Home Energy Audits 

Do you want to improve your home’s energy efficiency but aren’t sure where to start? Consider a home energy audit. Energy audits help you understand how and where your home is wasting energy so that you can make impactful and cost-effective improvements. 

Responsible House is a certified energy auditor with decades of experience serving Central Virginia homeowners. We conduct comprehensive energy audits that give our customers the information they need to make smart energy efficiency home improvements. 

What Is an Energy Audit? 

Outline of a house with question marks on sticky notes inside

An energy audit is a comprehensive evaluation of your home’s overall health, comfort, and energy efficiency. Using diagnostic tools like a blower door and infrared camera, our energy auditors will evaluate your house as a system and identify the best approaches to improve your energy efficiency, comfort, and indoor air quality. 

Our auditors go room by room, looking for signs of poor insulation and air leakage. They also perform safety testing on your combustion appliances, look for moisture issues, and analyze your energy bills. 

How Is a Home Energy Audit Done? 

Blower Door Fan Being Set-Up For A Test

At Responsible House, we follow an 11-step process during energy efficiency audits that includes: 

  1. Depressurizing the building to measure building air leaks
  2. Depressurizing building to locate building air leaks
  3. Conducting an infrared analysis
  4. Checking for HVAC duct leakage
  5. Evaluating existing insulation
  6. Testing the performance of existing exhaust fans
  7. Calculating fresh air requirements in the building
  8. Testing for back-drafting of combustion appliances
  9. Inspecting for moisture issues
  10. Reviewing electric and gas bills
  11. Evaluating windows and exterior doors

At the beginning of your energy audit, we’ll sit down with you to discuss any specific problems you may be dealing with. Maybe you have one room that always feels 10 degrees warmer than it does anywhere else in the house. Maybe you’ve noticed a musty, moldy smell coming from your basement. Or maybe you want to reduce energy waste in your house before you install solar panels. Whatever the case may be, we’ll listen to what’s going on in your home and help you find the best solutions. 

When your energy audit is complete, we’ll provide you with a report that explains what we found and what improvements we recommend making. We are a full-service energy efficiency company with many years of general contracting experience, which allows us to implement almost any efficiency upgrade your home could need. We care about quality and will get the job done right so that you can enjoy a happier, healthier, more comfortable Responsible House. 

How Much Does an Energy Audit Cost? 

Our 11-step energy audits start at $400. However, the cost of an energy audit can vary depending on the size of your home and the complexity of the testing being performed. Take the first step toward a more energy efficient house! Call 540-942-2061 or contact us to schedule an energy audit.

Find the right energy efficiency solutions for your house. 

Schedule an energy audit today! 

Turns Out It’s Detective Work

Part 1 of 3 I don’t know about you, but I find energy audits fascinating. I always want to know what each house scores in air tightness…

Discovering the Culprits

Part 2 of 3 (Shadowing an Energy Audit) Quick Fixes The homeowner complained of temperature differentials. Wm asked where the thermostat…

Thermal Imaging
During our audit we will use our Infrared Camera to help us identify temperatures as well locate leaky spots. In this picture, you can see the difference in temperature around the door frame and at the corner. We’ve found some culprits for sure!
Duct Blaster
If you have concerns about leaky ducts, we can also test that with our duct blaster during your audit.
Blower Door
This is the strange looking blower door. The enormous fan helps to depressurize your house and the equipment helps us analyze how often the volume of air in your house exhcanges with the outside air. We will share the results with you in our final report.

Happy Clients

Responsible House worked tirelessly to bring back to life my family’s 100-year old farmhouse with a major energy retrofit and extensive structural restoration. I cannot say enough good things about this local, family owned business. They meticulously pursued perfection at… Read more “We are immensely grateful”

Joyce C.

William came to study the problem. He was incredibly thorough weighing in all possible causes and solutions to my Attic blues. He then put together a plan and executed it to perfection. If you do not go to Responsible house… Read more “Attic Blues”

Charles C.

They caulked all the places on the interior of my log home where I was losing heat. I am saving 20% on my heating bill now. The team also fixed minor issues with the house which they found during the… Read more “Very Happy With The Work”

Donna S.

The experience I had from Responsible House installing my new insulation it was quick and effortless. Their team came in and within two days I was able to return to a much warmer house. My air-conditioning would run almost constantly… Read more “Quick And Effortless”

Jason W.

The upstairs level of our home used to get extremely hot in the summertime, using a lot of wasted electricity to try to cool things down. Responsible house was able to insulate our home which ended up zeroing out our… Read more “Extremely Hot Upstairs Insulation Google Review”

Rachel B.

The most amazing contractors I have ever worked with – William saved us! You will not find anyone as professional and competent – not only in the valley but honestly anywhere. I have had so many bad experiences – Responsible… Read more “Dahlia N./Houzz.com Review”

Our project consisted of a kitchen/bath/bedroom remodel – a roughly 5 month project. William and his team were the consummate professionals throughout–skilled, knowledgeable, straightforward and direct. They provided advice and recommendations when needed and dealt promptly with any problems that… Read more “Kay B./Houzz.com Review”

Not only do they provide high quality services, they also are extremely easy to work with and they have a strong sense of design. -Michael Brown/Houzz.com… Read more “Michael Brown/Houzz.com Review”

“We highly recommend him and his team, and especially for a custom plan containing elements which are not standard construction.” –Custom Home… Read more “Custom Home Client/Houzz.com”

They have a very thorough attention to detail, and always rendered results that were exactly what the clients and I were after. –Annie M./Houzz.com… Read more “Annie M./Houzz.com Review”

A Net Zero Home
When conditioned air is trying to escape to the coldness outside, it has a hard time. This house only allows it’s volume of air to switch with the outside once every 24 hours. That’s 12 times more efficient than the average home. This is the 2nd tightest house we have built.
Outdoor Kitchen Window
Energy efficiency is not about your windows but this is one of the times we do recommend replacing your windows - when you are reimagining your space. This kitchen renovation on a 200 year old home also highlights Responsible House’s breadth of experience and that we can handle any projects tangential to your insulation needs.
Kitchen Remodel
We had to give you a peek of that window and kitchen from the inside. Truly reimagined!
Nellysford Cottage
This adorable cottage may not look fierce, but it is holding onto it’s air envelope mighty tightly. It takes 12 hours for all of the conditioned air inside of this house to sneak through the tiny holes present and be replaced by unconditioned air from the outside. In contrast, the average home does this every 2 hours. Super leaky homes (and plenty exist) perform far worse than that – every hour or even less!
Bungalow Remodel
These homeowners took it slowly over 5 years - insulated the ceiling of their basement, replaced their roof to prep for solar, had some solar installed, conditioned their attic (and replaced old HVAC equipment), and finally completed their solar array. Their home is cozy and energy efficient now.
Annie Interior
On a cold day, this home exchanges the entire envelope of air inside with the outside air about once every 40 hours. This is stunningly low! This translates to not having to keep your heater running on a cold day because you aren’t constantly heating the outside air that is coming in. The average house exchanges it’s entire volume of air (that you paid so dearly to warm up or cool off) with the outside air every 2 HOURS.