Welcome to our House
A little about us…
Kim and Charlie moved to Washington DC, after we got married in 2011. We have two boys, 9 and 11 years old and a 3-year old Lagotto Romagnolo dog. We have lived in Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant and bought this house in Upper Brightwood 6 years ago. Charlie works for the FDA and Kim works for the University of Virginia School of Architecture – both remote from our home offices.
A little about the house…
This ranch style house was built in the 1950s, across the street from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2016, developers flipped the house, updating the layout and appliances. A couple purchased the home and sold it two years later, in 2018 to us. We loved the natural light, the proximity to public transportation and Rock Creek Park, the backyard and that it is across the street from the boys (future) middle school/high school. The living space is all on one floor with basement and backyard street parking only. 3 bedrooms / 3 bath | 2200 sq. ft.
Starting the Process
Every family, every house is different but this is how we got started:
DISCUSS SHARED GOALS – We have always been aligned in our sustainability goals and doing what we can to mitigate climate change. It is important to be on the same page as a family and to include our children in the process.
SET A BUDGET – What can we afford now, what can we finance, and what will need to wait until we have saved more money? What are ou
r other house projects and wishlists to help prioritize.
CREATE A FLEXIBLE TIMELINE – We were comfortable spreading out all of the projects over several years to spread out costs, maximize tax incentives, and not overwhelm our time as we were managing the projects ourselves.
RESEARCH AND LEARN – We met Vanessa and Electrify DC and learned from her experience in electrifying their home. We listened to podcasts and read articles. We try to absorb as much about best practices and newest technologies to make us educated consumers.
CONDUCT AN ENERGY AUDIT – We hired EDGE energy to see where we could improve our energy efficiency and get a list of recommendations, from which we could prioritize projects.
Project 1: Solar Panels
We installed our solar panels in August 2022. It was our first project and the largest. Our ranch house faces due north, with a fairly unobstructed south-facing, large roof – ideal for a solar array. We installed (40) 405W panels (16.2kW). 24 south roof , 6 on flat roof and 10 on north roof to optimize the sun at all times of the day. We decided to purchase and own the panels, since the project would pay for itself in about 8 years. About 15 DC Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) sold per year (2024 avg $391 per SREC after 10% broker commission)
Net Cost: $33,645 (after 30% federal tax credit) with 12yr financing @ 2.99% We generate much more electricity than we use!
Year 1 – generated 5705 kWh MORE than used (we use an average 575 kWh/month)
Year 2 – generated 4480 kWh MORE than used
Year 3 – will be less, being fully electric
Project 2: Attic Insulation
Weatherization and Sealing our Envelope: Our attic already had about 6 inches of cellulose insulation but was still very leaky to the outside.
We hired DeVere Insulation to do the following: spray foam top plates add R-49 loose fill Fiberglass insulation along attic floor; install higher flow rate bathroom fan with timer for ventilation reroute the bathroom fan exhaust pipe without condensation in attic; seal and insulate recessed lights and any holes; and insulate attic hatch.
The blower door test showed increased efficient – from 2850 to 2225 CFM50
COST: $2,235 for both attic and crawlspace sealing and insulation (after $10k Net Zero program
incentive from DC DOB)
Project 3: Crawlspace Encapsulation
A cold, unusable crawlspace turned into a large, conditioned storage area.
Half of our basement is a fairly large crawl space, accessible by a small panel off of the basement stairwell. Our bedroom and bathroom area above the crawl space always had cold floors throughout the winter since the space below it was like being outside. The dirt/ground was covered in plastic for radon mediation already. We hired The Fifth Fuel to encapsulate the crawlspace and making it a conditioned, sealed part of our interior house. Add rigid foam board in crawl space vents. Add 2-in closed cell spray foam (R14) in the joist bands and exterior walls.
The blower door test showed increased efficiency of our envelope with a decrease of 2647 cfm to 1958 cfm (26% reduction)
We now have a conditioned space with less fluctuations in temperature and humidity which acts as a large storage closet for us now. We are looking at making the door larger to allow for easier, safer access.
Project 4: Electrical Upgrades + Induction Range
Electrical upgrades to fully electrify our house.
We worked with RJ Electric Works to update a 40Amp circuit for the heat pump and to add a 50Amp circuit for the induction range. Cost: $1,740 (after expected $600 federal tax credit)
Cooking with gas to induction. We did a lot of research and settled on the Wirecutter’s recommended GE Profile PHS930 Induction Range. We cook and bake a lot and thought we would miss our gas range but the induction stove is great. Boils water for pasta in under 2 minutes! Luckily we already owned mostly all-clad and cast iron cookware that are induction compatible – we got rid of only 3 old pans.
Costco cost: $2,120 (Labor Day sale including delivery and removal of gas range)
Washington Gas removed the meter and will remove the gas line – and no more gas bills! (a savings of about $510 annually)
Electrical upgrades to fully electrify our house:
We worked with RJ Electric Works to update a 40Amp circuit for the heat pump and to add a 50Amp circuit for the induction range.
Cost: $1,740 (after expected $600 federal tax credit)
Project 5: Heat Pump
Replacing our gas furnace with an electric heat pump.
We worked with Capps Mechanical to install our Mitsubishi Hyper Heat (3 ton) heat pump in our utility room. The indoor unit footprint was about the same as our gas furnace but much quieter! The outside unit is a lower profile. We were able to pass along our HVAC system to our next door neighbor who just moved in and had a very old system. Reuse!
PROS – super efficient and operates at full capacity down to -13F. We opted not to have back up for extreme cold days, colder than that.
CONS – no “fan mode” – only circulates air when heating/cooling
COST: $14,650 (18mo financing @ 0%) for purchase and installation of heat pump (after expected $2k federal tax credit):
What’s Next? Monitoring + Collecting Data
Collecting data to make smarter decisions for the future
Before investing in a SPAN or considering a heavy up to our electrical panel – we want to know how much electricity we are using on a regular basis. Charlie installed the Emporia Vue 3 energy monitor to our electrical panel with an easy to use app to view energy usage with lots of specificity. We could then use a years worth of data to decide what we can and should do next to become more efficient.
A few things we already learned:
Our current refrigerator uses 5x most electricity than our smaller but newer basement refrigerator – so we have ordered a new LG Smart French Door refrigerator that should be more energy efficient. The radon fan runs 24/7 – necessary but high energy use.
What’s Next? Project Pipeline
There are always more that you can do…Here is what we are thinking for the future:
Heat Pump Water Heater – our water heater is already electric, but an heat pump water heater would allow for us to be more efficient.
Electric car and level 2 charging station – our property does not have a driveway or garage, so we park on the street. Aspen street is a busy, cross-town street with a school across the street and we regularly are unable to park right in front of our house. We need to figure out where and how to safely install a level 2 charging station that we can easily access. Battery storage – we would like to invest in a battery as a resiliency backup (for power outages, etc) but hopefully they will become more efficient and come down in price.
Electrical SPAN board – with the possibility of increase electrical load in the future (electric car, hot tub, etc), we would like to avoid an electrical heavy up which can overload the grid but be more efficient in our use of electricity – turning off what we don’t need and redirecting at different times.
Further weatherization and envelope work – with an addition of a screened porch this winter, we will further insulate the flooring and the rooftop of the kitchen addition, which we didn’t do with the previous insulation work.
Education and community sharing!