In the early 90s, Joao and Julia Temoteo moved to the U.S. from Portugal with their two children and purchased their forever home – a three-level, multifamily in New Bedford, Massachusetts, constructed in 1915.
With over 4,000 square feet and nine bedrooms, the Temoteos’ home offered plenty of space on the main floor for their permanent residence while the second and third floors served as rental properties. Now Joao and Julia are fortunate to have their children, sons-inlaw and grandchildren living under one roof.
After years of tenants, though, the upstairs living quarters of this early twentieth century home needed some updating.
One of the first areas of the home to address was the third-floor apartment. The Temoteos’ daughter, Grace Forte, and her husband, Albert, were living with drafty windows, extreme fluctuations in temperature and a stale-smelling indoor environment.
This led the Temoteo-Fortes family to research insulation opportunities and sign up for a nocost Home Energy Assessment through Eversource, a Mass Save® Sponsor. No-cost Home Energy Assessments are available for homeowners, renters and landlords across the state to connect customers with energy-saving improvement offers, including 75-100 percent off the cost of insulation, generous rebates on qualifying energy-efficient heating, cooling, and water heating equipment, and more.
The Temoteo-Fortes family was paired with RISE, an Eversource lead vendor, to conduct their no-cost Home Energy Assessment. During the assessment, an Energy Specialist analyzed the home’s energy usage and identified air leakage through the attic floor and at the basement sills. They also found a lack of proper attic ventilation, outdated knob and tube wiring, and noted that the walls and attic did not have any insulation, contributing to the variable temperatures felt in the home.
To achieve a more comfortable living space and reduce energy usage, the Energy Specialist recommended:
After reviewing the family’s needs and the available incentives and rebates, the Temoteo-Fortes family moved forward with the Energy Specialist’s recommendations and completed the project in just four months.
Because the home is a rental property, the Temoteo-Fortes family was able to take advantage of increased incentives. These included 100 percent of the cost of the wiring upgrades as well as the air sealing, insulation and ventilation improvements.
Less than a year after the project was completed, Albert and Grace can now comfortably use all three rooms of their third-floor apartment. In addition to the upfront cost savings, the TemoteoFortes family are projected to see approximately $1,000 in annual energy savings.
