Weatherization help for homeowners still available

MAT-SU — To the list of those who get a bump in business when the first snow falls — like tire shops and clothiers that stock snow pants — add Curt Christiansen.

Christiansen is the housing manager with Alaska Community Development Corp., which holds the contract to run weatherization and energy rebate programs in Mat-Su as well as the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Kodiak Island, parts of Southwest and Southeast Alaska, and the Copper River and Tok areas.

“When the snow starts hitting Lazy Mountain and stuff, then the phone calls start picking up,” he said.

While it might seem like it’s too late in the season to embark on something like the weatherization program, it’s not.

“We could take more applicants now, although we’re nearing that point where we would be holding someone over until next spring,” he said.

The program is designed to cost a homeowner nothing — though in the case of landlords they might be asked to match the weatherization program money with their own — and is available not just to low-income people, but to folks whose income is below the median state income.

“I suspect that a lot of people qualify for weatherization but never even look at it because they haven’t gone through a program before,” Christiansen said. “They don’t believe that they’ll qualify, so they don’t even look.”

The way the process works is that a person calls the corporation at (907) 746-5680 and fills out an application. The corporation makes sure the person qualifies and then sends out an inspector. That inspector comes up with a plan and hands it off to a contractor.

“In the Mat-Su, we have four contractors we work with who have been trained to do the type of work that we do,” Christiansen said.

Those four contractors will then generally do things like seal air leaks in crawlspaces and attics and add insulation in both spaces.

Also, the program is required to update a home’s smoke detectors to the standard that the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. — from where the grant money flows — specifies. Also, when sealing up a home, there is often worry about air flow since natural air flow is impeded. So, sometimes the program will include a new fan in a bathroom or kitchen to make sure air moves through the home.

While extra insulation and sealing cracks might not sound like a lot, Christiansen said that in the thousands of homes that have been weatherized through the program so far — his corporation does 550 a year — it’s been proven to pay off.

“The latest study is showing between 25 percent and 30 percent savings on people’s fuel bills if you go through the program,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.