Judith Linscott went to builder Nicholas Xatzís for advice on how to conserve energy and keep her house warm this winter. She figured he would look around and give her a couple of ideas. But no. He gave her an education, instead.

When I asked builder Nicholas Xatzís to check out my drafty old house and make energy conserving suggestions, I figured he’d tell me to insulate the hot water heater, put up some storm windows and actually start closing the damper when the fireplace wasn’t in use. Then I’d hire a guy to do it all. Except for the damper part, which I’d learn to do myself.

Oh, if only life were that simple. Noooo, Nick wanted to talk about the building “envelope.” About “moisture and air incursion and excursion.” About “controlled environments.” Nick wants us to educate ourselves. I wanted Nick to tell me what to do. But he’s smart. And persuasive. (Not to mention handsome.) So I tried to cooperate.

So here’s what we started with:
Every house is different. And surprise! their primary function is not to accommodate antiques or display interesting artwork but to keep the weather off us. That means cold, hot, wet. And that means controlling moisture and the movement of air. Right away, I had a sinking feeling about all this. Nick told me I needed first to define the house’s “envelope” – that is, where I want the controlled environment to begin and end.

For instance, since our house is old (which means, among other things, it is probably built on rubble and has no attic insulation) we should probably consider the basement and attic outside of the envelope. Our concern, therefore, is to efficiently heat and cool the two floors in between. Sort of a new-fangled (that is to say, more efficient) version of my grandparents closing off half the house in the winter.

Suddenly, I remembered that my sister and brother-in-law, then poverty-stricken hippies, did this most efficiently 20 years ago. They lived in a big, drafty house and at night they lowered the thermostat even further, put on wool pjs and, with their two dogs, zipped themselves into a tent they’d set up in the living room. Cozy!
But I digress.

“The smaller you define the envelope, the easier it is to heat,” said Nick. (Much of this tour was Nick patiently pointing out the obvious to me). “It’s usually not cost-effective to include the basement in the envelope.” What is cost-effective is essentially walling off the basement from the first floor – in our case, he suggested insulating between the basement’s beams. He barely glanced at the furnace. “Everybody wants to get a better boiler or furnace,” he said. “But it doesn’t make sense until you’ve addressed the bigger picture.”

So address we did. Back on the first floor, Nick walked around, looking at windows, tapping on walls. “Great house,” he said, then sighed. “It’s definitely a challenge.” Then he added: “Especially in a house of this age.” I felt like I was waiting for the doctor’s verdict.

He wasn’t happy about our windows. They’re “single glazed and drafty.” Well, I knew that. What I didn’t know is that storm windows, at about $100-$125 apiece, are a stopgap; ideally, all the windows should be replaced with double-glazed panes. Which, Nick said, cost somewhere around $800 apiece. That’s for the window, not the labor.
Hmmm.

I thought Nick might suggest stove inserts for our three fireplaces. He didn’t. Well, not really. “They’re definitely more efficient,” he said. But added: “Not as pretty.” I took that as a reprieve.

Any exterior door with glass – that’s two out of three, for us – should have a storm door, and all the doors should have gaskets around the frame. “It’s a tiny thing, but it can make a huge difference.” But windows and doors alone are not the problem. That’s because in a house as old as ours (circa 1765) there’s virtually no insulation in the walls. In fact, I learned, even much newer houses have inadequate insulation. I began to panic at the mere thought of removing all the siding and reinsulating the whole house. Major surgery.

“You can take it in pieces,” he said. “If at any time you need anything re-sided, then you can address the problem with new insulation, sheathing and put the siding back in the most modern way.”

The good news was on the second floor, where the windows in three rooms are double glazed. But then we got to the attic. Nick poked and prodded. “I don’t think you’re insulated at all up here,” he said, once more pointing out the obvious: hot air from the house was escaping into the uninsulated attic. “Your heat is just pouring up here.” Through cracks where the attic floor met the wall, he could see daylight from the second floor. “That’s bad, bad.” We could, he said, pull up the plank floors, insulate and sheath, lay down plywood, then replace the planking and tape the seams. That’s a big job, made bigger by the amount of junk we have stuffed in the attic which would have to be moved in order to do the project. Major surgery. Or we could at least plug the obvious cracks. More like a “procedure.”

Next we went outside. Nick suggested cutting back a juniper that covers part of the living-room window, lessening the warming effects of the sun in winter. Gutters, he said, should be clean and well-maintained, to keep moisture away from the house. (He may have noticed that ours are sprouting a small forest.) He also pointed out places where the clapboards were in bad shape – places that are good candidates for new insulation.

And he repeated his mantra: “Air sealing and insulation, that’s the biggest bang for your buck by far” and, “When you can, do it a portion at a time.” Insulate, sheath, tape, replace with a “high R” board on the outside. (The R-value, Nick informed me, is the level of resistance to heat flow.)

In the end, despite my own high R-value (that would be resistance to information) Nick’s tutorial did the trick. Much as I might like to return to my ignorant, wanton ways and just jack up the thermostat, I’m now pricing storm doors and eyeing rotten window frames. I’ve been reading up on energy audits, insulation and more on the U.S. Department of Energy’s “A Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,” which is a little like a long conversation with Nick – only not so much fun, but downloadable. (www.eere.energy.gov/consumer).
I may even learn to close those dampers.

Nicholas Xatzís can be reached [here].

* Article by Judith Linscott – Cover story of Fall Home Improvement magazine,  a supplement to The Millerton News and The Winsted Journal, September 2008.
* Photos by Marsden Epworth