Many attics are energy hogs—so what do you do? In this video, Matt Risinger, master builder is at the house that a friend is in the process of buying. The 1972 home's energy bills are high and Risinger's been asked to evaluate the issues. In Austin TX, the real drain on energy is summer cooling. It's easy to immediately notice such problems as penetration of pipes ad wires, which become the perfect air leak locations. The fix is easy—just a can of inexpensive spray foam will do the trick. Another easy-to-spot problem is that the exhaust fan from a bathroom is exhausting into the attic. There are also 2 x 4 and 2 x6 ceiling joists and the insulation doesn't clear the top of them. While there is 2" of blown in insulation, there should be approximately 14. There is a lot of missing insulation. One of the good things is that there is nice rigid metal ductwork that was installed and then at a later date it was insulated.Another big loss of air and heating and cooling is because of a pulled automatic staircase. There is no insulation on the sides of the staircase, making it easy for air to infiltrate and become a huge source of loss. Again, spray foam and an insulated cover over the staircase, more blown in insulation and the A/C bills will be half of what they've been. One more thing, there's an interior vaulted ceiling with bad insulation. A couple of batts have fallen down. If using batt or fiberglass insulation, to get the real stated R-Value, it must be installed correctly and held in place.