Paul Lagrange, Enegry Efficiency Consultant

There's a local guy who consults on how to make houses energy efficient and maximize air quality & comfort. His name is Paul Lagrange. He built houses for years, and now he does consulting along with a call-in radio show on Saturday mornings on WWL 870AM.

For $300, he meets with you and goes over your plans. Then he reviews them and puts together a written manual/checklist outlining everything you should do in your home to make it energy efficient and as comfortable as possible. I met with him last Friday at his home office. My mom went with me because I know she'll think of questions I wouldn't know to ask. Paul took us across the street to a home he's building for his parents.

Among other things, we saw the unvented attic. This is where there is no ridge vent or any other opening to let air flow in & out of the attic. Instead, spray foam insulation is in the roof rafters and even covers the rafters themselves. This makes the attic part of the home's thermal envelope. Kind of like an Igloo ice chest. Pipes for plumbing vent stacks and the like go through the foam & the roof to the outside. Bathroom fans are ducted to the outside via small vents in the overhangs. There is no insulation between the attic and the living area of the house. Even on the hottest days down here in the South, the attic never gets more than 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. You do hear people that are not for this kind of attic, but from all I've heard I'm sold on it.

There were a lot of other details he pointed out just during the hour we spent with him. I have no doubt that the information I get from Paul will be well worth the $300 I'm spending. If you're on the north or south shores of Lake Pontchartrain, I highly recommend the services that he provides.