Home Weatherization

The Home Weatherization program is funded by the Department of Energy, by funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and by other sources such as the Bonneville Power Authority (BPA) and Petroleum Violation Escrow (PVE) grants.

In order to qualify for home weatherization the applicant must first qualify for the heating assistance program. Clients may make as much as the upper limits listed in the following chart:  
 
2004-2005

Number of People in the family

 60% of Median Annual Income

Maximum Monthly Income
1 $18,802 $1,566
2 $24,587 $2,048
3 $30,372 $2,531
4 $36,157 $3,013
5 $41,942 $3,495
6 $47,727 $3,977
7 $48,812 $4,067
8 $49,897 $4,158

                 
Once the applicant has qualified, their name will be placed on a waiting list. People on the waiting list are also awarded bonus points for disabilities and age or other characteristics which may be required or favored by the grants which we have available to pay for the work.

All weatherization work is paid for with grant money. We do not bill our clients for the weatherization work done on their homes.

When the applicant's name comes to the top of the waiting list an audit will be done on the home.

The audit consists of a thorough inspection of the home from top to bottom. The auditor will look in the attic, under the floors and inside the walls to determine whether or not insulation can be added to improve the heat holding capabilities of the home. The auditor will also run a blower door test to determine the amount and location of air leaks in the home. In order to run this test the client must leave all wood stoves and other fuel burning appliances off during the test. The blower door works by discharging the air from the house. This reduces the pressure inside the house so that the greater pressure outside will push air through the cracks and holes into the house. The auditor will use the data collected by the inspection and the blower door test to determine what measures should be undertaken to save the most energy.  All the data collected by the auditor will be entered into a computer program that determines which weatherization steps can be taken based on a Savings to Investment ratio.  In other words, if the savings of the weatherization steps will be enough to pay for the cost of the improvement in less than 10 years the item is approved.  If it does not save enough in energy costs to pay for the improvement, it will not be approved by the computer program and will not be paid for by the grants.  That means that particular improvement will not be done.

This data is then used to generate a Bid Request which will be sent to the contractor(s). They will bid on the jobs that need to be done. The bids will then be compared to each other and to the list of needs of the home and to the list of things paid for by the grants.

In some cases the weatherization program may choose to replace one or all of the windows in the home. It may choose to install storm windows, or it may simply replace broken panes in windows. Being on the weatherization list does not guarantee the client will get new windows. (As a matter of fact, getting new windows is rare now days). The grant requirements couopled with the computer program will determine what weatherization will be done to the client's home. The clients do not determine which measures will be installed on their homes.


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