Whenever the word “caulk” turns up in the national news—which is almost never—our ears perk up. When we hear the phrase “cash for caulkers” bandied about, our interests are further piqued. After all, caulking—sealing cracks around trim, fixtures, windows, doors, and everywhere else—is a large part of any home-remodeling project.
Now that this routine task is being tied to national home energy efficiency goals, can you get cash for caulking—i.e., weatherizing—your home? The short answer is, not quite yet.
++(See Jamb Sessions' companion article on the many tax credit and rebate programs in effect right now.)++
According to a White House fact sheet, President Barack Obama recently called on Congress to “consider a new program to provide rebates for consumers who make energy efficiency retrofits. Such a program will harness the power of the private sector to help drive consumers to make cost-saving investments in their homes.”
This is Washington-speak for saying homeowners might be able to get cash for caulking if Congress decides to pass legislation—and fund—such a program … sometime in the future.
But on the heels of the successful “cash-for-clunkers” program—which paid people to turn in their gas-guzzling jalopies for more efficient automobiles and which was credited with spiking car sales—lawmakers may be eager to see if they can jumpstart job creation with a similar rebate program for homeowners. After all, the national unemployment rate is still at 10 percent, one number that doesn’t please lawmakers who must run for reelection in 2010.
This means that cash for caulking could be in the offing sooner rather than later. According to senior administration officials, who briefed the public on these and other economic stimulus plans on Dec. 8 (Jamb Sessions got a transcript of the briefing from the U.S. Department of Energy press office), the cash-for-caulkers idea: “has a win/win quality of both having the potential to save consumers money by lowering their energy bills and also put[ting] people back to work, particularly in the hard-hit construction sector.”
The senior officials, however, were mum on what the overall size of such a weatherization program would be, and said they were focusing on working with Congress to “design this in such a way that we can get the maximum impact in the short term and pull forward investments in the short term.” (Jamb Sessions is awaiting callbacks from the White House press office clarifying funding for this program.)
And that’s Washington-speak for … stay tuned. When we find out more about cash for caulkers, we’ll post the information.
Contact us anytime to talk about weatherization in the context of home remodeling.