Home Energy HERO LLC

Process took a day for the original audit and another day for the additional work we decided to do.
Everything went well and Rich oversaw all of the work he had his employees doing.

I contacted Rich in January about an energy audit for our 50 year old home. He was very prompt and thorough in responding to my inquiry. We scheduled an appointment for later in the month. He was on time and very careful keeping the house clean as he worked. He looked at our energy usage based on 12 months of BGE bills. He tested the CO2 levels of our existing gas furnace and other gas appliances. Just having the CO levels checked makes it a very useful and valuable visit.
When he was done the audit we discussed his findings and recommendations. Rich showed me some drafts or air leaks I wasn't aware of. A week or two after the visit, he sent me a detailed report outlining his findings. In addition to the things we discussed on the day of the inspection, the report provided some analysis of current energy usage and savings as a result of making proposed changes. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what our energy problems or priorities were but the audit did give me some new perspectives on which to address first.

Rich was very professional and timely which is great considering we got so much snow last night. I was afraid we would have to reschedule, but he was right on time. He took a lot of time to go over everything for us. Our house was built in 1960 so there are a lot of things we could do improve the energy efficiency of our home, so there was a lot of issues to review. He was very knowledgeable and easy to talk to.

.We have a three-floor house with an unfinished basement and a finished attic. It is 87 years old and was drafty like h***, in spite of new triple-pane windows we had installed in November last year (2012). So we had an energy audit done toward the end of last year. The result was basically that the house was a sieve. It had 4 times the air leakage it was supposed to have, and the cavities in the walls were open both in the basement and at the roof line. So we asked for estimates from several companies about getting some socks and a lid for the house, plus maybe a coat; that is to say: plug the wall cavities in the basement and along the roof line, stop air penetration in the attic, get insulation between attic ceiling and roof, and fill the wall cavities with some insulating material.
There are basically four ways to insulate the walls of an old house:
a) rip out all the plaster, get insulation in (spray closed-cell polyurethane), and put new dry walls everywhere. Extremely expensive. Not an option unless you swim in dough. One company suggested that, and that was the end of them.
b) through holes in the walls blow in cellulose (shredded recycled paper) treated with boric acid to prevent mold and bug infestation. If you ever have a water leak, this stuff will soak it up, lose most of its insulating features, will compact, and spread the moisture far and wide. Before you realize something is wrong, the wall will have been wet for maybe months. Although the cellulose may not get moldy, anything else in the wall that can, will, plus boric acid solution is corrosive, so any iron, steel or aluminum in the wall won't fare too well. In addition, that stuff settles somewhat over time, no matter what they tell you. So my wife categorically refused to have this put into our wall. Most insulation guys will try to talk you into it. I suggest: don't fall for it, it's cheap. That's all.
c) Blow in fiber glass or rock wool. The latter is standard in Europe but hard to come by and extremely expensive in the U.S. Fiber glass is a pain in ... everywhere and loses a good part of its insulating performance at cold temperatures, right when you need it most. So not a good idea either.
d) Injecting open cell foam (Insultsmart) through holes in the wall. It's a little more expensive than cellulose, cheaper than rock wool, better than fiberglass, and with none of the disadvantages.
Home Energy Hero was the company that discussed all the options, took our qualms about cellulose seriously, suggested Insulsmart, had a price that was only 50% of what the company estimated who did the original energy audit (they suggested cellulose as well), and then those Heroes did the job well and fast. Now, when it's really cold out, we find out about it only once we step out the door. Plus our unheated spare room is actually not cold anymore, although the radiator is off.
Good job!

I live in a 1957 multi-level home in Rockville, and was spending large amounts of money on my heating and air conditioning bills. After interviewing several contractors that I found through Pepco?s site, I choose Home Energy Hero to do my energy audit. Rich Dexter was straightforward and honest, extremely knowledgeable, and you could tell that he really loved what he was doing. He was always prompt, did a detailed inspection (almost 6 hours!), and spent lots of time walking me through my options. A huge bonus is that he helped me apply for incentives, which dramatically lowered the cost of the work that I had completed. I added insulation to my attic, basement, and laundry room. Rich acted as a general contractor, making sure the insulation company did a thorough job (he even contacted the insulation company?s project manager to have their guys come out a second time because he thought that they missed a few areas).

The results speak for themself! My heat bill (gas) went down almost 35% YOY. My house stays warmer longer, and my unit does not have to cycle on and off as often. I had even better results with my Pepco summer bills (almost 40% YOY savings for the summer months). Most important ? I do not have to worry about my newborn baby getting too hot or cold because my house dramatically changes temperature every time my Heat or AC unit cycles off (this used to happen all of the time before I had the energy audit and insulation work done).

I am extremely impressed with Rich, and have recommended him to my neighbors and coworkers.

Nothing escaped him. He was very thorough and did an excellent job. He advised to seal the heating ducts which reduced the leakage by 87%. He even supervised the sealing process and ensured that everything went well. I would highly recommend him.

On the day of the inspection Richard spent 5 hours in my house. He was very meticulous examining all the exterior and interior, doing the blower test, taking pictures with a thermal and a regular cameras, doing smoke test to discover air leaks. He also took my energy bills to examine them. Richard came back in a couple of days with a detailed report and recommendations. He also brought a CD with all the documents. Richard recommended insulating the house, replacing some appliances and doing a few minor improvements. Richard was of great help looking at various quotes from insulation companies. He was very responsive and returned my calls or emails within hours. He supervised the work of insulation from beginning to end, taking pictures of work in progress and showing them to me. He tested the house after the planned work was performed, found additional air leaks and worked with the insulation company to fix them without extra charge. He also performed some minor energy improvements in my house. Richard charges for the energy audit and for the improvements were very reasonable. A great advantage of using someone like Richard is that he is an independent auditor. Typically the companies doing the audits also do the insulation work that creates a conflict of interest. Richard works with several insulation companies and can work with any company the customer chooses. He is very knowledgeable and very professional. I highly recommend Richard.