What should I prepare before an energy auditor visits my Dieppe home? | Insulation IQ?

Preparing your home properly before a certified energy auditor arrives is one of the best ways to ensure you get an accurate EnerGuide evaluation and the most useful upgrade recommendations. For homeowners in Dieppe — and across the greater Moncton area — a little advance preparation can save time during the appointment and help the auditor identify issues that might otherwise be missed.

The most important thing to gather in advance is your home's energy billing history. Pull together 12 months of utility bills covering electricity (NB Power), heating fuel (furnace oil, natural gas, propane, or wood), and any supplemental heating sources. Your energy advisor will use this consumption data to calibrate the thermal model of your home against actual measured energy use, which makes the resulting EnerGuide rating far more accurate than modelling alone. NB Power customers can access usage history through their online account portal; oil delivery customers should contact their supplier for a delivery log.

Next, locate any building documents you have on hand: original construction drawings or permits if your Dieppe home was built in the last two decades, records of any previous insulation work or renovations, and documentation of any mechanical system upgrades such as furnace replacement, heat pump installation, or HRV addition. The auditor needs to understand the construction history to correctly assess what's already in the walls, attic, and basement.

Prepare to provide clear access to all areas of your home that contain or affect insulation. This specifically means:

Attic access is critical — move any stored boxes or belongings away from the hatch so the auditor can get in easily. If your attic has pull-down stairs, make sure they're operational. Attic inspections in Dieppe homes built in the 1970s–1990s frequently reveal insufficient insulation depth, damaged vapour barriers, and blocked soffit vents that dramatically undermine performance.

Basement and crawlspace access must be unobstructed. Move stored items away from perimeter walls so the auditor can inspect foundation insulation and vapour barriers. In many Dieppe bungalows and split-levels, the basement rim joist area — where the floor framing meets the foundation wall — is a major thermal weak point, and the auditor needs clear sightlines to assess it.

Mechanical room access is required. Your furnace, heat pump air handler, HRV unit, water heater, and any ventilation equipment should be accessible and visible. The auditor will note equipment age, fuel type, estimated efficiency, and ventilation strategy.

For the blower door test — the pressurized air leakage measurement at the heart of the evaluation — the auditor will need all exterior doors, windows, and fireplace dampers closed during the test. If you have a wood stove or fireplace, ensure the damper is closed and the firebox is cool before the appointment. Turn off any combustion appliances (gas stoves, wood stoves) during the blower door test for safety. This is standard protocol and the auditor will walk you through it on arrival.

If you have a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or energy recovery ventilator (ERV), know where it is and whether it has been recently serviced. Filters clogged with dust reduce its effectiveness and can affect air quality readings. Similarly, if you have a central vacuum system with outdoor exhaust, be prepared to identify where it is.

Write down any comfort complaints you've noticed in your home — cold floors over the garage, drafty corners in the living room, frost forming at window edges in January, excessive humidity in the basement during summer. This experiential knowledge is invaluable context that helps the auditor focus diagnostic attention where it matters most in your specific home.

Finally, clear a workspace at your kitchen table or a central area where the auditor can set up a laptop and paperwork. The evaluation takes approximately two to three hours for a typical Dieppe home, and the advisor will want to sit with you at the end to review findings and walk through the prioritized upgrade recommendations.

Being well-prepared makes the audit more efficient and the results more actionable. New Brunswick Insulation professionals and the insulation contractors listed through the New Brunswick Construction Network are accustomed to working from EnerGuide reports and can translate audit findings into a concrete insulation upgrade plan.

---

Looking for experienced contractors? The New Brunswick Construction Network connects homeowners with qualified professionals:

• Thirty Four Renovations
• Arctic Fox Construction Inc.
• Gionetterenovations
• Brunswick insulation & roofing
• moose luxury painting