Small Commercial Weatherization Jobs Performed Here!

Wednesday, February 21st, 2018 by Joy Padgett

Being comfortable at home is something we all want. Cold rooms in the winter are simply not acceptable. BUT, what about being comfortable at work? I bet most of you haven’t even considered the potential ramifications of having a building your employees are not comfortable working in.

Cornell University conducted a study on how office temperatures affected office workers. Taking a temperature measurement every 15 minutes, when the office temperature dropped from a comfortable 77 degrees to 68 degrees, typing mistakes increased by about 74 percent, while typing output decreased by 46 percent.

Imagine the mistakes that could be made at your workplace just because the temperature inside your building is not maintained at a comfortable level. With spell check, typing mistakes may be caught and fixed with relative ease. But what about accounting mistakes? Or technology mistakes? Or diagnostic mistakes? Or pharmaceutical mistakes?

Workers who are comfortable in their job space perform at a higher level than those who don’t. And while there are other variables to take into account, I’m going to stick with what I know…comfortable room temperatures.

We do small commercial weatherization jobs. It doesn’t matter if you own a law office, a dental office, or a kennel. If you have employees, you want them to produce good work and make as few mistakes as possible. One way to do that is to maintain an acceptable room temperature. And, since comfortable workers are productive workers, maintaining a comfortable temperature in working spaces becomes important.

Maybe you have a pool house, a workshop or a little boutique and you don’t have any employees. That’s okay! Don’t you deserve to be comfortable when you’re using your pool house, working in your private workshop or growing your boutique? We think so!

Have you considered how your building is performing? Have you overheard your employees talking about how cold their office is or noticed them bringing in personal space heaters to tuck underneath their desks? Maybe you’ve noticed a remarkable spike in the amount of coffee they are going through!

With regard to space heaters under desks….they are dangerous. An employee who forgets to turn off and unplug a space heater before leaving the work space could be increasing the chances of starting a fire in your building. Wouldn’t it be easier and safer to have your building fixed?

If the temperature in your building is not able to be maintained, you should have your building inspected. There is a reason for the temperature fluctuations…..or maybe multiple reasons.

Depending on the design of your building, the HVAC system might not be the culprit, but having regularly scheduled maintenance of that system is important. After the HVAC system is checked and evaluated, we can come in and run further diagnostic tests to determine other causes of temperature fluctuations in your building.

So, what if the HVAC system is functioning properly? Well, since most HVAC companies don’t check the duct system, one of the issues with maintaining a comfortable temperature could have to do with a leaky duct system. If your duct system is leaky, the warm air being generated by your HVAC system is not reaching its destination at the appropriate temperature. Rather it is escaping out of the gaps and cracks in the ductwork. Ductwork settles and as it ages, the bands joining one section to another can become loose or even corroded, which creates small (or sometimes large) gaps for air to escape.

Let’s say your duct system is in really good shape. What else could be causing the temperature imbalance?

Inadequate insulation can cause the temperature to fluctuate. There are required levels of insulation depending on where you live. In Central Kentucky, it is about 16 inches. Most commercial buildings aren’t properly insulated. Areas that may actually contain insulation may have improperly installed insulation. Many exterior walls don’t have any insulation and, in the case of dropped ceilings, most ceilings don’t have insulation either.

One of the biggest issues in commercial buildings is the lack of air sealing. Those beautiful, huge windows and doors probably haven’t been sealed and air can easily be felt passing through. Areas with insulation weren’t air sealed before the insulation was installed. This means that air can actually move through the insulation and into areas you’re trying to keep warm this winter. Moving air will cause the temperature in a building to decrease during cold weather. The warm air inside your building is seeking to warm the cold air outside your building and it is escaping through every small or large gap or crack it can find. The insulation slows down the rate of transfer, but it doesn’t stop it. Air sealing stops it.

Air temperature inside your building, your work space, has an impact on productivity, yours or your employees. Isn’t it time to have that building fixed?

YES!!