude but effective, but that also has its obvious disadvantages. The easiest approach is to target the indoor humidity and identify potential problems in this area first.

Q: What types of boilers are out there, and what do I look at? How do I know which type of boiler is the right one to get and what size? A: Alaska is a cold and faraway place, but even in Fairbanks, we have a wide variety of boilers. Some common brands include Weil-Mclain, Burnham, Slantfin, Monitor FCX Condensing Boilers, Triangle Tube, Viessman, Buderus, Energy Kenetics, Low Mass Boilers, Quietside and even direct vent hydronic hot water heaters are pressed into service as radiant heaters for the home. Look for the AFUE efficiency and get recommendations from mechanical contractor and homeowners.

The best way to find out what size boiler you need for your home is to look at a heat/loss calculation for your specific house. You can have this calculation done by a plumber or through a home energy rating among other places.

The calculation takes into account the R-values of walls, windows and roofs, and the exposed surface areas of each, then estimates how much heat will leave the building at a specific temperature.

For Fairbanks, -40 F is often used. The right size boiler will offset the heat that is expected to leave the building. There’s an old rule of thumb that uses the square footage of your home to calculate the right boiler size.

Unfortunately, this will often call for too large a boiler. A boiler that is too large for your home will operate inefficiently.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC). If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at (907) 457-3454.

Be wary when burning coal in a wood stove

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By Cold Climate Housing Research Center Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: I have a wood stove. Can I burn coal in it, too?

A: Unless a wood stove has been specifically designed to burn coal, too, I would not burn coal in it. For starters, coal has the ability to burn much, much hotter than wood, so it can damage the stove or heat it up so much that it can be a fire hazard to nearby objects.

Also, burning coal in a stove that isn’t airtight or specifically designed for coal can be dangerous because there is no way to shut down the air supply if the fire gets too hot. Add that to the fact that a coal fire takes a lot longer to go out, and you’re asking for trouble.

Q: What is a low e-coating?

A: The low e-coating is a metallic finish on one side of a window pane.

This finish will reflect radiant heat energy.

Radiant heat is heat that passes through electromagnetic waves, like sunlight.

If you have a multiple pane window with multiple coatings, the coating on the outside of the glass will reflect summer heat away from the building to keep it cool, and the coating on the inside of the glass will reflect indoor heat back into the house to keep it warm in the winter.

In Alaska, we typically favor coatings that will reflect heat inside while also choosing a pane that has a high solar heat gain coefficient. That means a window that allows more heat to pass through into the house, rather than reflect it.

Q: Is it worth the energy savings to put my computer to sleep, or should I shut it off every time I’m not using it?

A: That depends on how frequently you use your computer. If you go back and forth to your computer with hours in between, then putting it to sleep is more beneficial.

However, if you only use your computer once per day, such as when you’re at work or when you’re at home in the evening, then turning your computer off is more energy efficient.

Remember, keeping your computer on all day, even in sleep or standby mode, uses power that you have to pay for.

Remember that computers, like cars and people, need a break from time to time. Turning your computer off will give it a rest, and it will function better in the long run.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote awareness of homerelated issues. If you have a question, e-mail the Cold Climate Housing Research Center at akhomewise@cchrc.org.

When is it time to replace your boiler?

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By CCHRC Staff

The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: Oftentimes, if you get an energy rating done, replacing the boiler is the top recommendation. Is it worth the money and effort?

Boilers need to be examined on a case-by-case basis, so before you do anything, speak with a heating professional.

Often, there are little things you can do to a boiler that will make them more efficient. A lot of these little fixes depend on where your boiler exhausts, if you can add an outdoor reset, how much baseboard you have and if it’s time to have your system tuned. Sometimes small changes or additions in controls can help increase the efficiency of the boiler, and sometimes it just needs to be replaced with new technology.

However, fixing your old boiler won’t help if you are trying to gain points on your energy rating. Consult your energy rating paperwork to determine if the payback from replacing your boiler is worth the effort.

Q: Since we are in an Arctic climate, are there any challenges to having a wind system way up here?

There are not a lot of problems with most homesized wind turbines and their materials caused by the cold, dry Interior climate. That being said, wetter parts of Alaska have problems with ice collecting on towers and blades. When that happens, it throws the blades out of balance.

One way to gauge the effectiveness of a wind system is to check where it is made or where this type of system is installed. If a system is successfully installed in the cold regions of Canada, it’s probably OK for Alaska. Some systems are designed for areas that do not have cold temperatures, and they may not supply the right parts or materials, such as cold-weather grease, to function well in our climate.

Q: Most double- and triple-pane windows have gas between the panes. If a pane breaks, the gas will leak out. Is this any type of hazard?

Today, most window gases are Krypton or Argon. These gases are inert, so they pose no threat to human health. Still, multiple- paned windows are more energy efficient with the gas inside. As gas leaks out, air will leak in along with a little moisture. The moisture will cause frost or fog inside your window.

