Historic Home Renovation: Preserving History And Protecting Our Future

Historic Home Renovation While Achieving Net-Zero Energy Consumption

In this video, witness an historic home renovation with the goal being net-zero energy consumption. Restoring this 110+ year-old Folk Victorian home, while making it ultra energy efficient, was accomplished through tight insulation & sealing, energy star appliances, motion sensors to turn off the lights when not in use, geothermal heating & cooling, and an energy monitor.

When the owners purchased this home, it was in terrible condition. It had lead paint, no insulation, and abestos siding. Run-down, carpet and tiling from the 70s… the list goes on and on. In other words, a dream come true for this husband and wife who happen to be renovation experts. It was a perfect “marriage”, so to speak, for this historic home renovation.

On move-in day, they brought a crowbar to rip up all of the old carpeting and a box of compact fluorescent light bulbs to replace all of the old, energy sucking light bulbs in the house. Then, they installed motion sensors to detect when nobody was in the room so that it would automatically turn off the lights when they were not needed.

Next, they tacked the bathroom which had old pink formica tiling and a toilet that used 5 gallons with every flush and still didn’t fully flush everything, if you know what I mean. They replaced the old toilet with a new caroma dual-flush toilet that uses only .8 gallons per flush and works every time. When completely done, this historic home renovation home will be capable of actually producing more energy than the owners would consume. This project should make history by being the oldest home in America to achieve net-zero energy consumption.

Restoring old homes does not have to be simply about preserving the past, it can also help by protecting our future.