On Feb. 10, 2011 Transition Polk County hosted its first Workshop with Hendersonville’s Rick Bayless on “Heat Your House for Less.” Bayless instructed a crowd of 25 people and encouraged them to look at houses from the crawl space to attic in a common sense way. He asked participants to look for spaces where cold air travels into one’s house. Those attending also became aware of the many places hot air rises and escapes in places in the attic.

Bayless is a local home energy sustainability and indoor air quality expert. He is a certified indoor environmental consultant, a Blue Ridge Community College instructor, a building analyst and a Transition Hendersonville Initiating group member.

Susie Welsh of Saluda contacted Bayless to have a private home assessment. Susie shared her six pages of notes on her meeting with Bayless at the weekly Transition Polk County book study group. Some met at Susie’s house for a workshop with Bayless. Inside the house, Bayless demonstrated how to caulk a floor register to the boot. On the return grill, participants learned how to use expanding foam to seal a 1-inch space between the duct side and the wood encasement.

Knee-pads and hats were put on before conquering the crawl space downstairs. Susie put a black plastic drop cloth in place over all the dirt to lessen humidity and to discourage bacteria, organic matter and mold. Participants wrapped the metal duct seams with metal duct tape.

All of the participants learned by doing the repair work while Bayless tutored.

To contact Bayless for a home diagnosis, call 828-243-5192, email baylessnc@att.net or visit www.rickbaylesshealthyhome.com.

If you need to contact Transition Polk County, call Aviva Kahn at 828-894-6374 or email aviva1015@aol.com. Watch the Tryon Daily Bulletin for future notices of more book study groups as well as workshops and movies.