Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of the feature DIY Adventures, in which reporter Penny Nakamura tackles a home project and reports about the process.

As the latest winter storm lashes out at my house, I’m left to wonder why I didn’t bother to get my free energy audit this past summer, when the winds weren’t howling straight through every crack and crevice.

Shivering in my living room, I can literally feel the drafty frozen wind whistling through the French doors that lead out to the great outdoors. At any moment, I expect the snow flurries to be pelting me inside my home.

I’m coming to this do-it-yourself project a little late given that the snow is already here, but I figure better late than never.

Our energy bill, I’m embarrassed to confess, has been egregiously high for quite a few years. We did the little things, like changing to LED light bulbs, as if that would save us a lot of money. While every little bit does help, our biggest problem was the house itself: it could get uncomfortably warm in the summer and downright frigid in the winter.

I’ve resorted to having my kids don their fleece jackets in the house, because I refused to turn up the thermostat past 68 degrees, because our winter heating bills are quite costly. Just so you don’t think I’m a totally bad mom, my teenagers also like to wear shorts and tank tops in the winter, so asking them to wear a fleece isn’t totally out of the question, is it?

Warming up the house

Clean Energy Works of Oregon, a nonprofit company, has teamed up with Neil Kelly’s Home Performance specialists, like John Schwencke, who help homeowners make their homes more energy-efficient and comfortable.

As DIYs go, this one has been easy and painless. It starts with a homeowner going to his or her computer, logging on to the Clean Energy Works Oregon website and filling out an application to qualify for a free energy audit. Look for special instant rebate codes, which you can enter online: They can be worth thousands of dollars. Once you submit your application, a Neil Kelly Home Performance contractor will call you to set up an appointment for your free energy audit. Clean Energy Works Oregon estimates the assessment alone is worth $500.

Be prepared to share your past energy bills with the contractor, and plan to have at least four hours set aside for this thorough inspection, where the contractor will pinpoint areas in the home where energy is being wasted.

Audit day arrives

Schwencke doesn’t travel light when he comes to do these home energy audits. As he unpacked his truck, it looked like he was a roadie unpacking for a rock group. First came the large-looking fan that I learned was part of the blower door test, which will depressurize your home and bring the hidden air leaks to life.

Schwencke pulled out several other state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, including an infrared camera that would make James Bond jealous.

“These were first used by the military, and they’re very useful tools to see where you have leaks,” explained Schwencke as he set up the door blower test, sealing off the front door and installing the giant blower fan.

After setting up, Schwencke turned the fan on, and it sounded as if the house was going to lift off.

“Don’t worry, this test will show us where the biggest air leakage is in your house,” shouted Schwencke above the roar of the whirling fan motor.

Once Schwencke had depressurized the house, he took out his infrared camera and pointed it all around the house, taking assessments at every nook and cranny.

As he held the infrared camera above his head toward the vaulted ceiling beams in the living room, he shook his head. “You can see where it’s showing blue — that means heat is seeping out there. Heat will always leave in the path of least resistance. It’s pretty leaky.”

Of course, I knew the French doors would score badly with the infrared camera, but then Schwencke pointed to the gas fireplace, where drafty air coming through from the outside is causing the pilot light to shimmy.

“With exposed beams in vaulted-ceiling rooms, you lose a lot of heat,” said Schwencke, who also pointed out that the master bedroom showed lots of blue shadowing, indicating heat loss around the wood beams.

Setting up a mouse hotel

Schwencke moved downstairs to the family room and the kids’ rooms. He found a leaky vent and asked if I have a lot of spiders. Though I haven’t really noticed an arachnid invasion, I have spotted some eight-legged creatures.

“The reason I ask is because I’ve noticed some webs, and spiders love drafty areas because it helps them catch their prey in the drafts,” explained Schwencke. “If you start seeing lots of spiderwebs in an area, it’s a good indicator that that area is drafty.”

Oh joy. Amid my horror and embarrassment, thinking it couldn’t get any worse, Schwencke mentioned that when a house is leaking heat to the outside, it can lead to real pest problems.

“Heat being lost into the crawl spaces can lead to a mouse hotel in the winter,” said Schwencke. “Mice seek out a warm space, but if you fix the heat loss, you make the area less habitable and appealing.” For the record, Schwencke didn’t find a mouse hotel, but he was pretty confident it could happen with our house leaking so much heat.

One good score

We did get one high mark in our assessment, and that was for the fairly new radiator, which we replaced five years ago with a high-efficiency gas-burning furnace. Schwencke mentioned that sometimes when homeowners replace a heating system, there are state and federal tax credits available, which can help offset some of the costs.

‘Death by a thousand cuts’

Our dozen windows throughout the living room and kitchen are only double-paned, and according to our assessment, we could improve our energy efficiency if we replaced them with triple-paned windows.

Schwencke acknowledged that replacing windows is a costly proposition, and said sealing up the leaks around the house would be more economical and we would see immediate improvement.

“Everyone automatically thinks they should first replace windows, but all these little leaks in your house is really death by a thousand cuts, because you lose more heat through all these little cracks throughout your house than those windows,” explained Schwencke. “I’d advise, if you can’t afford to replace windows, then start with sealing up all the cracks where you’re leaking heat.”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the windows, ducts and beams that were leaking heat, I was losing heat from the floors and the attic space, too.

Going under the house, Schwencke observed that the insulation was not touching the floor joist above.

“You have about a 3- to 5-inch gap where the insulation stops, without touching the subfloor. That’s like a house wearing shorts in the winter and not long pants,” said Schwencke, using an analogy that I can relate to, given my teenagers’ penchant for wearing shorts in the winter and then wondering why they’re cold.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 60 percent of Americans’ utility bills are spent on heating and cooling. Schwencke says reducing our air leakage by just 30 percent would equate to a 10 percent savings on our heating costs.

“Most people who have an energy audit done and then implement the recommendations will usually be paid back within seven years through their lowered energy bills,” said Schwencke. “Then there are also those rebates and federal and state tax credits, which offset the costs even more.”

Final grade

My detailed 14-page final report from Schwencke came within a week, and it outlined all the areas in which we could improve our energy efficiency. It included, among other recommendations, the suggestion that we use an R-38- to R-50-value insulation in our attic, instead of the current R-30, which has been badly compressed by my Christmas decorations stored in boxes.

Though you don’t get an official letter grade, the report, complete with infrared photos, showed that our house was definitely not passing muster.

“This means your home is almost 91 percent above the ideal air leakage rate based on the Home Performance with Energy Star Building Airflow Standards,” read our final report.

In laymen’s terms, our house is seriously drafty. It is not my imagination when I feel the wind blowing from the outside.

Alas, it is winter, and because I don’t do insulation and my ceilings are too high for me to caulk the leaks, I’ll be happily outsourcing this DIY. Merry Christmas to me.

Get audited

Free energy audit for homes built before 1992:

Clean Energy Works Oregon

Apply online at: www.cleanenergyworksoregon.org/apply-now/

Or call toll free: 1-855-870-0049

Clean Energy Works Oregon offers free energy audits for homes built before 1992. Apply online at www.cleanenergyworksoregon.org/apply-now/, or call, toll free, 1-855-870-0049.