Nov. 7--Stepping through the front door of the mobile home owned by Clarence and Ida May Ewurs, the first thing a visitor notices is a wall of heat. It's easily 10 to 20 degrees warmer inside than it is outdoors, and the heater isn't even turned on.

"Normally this time of year we'd have the heat running and we'd be sitting with blankets and stuff on us," said 51-year-old Clarence Ewurs.

That's because until this week the floorboards of this 14-foot-wide house trailer had gaps large enough for a man to fall through. The walls were stripped bare, the front and back doors didn't close properly, and towels were stuffed beneath window frames to keep out drafts.

The electric bill for the mobile home regularly topped $400 a month in the winter, Ewurs said, and that was only enough to make the space tolerable.

"The outside was basically inside," said David Gregory, chief weatherization auditor for Central Missouri Community Action. Gregory, who evaluated the house, said, "It was pretty rough."

But today the home is transformed with the help of a weatherization program funded by federal stimulus dollars and operated by CMCA. Serving an eight-county area, CMCA received $3.6 million in federal funds from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to weatherize homes. That was more than 10 times the amount the agency received last year.

To make the most out of this windfall, CMCA has opened an office on Vandiver Drive along with a warehouse stacked high with pink insulation, storm windows, caulk and other materials.

The group has three crews running at all times and 15 staffers, and it works with numerous contractors.

Over the next two years, CMCA hopes to help around 800 Mid-Missouri families significantly reduce their energy bills and stop shivering through the winter.

To qualify for the program, families must have an income of no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and, if the dwelling is rented, the landlord must contribute 5 percent of the total cost, freeze the rent and agree to certain other terms.

Work crews begin by conducting an energy audit, using a fan system known as a "blower door" to decrease the air pressure inside the house and track how quickly air leaks in from outdoors. From there, crews install insulation, caulk windows, add storm windows and even replace the furnace if need be.

All this work can be costly -- the organization is permitted to spend as much as $6,500 per home -- but the long-term benefit is huge.

Darin Preis, the agency's executive director, compared it with the "energy assistance" program, where needy families line up to receive hundreds of dollars to help them pay utility bills. Weatherization, which reduces a family's bills by $30 to $80 per month, is a long-term solution, he said.

"We're paying utility assistance to the same houses year after year after year," Preis said. "So I love that we're on the front end of that issue instead of on the back end."

The program is helping 12 to 18 families per month, but Preis said he hopes to soon ramp that total up to 40 per month.

By all accounts, the Ewurs house was an extreme case. Workers found that the amount of air coming indoors was more than 10 times what they typically see. They responded by putting sheetrock on the walls and ceiling, doubling the insulation, plugging holes in the floor, adding storm windows and new doors. The house is now air-tight.

Darrell Tidball, a crew foreman with CMCA, said it was one of the toughest assignments he has encountered but also one of the most rewarding. Earlier this week he and his crew were sitting at a stoplight on Range Line Street when Ida May Ewurs drove up next to them.

"She rolls her window down and waves, and she 'God-blessed us' and thanked us profusely before we left," Tidball said. "That was pretty nice."

Reach T.J. Greaney at 573-815-1719 or e-mail tjgreaney@columbiatribune.com.

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