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It's the Little Things: Many Inexpensive or Free Changes Can Provide Big Home-Energy Savings
Making simple repairs or improvements and changing wasteful habits will yield enormous energy savings for most families. Before spending thousands of dollars on new windows, a furnace, or solar energy system, take basic steps toward fixing common sources of waste.
Home Improvements that Require Some Spend, but Will Pay for Themselves Quickly via Lower Utility Bills
Most of us want to reduce our energy usage, regardless of upfront costs, but limited budgets prevent many homeowners from paying for expensive improvements. Here are affordable-to-most projects that will, in relatively short periods of time, pay for themselves via lower utility bills.
These Projects Will Save Considerable Home-Energy Usage, but Have High Upfront Costs
If you wanna go big, these projects dramatically reduce energy use—some even offer paths to completely eliminate your home's net energy usage. But the high up-front costs or long payback periods make these improvements impractical for many families.
Where to Find Good HVAC Help
To make sure your heating and air-conditioning systems work when needed, they must be properly installed and maintained. We’ve rated heating and air-conditioning services for quality and price.
What to Do If You Need HVAC Repairs
If you know the repair you need, get price quotes from at least three highly rated companies—a bit of shopping will pay off big time.
Choosing New HVAC Equipment and Getting It Installed Properly
How well a new HVAC system performs, and how much it costs, depends heavily on its design and the quality of installation. It’s important to make the right decisions—and there are many to make. You also must make sure to get a fair contract.
Thinking About Going Solar?
Although the cost of equipment has come way down, for most homeowners the biggest obstacle to going solar remains price: Homeowners typically have to plunk down $9,000 to $18,000 for systems. But they’ll get their money’s worth.
How to Find and Hire a Solar Energy System Installer
If you decide to buy a solar energy system, there are many decisions to make, and the most important is selecting an installer.
Advice on Leasing Solar Energy Systems
If you want to go solar but don’t want to shell out $8,000 to $16,000 upfront or borrow money to pay for it, then in most states leasing is an option. But, in general, we don’t think these arrangements represent good deals for most homeowners.
How to Find a Reliable Roofer
Roofing work is expensive, and, if you hire the wrong contractor, you can spend thousands of dollars too much and still get terrible work.
Avoiding a Shakedown for Roofing Costs
When hiring a roofer, quality of work should be your primary consideration. Once you have identified roofers that measure up on quality, get several fixed-price bids for the work. You’ll find big roofer-to-roofer price differences for the same job.
How to Tell It’s Time for a New Roof
Different types of roofs have different lifespans. Your inspections will reveal whether the entire roof is due for replacement.
