An energy efficiency home inspection checklist: utility history, insulation by area with depth and R-value, air sealing and an optional blower door result, windows and exterior doors, heating, cooling and ducts, water heating, lighting and major appliances, solar or other renewables, and a ranked list of improvements with cost bands and payback notes.
House and Job Details
The house, its size and its climate.
Report title
Your job or file number
Client (who ordered this inspection)
Property address
Kind of home — Single-family detached, Townhouse or row house, Condo or apartment, Manufactured home, Other
Year built (approximate)
Conditioned floor area (sq ft)
Stories above grade
What the house sits on — Full basement, Crawlspace, Slab on grade, Mixed, Piers
Climate zone — 1 — very hot, 2 — hot, 3 — warm, 4 — mixed, 5 — cool, 6 — cold, 7 — very cold, 8 — subarctic, Not sure
People living in the home
Outdoor temperature during the visit
Your company
Inspected by
Licence or certification number
Day of the visit
Time you arrived
Utility History
A year of energy use, if the owner can share it.
Did the owner share utility bills or a usage history?
Months covered
Electricity used per year (kWh)
Natural gas used per year (therms)
Other fuel per year (oil, propane, wood)
Total energy cost per year ($)
When use peaks — Winter, Summer, Both, Fairly even
Anything unusual in the history
Photos of bills or the usage chart
Insulation
What is in each part of the envelope, how deep, and how well it covers.
Insulation by area
Area — Attic floor, Sloped or cathedral ceiling, Knee walls, Exterior walls, Floor over crawlspace, Floor over garage, Basement walls, Rim joist, Slab edge, Attic hatch or pull-down stair
Material — Fiberglass batts, Loose-fill fiberglass, Cellulose, Open-cell spray foam, Closed-cell spray foam, Rigid foam board, Mineral wool, Vermiculite — do not disturb, None, Could not see
Depth (inches)
Estimated R-value
Coverage — Even and complete, Gaps or thin spots, Compressed or disturbed, Missing
Photo with a ruler in view
Insulation wet, moldy or crushed by stored items?
Insulation notes
Air Leakage
Where conditioned air escapes, measured or seen.
Did you run a blower door test?
Leakage at 50 pascals (CFM50)
Air changes per hour at 50 pascals (ACH50)
Test set-up and conditions
Leak points you found — Unsealed attic hatch, Pipe and wire holes into the attic, Recessed lights open to the attic, Gap around chimney or flue chase, Rim joist, Duct boots at ceilings and floors, Window and door frames, Wall between garage and house, Fireplace damper left open or missing
Did you use a thermal camera?
Attic access cover — Weatherstripped and insulated, Insulated, not sealed, Neither, No interior access
Air leakage notes
Photos — leak points, thermal images
Windows and Exterior Doors
The glazing, frames and seals.
Most common glazing — Single pane, Single pane with storm windows, Double pane, clear, Double pane, low-e, Triple pane, A mix
Most common frame — Wood, Vinyl, Aluminum, Fiberglass, Clad wood, A mix
Any double-pane units fogged between the panes?
Overall condition of window seals, sashes and locks
Exterior door weatherstripping and sweeps — Tight all round, Worn, daylight visible, Missing
Window and door notes
Photos — windows and doors
Heating, Cooling and Ducts
The equipment from its data plates, and the ducts that carry its air.
Main heating system — Gas furnace, Oil furnace, Electric furnace, Air-source heat pump, Ductless mini-split, Ground-source heat pump, Boiler, Electric baseboard, Wood or pellet, Other
Heating equipment age (years)
Heating efficiency from the label
Cooling — Central air conditioner, Heat pump (same unit), Ductless mini-split, Window or wall units, Evaporative cooler, None
Cooling equipment age (years)
Cooling efficiency from the label
Equipment condition, as seen
Thermostat — Manual, Programmable, Smart or learning
Any sign of exhaust spilling at a gas or oil appliance?
Where the ducts run — Inside conditioned space, Unconditioned attic, Crawlspace, Unheated basement, Garage, No ducts
Duct joints — Sealed with mastic, Taped, Gaps or disconnected runs seen, Could not see
How hot water is made, and how much of it is lost.
Water heater — Gas tank, Electric tank, Heat pump water heater, Gas tankless, Electric tankless, Indirect from the boiler, Solar with backup
Age (years)
Tank size (gallons)
Hot water at the nearest tap
Insulation on the first few feet of hot pipe — Insulated, Bare
Is the relief valve fitted with a discharge pipe running down toward the floor?
Are the showerheads and faucets low-flow?
Photos — water heater and label
Lighting and Appliances
The lights and the appliances that draw the most.
Share of indoor lights that are LED — Nearly all, About half, A few, None
How outdoor lights are controlled — Motion or dusk-to-dawn sensor, Timer, Switch only, No outdoor lights
Major appliances
Appliance — Refrigerator, Second refrigerator or freezer, Dishwasher, Clothes washer, Clothes dryer, Range or oven, Pool or spa pump, Dehumidifier, Well pump, Other
Age (years)
ENERGY STAR label? — Yes, No, Cannot tell
Note
Lighting and appliance notes
Renewables and Storage
Anything on site that makes or stores energy, and whether the roof could host it.
