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After 55 years of working exclusively in the residential insulation business, Wichita Insulation is venturing into an increasingly popular business-energy diagnostics.
The company has started doing energy audits (testing the energyefficiency of homes) with help from a device called a blower door. It's a tool that has changed the way insulation companies and home builders test the tightness and efficiency of houses, says Pat Poston, energy products coordinator for Wichita Insulation.
Energy-efficiency isn't guaranteed by insulation, says Doug Walter, president of the Kansas Building Science Institute. Even with 20 years of experience, Walter says he still can't walk into a house and know how airtight it is just by looking at it.
The blower door gives me a number that...