On that note, a window pane doesn’t have to be broken to let the gas escape. If the seal around the edge of the window fails, the gas can leak out. You can tell when a seal is broken because condensation will build up inside the window between the panes even if no glass is broken. Again, any frost or foggy windows are a sign that you could have a broken seal. Seals break down over time due to age, building settling, hot or cold exposure and a variety of other factors. Fortunately, windows can be refilled with gas and resealed by a professional.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org or call 457-3454.

Keeping your hot water tank toasty can save you money

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The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: Is it really necessary to insulate my hot water tank? A: It is. The newer tanks have a high-density polyurethane foam insulation around them, but a lot of older tanks have a thin layer of fiberglass around the them, which results in lost heat called standby loss. The idea behind standby

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loss is that it takes energy to keep water warm. Even if you aren’t using water, you still use energy to keep it heated. If your tank is not insulated, you are losing heat and using more energy to keep it at temperature.

Insulating the tank helps keep it warm, and you useless energy and therefore pay less as well.

You also can look up specific information about your tank online by going to the manufacturer’s Web site.

There you can find out how the tank was made and if it already is insulated.

Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of a pellet stove?

A: There are a couple of big advantages. Pellet stoves provide a regulated and controlled burning environment with high quality, uniform, combustible material. Pellet stoves also can regulate the rate at which pellets are fed into the firebox and control how much oxygen goes into the firebox. The stoves create an optimum burning environment for the pellets.

The pellets themselves are evenly sized and look like goose food except they are made from compressed wood rather than grain. They get fed in by an auger and are sized to run through the system for optimum burn efficiency. Pellet stoves generally are easy to install. Often, they can be direct vented through a wall, which is a lot easier than trying to place a chimney from a typical wood stove. With older wood stoves, you lose heat from the chimney, but you lose a lot less with pellet stoves.

In terms of disadvantages, you have to buy pellets. That makes you dependent on the market and who is importing pellets. You also need electricity to run the auger that feeds the pellets and the fan.

If you don’t have power or suffer from an outage, your stove won’t function.

Q: I am interested in building a “green” home.

Are there any “green” contractors out there?

A: Yes there are. When we say “green,” we are talking about building a home that uses sustainable materials, is energy efficient and uses local materials. There are contractors in town who build to green standards.

The Interior Alaska Building Association would be a good place to start. If you’re looking to build using green concepts, a couple places you could go to learn, before you get started, are the National Association of Homebuilders and the U.S. Green Building Council. Both groups have Web sites that clearly break down the process into different categories.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at 457-3454.

Home solar power systems are best left to professionals

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The “Ask a Builder” series is dedicated to answering some of the many questions Fairbanks residents have about building, energy and the many other parts of home life.

Q: I have a log home.

Is there anything special or different I need to know about insulating around doors and windows?

A: When they are new, log homes typically leave 4 to 6 inches of space around doors and windows to account for settling. Generally builders will stuff in fiberglass and seal it with Visqueen or some other 6mil. polyethelene product.

If you don’t know for sure, take a look inside after the home has taken a few years to settle. That space can be sealed with some compressible foam backer rod or spray foam. To do that, take off some of the casings around the window. If you see just fiberglass, you’ll want to make other provisions to stop air leakage. Seals in this area are a common problem in older log homes that have air penetration problems.

Q: I am interested in

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putting up some solar technology, is this something I can do myself?

A: A lot of people can take a solar panel, a DC motor and some wiring and make a little fan. However, when you get into home systems, solar power is much more complex. This being Alaska, home of the do-it-yourselfer, people tend to read an article and think they can do it themselves with a quick visit to the parts counter. After purchasing some panels, batteries, a controller and an inverter, they might have a decent system. However, after some time they might notice their batteries are not charging as well and might be unusable or something might have gotten fried.

Remember, a solar power project is a system and must be designed as such. The bottom line is if you are serious about installing a solar power system and you want to avoid trouble down the road, contact a professional.

Q: Carpets give off a lot of chemical gasses.

Are there safer types of carpet out there?

A: In winter in Alaska, some people will spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors. This means indoor air quality is especially important, particularly for people with chemical sensitivities, respiratory sensitivities and children. Fortunately, there are a variety of different manufacturers out there that make products with relatively little off gassing.

One good place to start is an organization called the Carpet and Rug Institute.

They can be found online (www.carpet-rug.org) and have a program called “Green Label Plus.” This program screens and independently tests carpets for the presence and concentrations of 13 different hazardous chemicals. Only if the carpet passes those tests does it get the certification, so the Institute is a good first place to look. They also have information on products, testing procedures and practical advice on what to look for in a carpet.

Alaska HomeWise articles promote home awareness for the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. If you have a question, e-mail us at akhomewise@cchrc.org. You can also call the CCHRC at 457-3454.