Is there solar, a battery or other renewable equipment on site?
What is installed — Solar PV, Solar water heating, Battery storage, Ground-source heat pump, Small wind turbine
Solar PV size (kW)
Who owns the equipment — The homeowner, Leased, Power purchase agreement, Unknown
Inspecting the PV system itself? Use the separate solar PV inspection form.
Roof suitability for future solar — Good — large south or west planes, little shade, Possible — some shade or small planes, Poor — heavy shade or roof near end of life, Not assessed
Recommended Improvements
What to do, in order, with a rough idea of cost and payback.
Cost bands are rough guides to help rank the work, not quotes. Check local rebates and tax credits before the homeowner commits.
Improvements, most important first
Measure
Category — Safety, Air sealing, Insulation, Ducts, Heating or cooling, Water heating, Windows and doors, Lighting, Appliances, Renewables, Controls
Cost band — Under $500, $500 to $2,000, $2,000 to $10,000, Over $10,000, Not estimated
Payback note
Priority — 1 — do first, 2 — next, 3 — when replacing
Summary for the homeowner
Not Inspected and Limitations
Parts of the envelope or equipment you could not see.
Areas or items you could not inspect
Area or item
Why it was not inspected — Blocked by stored items or furniture, Locked or no access given, Unsafe to enter or climb, Weather or snow, Utility or system turned off, Occupant asked us not to, Outside the agreed scope, Other
What the client should do about it
Sign-off
Who wrote this report, and the statement it rests on.
These observations describe the home on the date of the visit. R-values, efficiencies and cost bands are estimates for planning, not guarantees of savings or contractor prices. This is not a certified energy rating.
Inspector signature
Date the report was issued
Home Inspection
Energy Efficiency Home Inspection Checklist
An energy efficiency home inspection checklist: utility history, insulation by area with depth and R-value, air sealing and an optional blower door result, windows and exterior doors, heating, cooling and ducts, water heating, lighting and major appliances, solar or other renewables, and a ranked list of improvements with cost bands and payback notes.
✓Free — no account, no trial, no card.
Fill this in and download the finished PDF. Your answers stay on this device as you type. We ask for an email address once, at the download.
→
This checklist looks at how the house uses energy. Inspecting a solar array already installed on the house? That has its own page: Solar PV inspection for home inspectors
0 of 67 answered0%
An energy efficiency home inspection checklist walks the house in the order heat moves through it: the bills first, then the attic, walls and floors, the leaks between inside and out, the windows and doors, the equipment that heats and cools, hot water, lights and appliances. It ends in what the homeowner actually wants — a short, ranked list of improvements with a rough cost band and a note on payback.
Bills tell you where to look
Twelve months of utility bills show how much energy the house uses and when. A big winter peak points at heating and the envelope; a summer peak at cooling, shading and duct leaks in a hot attic. The utility section is behind a gate because not every owner has the bills to hand.
Insulation by area, not one answer for the house
Attics, walls, floors over crawlspaces, rim joists and the attic hatch each tell a different story. The insulation list records the material, the depth, your estimated R-value and how evenly it covers. Gaps, compressed batts and missing insulation go to the summary.
If you find vermiculite, do not disturb it: it can contain asbestos. The material list flags it, and the asbestos form in this library records it properly.
Air leaks and combustion safety go together
Sealing a leaky house is usually the cheapest saving there is, but a tighter house changes how fuel-burning appliances draft. A blower door result is gated for when you run one, the visual leak list works when you do not, and the HVAC section asks about any sign of exhaust spillage so a sealing recommendation never goes out without a combustion safety note.
The improvement list is the report
Each improvement records the measure, its category, a cost band, a payback note and a priority. Order them the way most energy professionals would:
Safety first — anything combustion or electrical
Air sealing, then insulation, while the attic is open
Duct sealing and insulation
Equipment, at the end of its life rather than before
Windows, lighting, appliances and renewables last
Common questions
What does an energy efficiency home inspection cover?
Utility use, insulation levels, air leakage, windows and doors, heating and cooling equipment and ducts, water heating, lighting and appliances, renewables, and a prioritized list of improvements.
Is this the same as a certified home energy audit or rating?
No. Formal audits and ratings such as a HERS rating or a Home Energy Score follow their program’s own protocol, tools and software. This checklist records an inspector’s observations and recommendations. If you hold one of those credentials, it is a useful field record alongside the program’s own output.
Do I need a blower door?
Not for this checklist. A blower door gives a measured air leakage number, and the form has a place for it, but a careful visual look at the usual leak points still produces useful recommendations.
How do I estimate the R-value of insulation?
Measure the depth in a few places and multiply by a typical per-inch value for the material — roughly 2.5 to 3.5 for loose-fill and batts, around 3.5 for open-cell foam, around 6 to 7 for closed-cell foam. Note that it is an estimate.
Should the report include cost estimates?
Rough cost bands help the homeowner decide what to do first. They are not quotes. The form uses bands rather than figures so no one mistakes them for a contractor’s price.