Insulate and Weatherize: For Energy Efficiency at Home (Taunton's Build Like a Pro)

If you have an old drafty house, you need to read this. It holds the key to making your otherwise wonderful house comfortable and more efficient. Two major lessons were an epiphany for me.First lesson, while it seems simple beyond belief, you need to know the difference between conduction (heat moving between objects or materials) and convection (heat moving through the air). Far too many people, including insulating professionals I have hired, only treat a house for conduction with fiberglass and blow in insulation, when air leaks are left unresolved. Fiberglass batts or blow in do not stop air leaks. You need to do both.Second lesson, air leaks contribute to the "stack effect" where your house acts like a chimney sucking air in from the bottom all the way out through the top. Why is air jetting in through the smallest leak in a waether stipped door? Stack effect, not the wing. You prevent this by stopping air leaks not just with doors and windows, but in the attic and roof where you get the most bang for the buck.The author(s) tells you this and more then give you detailed instructions on various methods to identify and address many types of issues in your house. My only criticism is that they seem to be stating you must do all the air sealing yourself and/or it is very expensive. I have found this not to be true and had an unbelievably leaky basement and attic air sealed for just over $2k. Had I followed the book's advice strictly I would have been doing this work for many miserable weekends with good, but not the best results.

Gives good tips for those that are new to this and willing to take on some small home projects .

I moved into a house in vermont and everyone said I should have a home energy audit. I spent a lot of money and got a detailed report telling me everything that needed to be done on the house (about $15k worth of work was recommended). I bought this book from amazon and realized that it covered every single thing the auditor looked at, so I could have done the audit myself apart from the blower test. Moreover, having this book gave me the information and confidence to do all the work myself and after spending a couple of thousand on materials I now have a very very insulated house. Before I got this book I wouldn't have known what all the different types of insulation were, after reading it I was able to confidently blow in $1000 worth of cellulose myself (even the building supply people said that they hardly ever get homeowners renting the equipment themselves). The book explains the concepts and the science in an easy to understand way, and then shows you exactly what to do even if you are a beginner. Very highly recommended.

I purchased an old wooden home built about 1890 a few years ago. Other that some poorly installed blown fiberglass there wasn't any insulation in the house. I immediately started getting every book on insulating and energy efficiency that I could out of the library. This book was one of the last ones I read but it's the only one that I went back and purchased. It may not have step by step guides but what it does do is teach you about the basic mechanics of how your house works, which to me is more important than any step by step guide. It is not short on very specific advice either and also includes an excellent resource guide to purchase many of the things you will need to do the job. I have constantly referred back to this book as we slowly turn this leaky old home into a tight, energy efficient and more comfortable home.This book is for anyone looking to improve the energy efficiency of their home, even if you are just in the design stage. Many more subjects than just insulation are covered.

I wish I had this book before I took apart the inside of my old house. I'd class myself as a intermediate do-it-yourselfer in construction (except for the drywall part). While I'm quite pleased with what I did do, and some of the materials were not locally available at the time anyway, I could have turned a pretty good job into an awesome one. At least there are ways to "retrofit" some of the existing areas. As with other "for pros by pros" books I've read/own, the illustrations are great, and the descriptions and principles described are nicely explained. Anyone wanting to make their existing home better will find all sorts of tips, and anyone having work done will be able to intelligently evaluate what's being done. You may even be able to save money by improving upon the "ordinary" job the contractors did by investing a bit of money and time after they leave, doing what they'd charge a lot to do, and likely argue with you as to how much benefit you'd get out of it.

It’s a great reference book but I was hoping it was going to go into more detail around when you want to use a certain insulation materials. I have a 1962 brick veneer and have read many conflicting arguments around using bats (face/unfaced) vs foam vs closed cell as well as when/where to use vapor barriers if any at all. Overall though it’s a great holistic view of insulation properties.

As with all Taunton Press books about building and construction, this book is excellent. Although now a bit dated (pub. 2002) I believe the author's writing still reflects the state-of-the-art about insulating and weatherizing a building. One would think that all that needs to be known about this topic would have been known many years ago. That's just not the case.You, the reader, will learn how to address these issues for new construction and renovation projects and you will save real dollars. As the author recommends "Save your money and forget about the replacement windows. Instead, track down and block the air leaks." His way of explaining the physical process of air and moisture fluxes is done well with examples, photos, diagrams and simple explanations.

This book is quite amazing, written by a hands-on engineer who knows the thery behind what he explains yet knows the ins and outs of practical considerations as well. Well illustrated, nice point-form, to the point writing style. Covers more than insulation and weatherization, it is more about energy conservation at large, covering windows, heating, ventilation and air conditionning systems, with some mainstream techniques, some emerging, some quite environmentally-friendly techniques. Very well made for the home owner who wants to understand what is going on and to make wise and informed decisions.