I chose Advanced Home Energy (AHE) to provide energy performance testing and remediation work while remodeling our 1915 Craftsman home in Oakland, California. With our green renovation we planned (and succeeded) to receive the highest LEED platinum rating, along with certification under California¹s Green Point Rated. For such a high standard we needed to tighten up the house to air infiltration, from outside and within. This required choosing a reputable home performance contractor that had the knowledge and experience to achieve the highest results.
AHE came highly recommended. They tested the tightness of our home using a blower-door and measured how much the house leaked. AHE’s staff quickly identified the areas where the house was leaking and sealed up the holes and cracks. Once the work was finished, they tested the house again with the blower door and confirmed that their work had brought the house below our target level; a 50% improvement in one day! They were professional and overall provided excellent work. I highly recommend their services to others interested in making their home more energy efficient and green.
David Gottfried, Home Owner
CEO, Regenerative Ventures
Founder, U.S. Green Building Council
http://www.gottfriedhome.com/index.html
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Our family was delighted with the clean, green work completed by AHE. Our little East Bay home was expensive to heat in the winter and stifling hot in the summer. We wanted safe, green insulation. AHE gave us a competitive quote on blown recycled newsprint for the attic and laid denim insulation under the floors. They did a great job and our late winter heating bill went down almost $100 from the previous year. Our house is now comfortable in the heat of summer without AC. Further, AHE made our house more energy efficient without using fiberglass or chemically treated products- all the better for our home and our health!
Meghan and Ron – Berkeley
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We lived in a old, cold un-insulated in the Sunset. After paying ridiculous PG&E bills for 10 years, we wisened up and decided to make the investment in insulating our house. It was a great decision to do it, and it was a better decision to use Advanced Home Energy.
Dvir came out, evaluated our home and gave us his proposal. He was friendly, intelligent and worked with us to come up with a plan that we cold afford.
It’s been 2 weeks since we’ve been insulated, and it’s a huge, noticeable difference. We’re still enshrouded in fog every day, but our heater doesn’t come on EVERY morning (like it used to). On those mornings when we do have to have heat, the heat stays in longer, so we usually only go through one cycle on the heater.
AHE uses all “green” products. Every worker they had was friendly and clean – from the electrician who does the pre-insulation check, to the guy who came back to finish off the wall project. And they work with you to get your PG&E rebate done properly.
- Christina S. San Francisco
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I consulted by phone with AHE about my overall heating and cooling needs and emailed them pictures of my attic. They recommended cellulose fill on top of my existing fiberglass fill, and checking my heating system for efficiency and duct leaks, sealing them if necessary. They would raise the storage area in the attic to accommodate the increased height of the fill and enclose it with a raised edge. Other contractors had not offered to do the other work.
The crew leads, both general contractors, reviewed the site. They recommended replacing the “flooring” of the storage area with a stronger plywood that would hold our weight. They suggested filling over the original attic opening and proposed coupling a power outlet with the existing light switch when I said we often bring up an extension power cord through it. They found some live wires with uncapped ends, explained that they were a fire danger and suggested a fix. They laid out paper to protect the carpet, covered the heat vents with plastic tape and began the ducts test. They carried beams and boards to and from the attic, sawed and hammered. They pressurized the duct system and found no leaks, questioned me about how well the house heats, and determined that the furnace system was working well. They acquired new flooring at a nearby lumber company and installed it and the perimeter edge. They nailed blocks onto the cut rafters. After lunch, they brought a long hose through the house, up into the attic and pumped in the fill. At the end of the day, theyapplied a light coat of paint to the hole plugs, making them barely visible, washed down the work area, put the plants back, and washed not only the outside window, which had gotten dirty, but the inside one, which had not! Everyone was professional, personable and helpful. They worked carefully and cleaned up afterward, leaving my home relatively spotless. After the bulk of the work was done, I asked my husband if he had any sense of the madhouse this place had been during the day. He didn’t have a clue. The whole house is now more comfortable with an even temperature upstairs and down. It is much quieter and I’m averaging a 25% savings in energy costs since this work was done. I simply couldn’t be happier with the work AHE performed for me. I am pleased to recommend them without qualification.
Karen Jo R. – San Rafael