DIY Home Energy Audit: A Room-by-Room Checklist

You do not need a professional energy auditor. You need a Saturday, a notebook, and a few cheap tools. I have audited 600 homes. I have seen every leak, every draft, every inefficient appliance. The patterns are the same. This is how to audit your own home. The Home Energy Score Calculator can give you a starting score before you begin.

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Before you start, gather your tools. You need an incense stick or a thin candle. You need an infrared thermometer or a cheap surface thermometer. You need a flashlight. You need a notebook. You need a ladder. You need a screwdriver. You need a tube of caulk. You need a roll of weatherstripping. Total cost under $50. The Electric Bill Estimator can help you track your savings after you fix the leaks.

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Start in the attic. This is where most energy is lost. In Austin, summer attic temperatures hit 140°F. If your insulation is thin, the heat moves into your living space within hours. Measure your insulation depth. R19 is 6 inches. R38 is 12 inches. If you have less than 8 inches, add more. Blown-in fiberglass costs about $0.50 per square foot per inch. A 1,500-square-foot attic needs 6 inches of added insulation. Cost $500. Payback 2 years. Check for air leaks in the attic. Look for dirty insulation. Dirt means air is moving through it. Seal the gaps with spray foam. Pay special attention to the top plates of walls, wire penetrations, and plumbing vents. I sealed 20 gaps in my attic. Cost $40 in foam. Saved $100 a year. The Appliance Cost Calculator can help you find energy hogs in your attic, like an old attic fan.

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Next, go to the living room. Light the incense stick. Hold it near your windows, doors, and baseboards. Watch the smoke. If it wavers or blows, you have an air leak. Mark the spot with a piece of tape. Do this for every room. The most common leaks are around windows, doors, and electrical outlets. In my house, I found 12 leaking outlets on exterior walls. I installed foam gaskets behind the outlet covers. Cost $5. Saved $30 a year. I found 8 leaking window frames. I applied clear caulk. Cost $8. Saved $60 a year. I found 3 leaking exterior doors. I replaced the weatherstripping. Cost $20. Saved $100 a year. The Smart Thermostat Savings Estimator can help you set your thermostat to avoid heating or cooling the outdoors. Now the kitchen. Check the refrigerator seal. Close the door on a dollar bill. If you can pull the bill out easily, the seal is leaking. Replace the gasket. Cost $50. Save $30 a year. While you are there, vacuum the coils under the fridge. Dirty coils make the compressor work harder. My fridge coils were caked with cat hair. I vacuumed them. My fridge now runs 10% less. The Time-of-Use Rate Comparator can help you decide when to run the dishwasher. Check the kitchen exhaust fan. Does it vent outside or into the attic? Many fans vent into the attic. That dumps hot, humid air into your insulation. It reduces R-value. If your fan vents into the attic, reroute it. Cost $100. Save $50 a year. Next, the bedrooms. Check the window AC units if you have them. Are they sealed around the edges? I had a window unit in the guest room. The accordion side panels were leaking air. I sealed them with foam tape. Cost $5. Saved $20 a year. The Solar ROI Calculator is for solar, but I used it to see if my audit findings would change my solar payback. Now the bathroom. Check the exhaust fan. Does it work? Is it loud? A loud fan is inefficient. Clean the cover. Replace the fan if it is more than 10 years old. A new ENERGY STAR fan uses 20 watts instead of 60. Cost $80. Save $15 a year. Check the shower head. A low-flow head uses 1.5 gallons per minute instead of 2.5. That saves water and the energy to heat it. I installed a low-flow head for $15. Saved $25 a year. The crawlspace or basement next. If you have a crawlspace, check the insulation under the floor. Is it falling down? Is it wet? Wet insulation is useless. Replace it. Cost $200. Save $100 a year. Seal the crawlspace vents in winter. I used foam board. Cost $20. Saved $40 a year. Finally, the garage. Check the door seal. If you see daylight under the door, the seal is worn. Replace it. Cost $20. Save $30 a year. Check the water heater. Is it warm to the touch? If yes, add an insulation blanket. Cost $30. Save $20 a year. Set the temperature to 120°F. That saves another $15 a year. The Home Energy Score Calculator can give you a post-audit score. After my audit, I made a list of fixes. I prioritized by payback. Shortest payback first. Weatherstripping on the front door paid back in 2 months. Foam gaskets on outlets paid back in 4 months. Attic insulation paid back in 2 years. Window caulk paid back in 6 months. Total cost of my DIY audit fixes: $700. Total annual savings: $500. Payback 1.4 years. After that, pure savings. My neighbor copied my audit. He found a huge air leak around his fireplace damper. He sealed it with a chimney balloon. Cost $40. Saved $100 a year. Payback 5 months. He called me and said “I cannot believe I was heating the outdoors.” The Appliance Cost Calculator helped him find his old freezer. Your action plan. To startset aside a Saturday. Gather your tools. Walk through every room. Use the incense stick to find leaks. Use the infrared thermometer to find cold spots. Next upmake a list of every leak, every gap, every inefficient appliance. Rank them by payback. Fix the cheap ones first. Thenmeasure your attic insulation. Add more if needed. This is the biggest long-term win. Alsoseal your ducts. Use mastic, not duct tape. Duct tape dries out. Mastic lasts. Finallyreplace your most inefficient appliances. Old fridge, old pool pump, old water heater. Use the Appliance Cost Calculator to decide. The monopoly does not want you to audit your home. They want you to keep paying. They want you to keep leaking. Do not let them. Watt and Volt helped with the audit. Watt sat on my notebook. Volt knocked the incense stick off the table. It did not start a fire. My bill is lower. My house is tighter. My cats are still chaotic. That is a win.

DIY Home Energy Audit: A Room-by-Room Checklist

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