Fences can help reduce wind and cut energy costs

>Q.

A. Adding a windbreak on the northwest and north side of your

house can reduce the energy loss from your house walls during winter.

The savings result from reduced convection heat transfer from the walls and less pressure differences across your house. Pressure differences on the sides of a house can contribute to increase air leakage into the house.

People often think of a fence or a stand of evergreen trees when they hear about windbreaks. Actually, a dense grouping of low evergreen shrubs, or ones with a thick branch pattern, can be an effective windbreak when planted close to your house. These shrubs can also be an effective containment barrier for a dog and they certainly are less expensive and more environmentally friendly than any type of fencing.

For areas further from your house, vinyl fencing can create an effective windbreak and barrier for your dog. A solid privacy fence is generally most effective, but some of the more open fencing styles can also disrupt the direct force of winter winds.

From an environmental standpoint, vinyl is not as earth-friendly as wood for fencing. However, when you consider that vinyl is practically maintenance-free, the environmental picture changes. There is quite a lot of embodied energy consumed to manufacturer and transport paint to periodically maintain a wood fence. Even with regular maintenance, a wood fence will eventually have to be replaced.

From a cost standpoint, the life-cycle cost of vinyl fencing can be very competitive with wood when you consider the long-term maintenance costs. The high-quality vinyl material used for fencing is expensive, so the fencing style dramatically impacts the initial cost. A solid privacy fence uses much more vinyl material than a more open fence style.

Many of the vinyl fencing styles are designed to assemble easily. This makes it a relatively simple, but time-consuming do-it-yourself project. By saving the labor costs of a professionally installed wood fence, the initial cost of a vinyl fence becomes more competitive. If you are looking for the easiest-to-install privacy vinyl fencing, select one which uses complete panels instead of having to assemble individual pieces.

Genova Products offers a design which makes it particularly easy to attach the vinyl fencing panels to standard wooden posts in the ground. For the best durability and long-term appearance, select vinyl fencing which uses coextrusion technology. This process applies a sun-resistant cap layer to strong durable vinyl underneath it.

The following companies offer vinyl fencing: Certainteed, 800-782-8777, www.certainteed.com; Genova Products, (800) 521-7488, www.genovaproducts.com; Outdoor Technologies, (800) 736-5143, www.otivinyl.com; Kroy Building Products, (888) 300-8208, www.kroybp.com; and Westech Fence, (800) 464-8614, www.westechfence.com.

Q. I am planning some major repairs at my house. It needs a new roof and new energy efficient windows. I would like to find one contractor to do it all. Does this make sense or should I select specialists in each field?

A. Some large remodeling companies have their own crews which can specialize in almost all repair projects. My advice is to get many quotes from large and small contractors and select one based on cost and reputation.

If you plan to install efficient roofing, consider metal roofing. It lasts many years and blocks the summer sun's heat. It takes experience to install a metal roof properly, so select a metal roofing specialist to install it.

bull; Write to James Dulley at 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.