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Ashton Ave, Hazelwood

The Ashton Ave home, a project by the City of Bridges Community Land Trust, was slated to undergo a moderate-scale remodel with funding provided by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. This home already has a 95.5% efficient furnace, a relatively new hot water heater, and an R-11 level of insulation in the attic. E3 proposed several measures to enhance energy efficiency:

  1. Upgrade three window replacements to the most efficient, with a U-value of 0.16 and SHGC of 0.23, 3-pane windows.
  2. Air seal and insulate the attic to R-30 (note: raising the floor of the attic is necessary to accommodate R-30).
  3. Air seal around rim joists in the basement and add a rigid foam board layer to the ceiling of the laundry room, currently located under the concrete porch.
  4. Seal the HVAC ducts in the basement.
  5. Insulate all walls with dense-packed cellulose.

We conducted  infrared camera testing and a work-in-progress blower door test to see what might have been missed. Deficiencies have been corrected. At the end, Home Energy Score changed from 5 to 9, energy use was cut by 24%, air leakage reduced by 32%.


Prepared in this manner, the home is an ideal candidate for the next upgrade: the addition of a central electric heat pump to serve as an air conditioner and provide heating in the shoulder seasons, with the existing furnace serving as a backup. Furthermore, the lower- to moderate-income homeowner will likely be able to take advantage of an $8,000 upfront Inflation Reduction Act rebate and a $2,000 tax credit, making it virtually free or at a very low cost to acquire.

A few tidbits on the details at Ashton Ave project:

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