Can This Home Be Greened? An East Side Austin Home

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Abe Louise Young loves her house in Austin’s East Side despite all its faults. Photo By Marc Richmond

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Although she loves her home and feels grateful for the abundance in her life, Abe wants to make some improvements. Creative materials and thrift are important to her, as well as a sense of calm and sacredness.

Ode to insulation

PROBLEM: Abe’s home is hot and humid in the summer. While her front rooms stay cool, her back rooms—made of wood studs—get hot through the walls and ceilings. The main culprit is radiant heat entering through the roof.

SOLUTION: Installing radiant reflective sheeting to the roof’s underside can block this and protect the air conditioning system and ductwork. Reinsulating the walls isn’t an option on Abe’s budget, but she can plant trees on the south side of her home to shade the walls, and she can augment the attic’s small, ineffective gable vents with a continuous ridge vent and clear air pathways for the existing soffit vents. I also suggested she make an insulated box out of foam board and reseal the weather stripping to reduce heat entering through the attic’s pull-down stairway. Fortunately, Abe can take advantage of Austin Energy’s low-income energy audit, weatherization, and rebate programs to pay for additional attic insulation, leaking duct repair, caulking and weather stripping, solar window screens, compact fluorescent bulbs, and carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.

Sonnet to stingers and squirrels

PROBLEM: A wasp nest near Abe’s back door threatens her as well as the neighborhood children.

SOLUTION: Rather than using chemicals to eradicate the insects, I suggested she knock down the nest and run inside. Although the wasps will hang around in frustration for a day or two, they’ll eventually build a new nest somewhere else—typically an area away from rain and sun such as under a roof overhang.

PROBLEM: A squirrel has set up housekeeping in Abe’s attic.

SOLUTION: I pointed out critter entry points in the roof and under the house that she can seal with caulk, foam, and steel wool—this will also help with energy efficiency. She should close the holes during the day when the squirrel is (hopefully) out of the house. If she locks him in, she may need to catch him in a live trap.