Helping Hands Contributes to Energy Efficiency

Degrading Walls Caused Energy Leaks in Her Home. Helping Hands Repaired Them.

Jeanne, 72, initially contacted the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity Helping Hands home repairs team for support in repairing her water heater. After an initial home walk-through and assessment, staff discovered there was a lot more that needed to be addressed. Jeanne’s shower needed repairs, there were plumbing concerns, and the floors were breaking through. The most critical concern was identified when staff saw sunlight beaming through her walls--they were disintegrating. 

​Built in the 1970s, Jeanne’s home was designed to be livable for maybe 20 years—its shelf life had expired. The home was no longer simply showing its age; critical components were beginning to fail, leaving Jeanne with an increasingly unsafe, inefficient, and costly-to-maintain home.

Problem: Unlivable home in need of critical repairs, accessibility modifications, and major appliance replacements
Jeanne’s home was 40 years past its life expectancy. The home lacked adequate insulation and weatherproofing, allowing conditioned air to escape through a deteriorating building envelope. As a result, her HVAC and other mechanical systems had to work harder to heat and cool a home that could no longer efficiently hold that air. Over time, that added strain contributed to equipment failures and left Jeanne facing both costly repairs and extremely high monthly energy bills. 

The problems compounded one another. As the structure deteriorated and mechanical systems failed, the cost of simply keeping the home safe and comfortable continued to increase. Jeanne was in an almost impossible financial situation; the home was grossly energy-inefficient, and the resulting mechanical failures, disintegrating walls, and mounting repair costs were beyond her means to address. ​
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Helping Hands Solution 
Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity’s Helping Hands home repair staff reconstructed and insulated her exterior walls, repaired her plumbing and subfloor, replaced her water heater, and installed an accessible low-threshold shower. By addressing both the immediate failures and the home’s energy efficiency, the repairs helped stop the cycle that had made the house increasingly expensive to operate and maintain.

Her work with the Helping Hands program improved her safety and comfort at home, reduced the financial burden of monthly utility bills, and restored her faith in people.

“I was like, no one cares anymore, but no, people still care. You just don't hear about it. You hear about all the bad stuff; you don't hear the good stuff.” ​

Jeanne has continued to work with Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity’s Helping Hands home repair staff to ensure she can live safely in her home over the long term. Helping Hands replaced her water heater, repaired plumbing, replaced the subflooring in her bathroom, installed a low-threshold shower, and repaired bathroom walls. The work done at Jeanne’s home covered the scope of every service category under the Helping Hands program: critical home repairs, accessibility modifications, and major appliance replacements. ​

Just as importantly, these repairs addressed how a house functions as a whole. A safer home must also be one a homeowner can afford to heat, cool, maintain, and live in for years to come.

“I have a safe shower, so I'm not worried about getting in the tub, I'm safe to walk on the floor, [Helping Hands] got me a water heater, they made my whole home so much safer for me.”

Jeanne loves her home and intends to stay in it for the rest of her life. Her goal is the same as that of the majority of older adults in Iowa, who report [Include the stat on older people who want to stay living in their homes]. After completing repairs with the Helping Hands program, she is confident that she will be able to do so.

“I'm very happy living here. Even with the problems, but now they've got a lot of them fixed, and I don't have to worry about it...They're carrying me out of here when I die. I ain't leaving, and I ain't moving."

Safe and affordable housing starts with an energy-efficient home. 

For Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity, energy efficiency is part of affordability. Whether we are building a new home or repairing an existing one, we invest in the materials and improvements that help a home perform better today so it remains safe, comfortable, and affordable for years to come. 

How you can help.

Donate to support affordable home repairs for members of your community. 

Donations to the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity Helping Hands home repairs program help remove barriers to safe, decent shelter for homeowners with insufficient income through critical home repairs, accessibility modifications, and emergency repairs and major appliance replacements (ERMAR).

That includes investing in repairs that improve energy efficiency now, so homeowners are not left paying the long-term cost of inefficient housing through higher utility bills, failing systems, and repeated repairs.
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Together, we build homes that last. 
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*Emergency Repairs and Major Appliance Replacements (ERMAR) is a service of Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity’s home repair program and is currently only available to homeowners living in Johnson County, Iowa. ​