The Weatherization Process

Weatherizing your home is a complex, multi-faceted process. There are five main phases that involve a number of variables that can either speed up or slow down the process:

Phase 1 - Application and Eligibility

The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) bases eligibility on income. It is the clients’ responsibility to fill out the application and provide all required documentation that is requested of them. The more complete the application and backup documentation the quicker and easier this phase will go. The Weatherization Admin team will work diligently to ensure this process goes as smoothly as possible. Each client will be assigned a WAP rank which will determine how quickly we can serve you, the client. The WAP rank takes into consideration factors such as age, whether you are on fuel assistance, have children five and under in the home, your income and whether any occupants in the home have disabilities. The higher the WAP rank the higher each home will be placed on the waiting list.

Phase 2 - Energy Efficiency Coaching

Upon reaching the top of the waiting list, an Energy Efficiency Coach will contact you to set up a coaching visit. Your coach will go over the process of weatherization with you, work through some paperwork with you and do an electrical energy audit of your home. At this phase you might be eligible for various electrical efficiency measures that will lower your electric bill. In addition, our coaches look for conditions that may slow down our ability to weatherize your home such as vermiculite insulation, lead paint, roof leaks, etc., so we can address these ahead of weatherization.

Phase 3 - Energy Audit

Once the electrical efficiency measures are installed we now turn to looking at what heating/cooling efficiency measures can be completed. One of our certified energy auditors will call to make an appointment with you. The energy audit can take 4-6 hours and the auditor will need access to all areas of your home from top to bottom. After this visit, the auditor will write a complete scope of work to be completed by our installation crews. This work scope will be sent to you for approval. Once this is returned your home will be placed into the production queue. The auditor will also arrange to have your heating system inspected, cleaned and tuned.

Phase 4 – Production

When your home rises to the top of the production queue one of our two production managers will call you to schedule a time for our crews to come weatherize your home. Due to a number of variables we may be able to give you a couple days to a couple weeks of notice. It is imperative that you return any phone calls or emails from our staff to ensure your work does not get delayed. In most cases we are in your home 3-5 days completing the work. The work we are doing, primarily air sealing and insulating can be dirty and dusty. Our crews pride themselves on minimizing the disturbance as much as possible. They will respect your home and all that is in it like it was their own. That being said some things may get dusty and occasionally accidents happen but they will do their best to remedy them and leave your home better than they found it.

Phase 5 - Quality Control Inspection

The majority of the work that is done to your home is done by the standards set forth in the State of Vermont Technical Manual. The program mandates that a final Quality Control Inspection is done by a certified QCI employee. This final visit will take about 2-3 hours depending on how much work was done to your home. At this time all work installed will be inspected and some verification testing will also be done to ensure quality and safety. You will be asked to sign off on the work that was done as well so that we can close out your job and count it as a job completed.