You might suspect your home is less efficient than it could be – perhaps you feel a draft of cool air here and there or your energy bill is sky high. While these tell-tale signs are likely signify that your home isn’t in tip-top energy shape, hiring a professional to perform an energy audit is the only fool proof way to know for sure. The audit will begin inside of your home with a quick interview where the auditor will ask you questions about you and your family’s energy usage. Before the energy auditor arrives, make a list of any existing problems that you’ve noticed, such as uncomfortable or drafty rooms, and prepare copies of your last year’s monthly energy bills. This information can help the auditor begin to hone in on problem areas. Next, the auditor will step outside to get an exterior view of your home. He will prepare a sketch that outlines your home’s dimensions and positioning. After this, the auditor will likely inspect all of your combustion appliances (i.e. furnace, water heater, etc.) to determine their condition, efficiency, and safety. Then, your auditor will perform various visual and diagnostic inspections in all of your home’s cavities, like attics, ceiling spaces, basements and crawl spaces to determine if there is air leakage. Finally, comes the blower door test – a blower door test sucks all of the air out of your house through your front door. This vacuum-like procedure helps the auditor identify how quickly air is escaping from your home and where it might be leaky, using a fake smoke-blower or infrared equipment.Based on this information, the auditor will recommend a set of measures that are most ideal for your home and give you a sense for which will be the most cost-effective for you. See also: Energy Efficiency - Vegetables Before Dessert.Image: Intrepix/Shutterstock