Rescheck Sketches

Rescheck Sketches

Written by Jobe Leonard of Rescheck.info. Jobe enjoys all things related to Rescheck reporting and the study of home energy audit softwares like Rescheck, Comcheck, and Manual J.

Today on the Reschexpert blog we will look at the common questions surrounding what plans are best for Rescheck. Most particularly if you need professionally drawn plans for Rescheck or if a hand drawn plan for Rescheck, or Rescheck sketch will suffice. Many people lack access, time, or budget to have a professional draftsman, architect, or engineer complete their plans for Rescheck. So is it possible to use a sketch to complete a Rescheck?

I am neither a draftsman, architect, or engineer. I started my career in construction at 14 working as a “Gopher” for a local contractor. I “Gopher” means, go for this (drywall), go for that (more nails). Basically, you go grab, unload, carry, or cleanup whatever the contractor needs. Part of this job also was decipher whatever sketches the contractor had made for the project. Many time on rural projects that were developed over coffee and handshake a true set of blueprints did not exist. There was some time of sketch on a napkin, paper towel, or legal pad that sufficed as the construction plans for the projects. This is where I learned to read hand drawn plans for construction.

Fast forward to several decades later, and I was a project manager building over 1 billion worth of homes all across the United States. Again, people had ideas, but did not necessarily have a professional to express them of a full size set of plans. Being someone who could decipher hand drawn plans and turn them into an estimate was a very valuable skill.

Now today I see just as many hand drawn plans for Rescheck, Comcheck, Manual J, Manual S, and Manual D as I do professional plans. The answer for can you use hand drawn plans for each type of energy report is below:

Yes, you can use hand drawn plans for Rescheck

Yes, you can use hand drawn plans for Manual J

Yes, you can use hand drawn plans for Manual S

Yes, you can use hand drawn plans for Manual D

Yes, you can use hand drawn plans for Comcheck

All of the resounding answers of yes come with a few caveats. You can use sketches and hand drawn plans for Rescheck. I make sure my customers understand that the better information they provide, the more accurate their home energy audit will be. With that being said some essentials that we need on hand drawn plans that amateur plan creator may not realize are as follows:

Square footage of the area being presented for Rescheck

Jobsite address of the where the structure is being built for Rescheck

R value of the ceiling for the area that is being presented for Rescheck

R value of the walls for the area that will be Reschecked

U value of the windows that are being installed for Rescheck

SHGC of the windows that are being installed for Rescheck

R value of the the foundation for Rescheck

U value of the new doors that will be installed for Rescheck

SHGC of the new doors that will be installed for Rescheck

This is a partial list of what is needed to use a hand drawn plan or sketch for Rescheck. If you answer all of these questions on your initial submission of your sketches for Rescheck you will be well on your way to getting your Rescheck completed in a timely manor. In the event more questions arise we can present them to you as they pop up.

If you need a Rescheck on a set of professional or hand drawn plans then we can help. The way you would proceed is to email us PDF plans, jobsite address, and square footage to service@rescheck.info and we will get you taken care of.