What should I do to help overall energy efficiency to an old building?
GBA Editor| Posted inEnergy Efficiency and Durabilityon
I am working with a 2-story commercial building with a restaurant being operated on the main floor and a large unused/un-finished upper level. The windows on the upper level have been replaced recently. There is insulation covering about 25% of the floor area on the upper level. What can be done on the upper level to achieve greater energy efficiency in the building overall?
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Replies
Greg,
The first step to answering you question is for you to hire an energy auditor (certified by RESNET or BPI) to assess your building. We can't do that over the internet. We don't even know where you are located -- and we all know that retrofit measures in Florida are different from Minnesota.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll repeat my usual mantra: for most existing buildings, the most cost-effective retrofit measure is blower-door-directed air sealing. You can read more about the work here:
Blower Door Basics