Are there professionals who do site visits and advise on available upgrades and challenges?
I live in a house that is well over a century old and an unmitigated energy efficiency disaster (i just discovered an new conundrum recently). I’ve been doing some upgrades and asked a few questions (thanks GBA experts for your answers over the last few months), but there are issues that i am not sure how to address (for example how safe is it to dig out my very shallow crawlspace, is the dirt holding up the brick walls) and hopefully someone with a lot more knowledge then i have who might see issues i have not considered or know of solutions i have not discovered yet.
I’m located in Southern Ontario, Canada.
Second question is there visual software (preferably free) out there that i can put my house into and develop a profile of its energy consumption that i can add upgrades to see how much energy they should save. I am looking for something that is visual (ie a 2d or 3d model of a house i can modify, add walls, ceilings, crawlspaces) because i have difficulty visualizing numbers and it would be far easier for me to work with, especially with part of my interior wall becoming an exterior wall in the attic (addition is lower then the original house)
TIA
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Replies
Sounds more like you need a structural engineer in your area to advise you. That form of work is best left to tradesmen who know what they are doing.
Alan,
Depending on your needs, you might want to consult with a contractor, an engineer, an architect, a home performance contractor, or an energy rater (ideally, one certified by RESNET or BPI).
For information on energy modeling software, you might want to read this article: Energy Modeling Software.
Many types of energy modeling software, including BeOpt, include visual representations of the modeled building.