Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

James Williams of TAP blows cellulose insulation into the attic of a Roanoke house the agency is weatherizing.

Elisha Lake of TAP looks at a pressure meter to determine how much air is leaking from the doors, windows and duct vents.

TAP employees Maynard Hayes (left) and Elisha Lake work in the basement of a home in Roanoke they are weatherizing.

Community action agencies see big bucks for expanding home-weatherization coming out of Washington, D.C., this year.

That's good news for potentially hundreds of people similar to Roanoke's Sandra Thompson, who runs her electric heater at a costly 72 degrees and is still chilly.

President Obama's stimulus bill, barring unforeseen changes, coupled with a sizable increase in weatherization funding from Congress earlier this winter, sets the stage for a huge boost in homes being weatherized.

The federally funded program uses skilled technicians to insulate attics, seal ductwork, weatherstrip doors and the like, and completes about 150,000 homes of low-income people a year.

Obama said Jan. 24 his more than $800 billion stimulus proposal will weatherize 2.5 million homes, which, if split over two years, would mean an eightfold increase in homes completed.

Weatherization teams, already working from waiting lists, are gearing up in Southwest Virginia for even more demand because the additional funding could expand eligibility to the lower tier of the middle class, officials said.

"We're going to do many, many more homes," said Ted Edlich, president of Total Action Against Poverty, the home-weatherization provider for the Roanoke Valley, Alleghany County, Lexington and the Rockbridge County area.

TAP expects its annual weatherization funding to leap from $680,000 to between $1.7 million and $2 million, he said. Homes completed, now at 150 to 180 units a year, is expected to increase proportionately.

"Powerful vectors are converging here," Edlich said, calling home weatherization investments smart federal policy because they pay multiple dividends -- saving energy, reducing housing costs and creating jobs.

For every $1 spent, weatherization returns $2.72 in energy and other benefits, according to the Weatherization Assistance Program Technical Assistance Center, a program of the National Association for State Community Services Programs.

Christiansburg-based Community Housing Partners, the largest home weatherization provider in the state, completing 350 to 400 units a year, could see its weatherization funding rise from $1.8 million a year to $10 million a year, said Bill Beachy, vice president of energy services at the agency.

So much growth is anticipated that program leaders are already working to expand program capacity so that the equipment, technicians and qualified clients are lined up in time.

"Our phone is ringing off the hook," said Beachy, whose agency also trains weatherization technicians.

Officials say plenty of homes need attention.

There's enough work "for the next 10 years, I'm guessing," said Maynard Hayes, a weatherization crew supervisor with TAP for 23 years.

He was standing in Thompson's living room as technicians blew insulation in her attic and plugged passages in her unheated crawl space.

He said the five-person crew would install more than $2,000 worth of materials in a day -- work that Thompson, who is disabled, would not be able to afford if she had to pay.

"I don't have anybody to help fix things," she said while washing dishes as the crew labored on. "I think it's wonderful that people can get more help."

Hayes told her she could safely dial her thermostat back from 72 to 68 degrees after the crew left. She expected a proportionate drop in her electric bill, which comes to about $150 a month for her 900-square-foot dwelling in Northeast Roanoke.