UNITY – Imagine flipping your house upside down and filling it with water to see where it leaks.

That was a picture presented Saturday by Doug Fox, director of the Center for Sustainability and Global Change at Unity College.

Fox and George Callas, a state-certified energy auditor and director of sustainability for the Newforest Institute in Brooks, spent Saturday morning training 17 volunteers gathered at the Unity Community Center.

The pair went over a floor-by-floor review of potential air leaks in a house.

Air leaks through the ceiling, walls, foundation and other areas are the greatest source of heating and cooling losses in a home, Fox and Callas said. The leaks should be stopped before insulating the house, they said.

“If you don’t tighten up your home first, money spent on insulation may be wasted,” said Callas.

The newly trained volunteers will work as team leaders of crews of three to four each in the Neighbor Warming Neighbor plan to help about 20 Unity area residents weatherize homes on Oct. 25.

The two trainers gave a quick course in home tightening, insulation and ventilation to those whom next week will be helping others.

“There’s nothing greener than energy we don’t use,” Ron Desrosiers of Time & Tide Resource Conservation and Development Area, a co-sponsor of the weatherization initiative, said at the beginning of the session.

Other sponsors include Unity Barn Raisers, Unity College, Mac’s Hardware in Unity, the Unity Fire Department and the Waldo County Community Action Program.

The local residents’ group has met four times in the past two months to plan for “Weatherization Day” in the Unity area. Desrosiers said the volunteers are following the Habitat for Humanity model of people helping one another by giving back to others the same kind of help they received.

The effort so far has included identifying homes to be weatherized, recruiting volunteers, finding sponsorships, training volunteers and having a weatherization weekend.

“Volunteers are still needed to help on October 25,” said Desrosiers. Volunteers will meet at the community center at 8:30 a.m. Saturday to have one more training session before going out in teams.

On Saturday, Callas and Fox went over a floor-by-floor review of places in a house that would need tightening before insulating.

Basement doors should be tightened with insulation at the bulkheads and with insulation where the sills meet the foundation.

Foam available in spray cans is a good source of filling leaks, but one member of the audience pointed out that the foams contained chemicals to which she was allergic.

Fox, a professor at Unity College, said chemical-free, soy-based foam is available on the market.

A great deal of attention was given to tightening the draft around chimneys, one area of heat loss.

Insulation should not come in contact with the masonry, Cox said. Close the gap between house framing and the chimney and vent the flues with 26-gauge sheet metal.

The attic hatch should be insulated, as well.

Team leaders this week plan to inspect the homes they will weatherize on Saturday to look for areas unsafe for the workers or the inhabitants of the homes.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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