As I have thought about this effort, I concluded that weatherization inspections would be most productive in our converted residential units on campus - frame structures and 1-3 story masonry buildings which were originally constructed primarily as residential units.  While I don't have a ready inventory of those structures, following is an extremely incomplete list meant to typify the kinds of buildings I am thinking about:

• The two converted houses east of Uni High on Springfield, used by Uni High.
• The converted house on the northwest corner of Green and Goodwin.
• The converted house southeast of ISR on the north side of Illinois.
• 608 S. Matthews, 708 S. Matthews, converted houses along Nevada between Matthews and Goodwin.
• Converted units along Oregon between Matthews and Goodwin.
• Converted units on the south side of Nevada west of Lincoln Avenue, etc

These buildings fly far below the radar of our formal retro-commissioning efforts, since we have so many improvement opportunities in much larger buildings that consume significantly more resources.

For the Student Sustainability Committee to provide funding for a students who would spearhead and manage the program, in addition to financial incentives to the surveyors, is a brilliant idea that makes this effort that much more workable during a very busy time at Facilities & Services.  That approach will also provide real world, resume quality experience for the people who step up to the challenge.

A part of program development that such student employees should undertake would be to identify the kinds of information that would be applicable toward weatherization of the types of structures identified above.  F&S staff would discuss with the students their conclusions and would provide grounding in what weatherization remediation activities we could/would actually pursue.  That approach is preferable to F&S telling you what information we want you to gather.

I just grabbed off the web the single quick reference below as one example of what resources are readily available to the student program managers as they work to identify what information the surveyors would be asked to gather.

Does this give you what you need to flesh out your idea?

Carl Wegel

Director of Maintenance, and all-around nice guy

Weatherization Tips For Your Home.
...Recommended by US DOE (1)

-- Test your home for air tightness. A professional blower door test is the best option, however you can find major leaks yourself. On a windy day, hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches, and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need caulking, sealing, or weather-stripping.

-- Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows that leak air.

-- Caulk and seal air leaks where plumbing, ducts, or electrical wiring penetrates through exterior walls, floors, ceilings, and over cabinets.

-- Install rubber gaskets behind outlet and switch plates on exterior walls.

-- Look for dirty spots in your attic insulation, which often indicate holes where air leaks into and out of your house. You can seal the holes by foaming the gap, or by stapling sheets of plastic over the holes and caulking the edges of the plastic.

-- Install storm windows over single-pane windows or replace them with double-pane windows. Storm windows may as much as double the R-value of single-pane windows and they can help reduce drafts, water condensation, and frost formation. As a less costly and less permanent alternative, you can use a heavy-duty, clear plastic sheet on a frame or tape clear plastic film to the inside of your window frames during the cold winter months. Remember that the plastic must be sealed tightly to the frame to help reduce infiltration.

-- When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed. A chimney is designed specifically for smoke to escape, so until you close it, warm air escapes 24 hours a day!

From: Jennifer Koys [mailto:jennifer.koys@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:14 PM
To: Wegel, Carl V (Facilities & Services); Henson, K Dean (Facilities & Services); Johnston, Morgan (Facilities & Services)
Cc: Anna Franco
Subject: Campus Weatherization Project

Hello,

Hope you're all having a good week! I was wondering if you would be able to provide a "wish list" of the data that would potentially be useful to obtain from student assessments, how you would like it organized, and what you would want to do with the data obtained? This would be very helpful to have as I move forward.

You mentioned at the meeting having students help run the program. Thinking about this, one possibility I came up with was hiring a student worker to work under someone at F&S to run the program. In the years after the initial start-up, this student could be chosen from the students involved in the assessments during the previous year, as they would possess background knowledge and experience necessary to effectively coordinate the program. Do you have any thoughts on this idea?

Thanks!

Jenny