Puget Sound Energy is currently offering a trial program where they will do a 2-3 hour careful examination of your home’s most private of areas and give you suggestions as to how you can make everything more efficient and save some $ on your energy bills – all for the bargain-basement price of $95. I just had mine performed today, and survived to tell you the gory details.
Upon arrival, Dude explained the process and did a quick walk through of the house to understand the current situation and to let me express concerns I had about the house. He then set up a sealed-door blower in the front door, to suck air out of the house, creating negative pressure, which let cold outside air come into the house through the various small leaks.
Methodically going around the house, he viewed every square inch through an infra-red camera, which showed the hot and cold spots. Cold spots with clean edges represented places where insulation was lacking, and cold spots with streaked edges indicated air leaks, which you could easily confirm by sticking your hand on the spot. You wouldn’t normally notice the air leak, since you don’t usually have a high negative air pressure in the house.