AUBURN – A. Hal Barter can see through walls.

Pointing his infrared camera at a painted sheet rock surface, he can find the wooden frame beneath. More importantly, he can see the gaps in the insulation where the cold rushes in.

Fixing those gaps are his job.

Barter, Auburn’s rehab coordinator, is running a new city-wide program aimed at helping folks seal up their homes, offering zero-interest loans of up to $10,000 for improvements such as new insulation, replacement windows and new furnaces.

The program is being fast-tracked through the city, which is convening an eight-member loan committee every two weeks to consider applications for aid. Not everyone is eligible. Loans must aid people with low-to-moderate incomes, no more than $43,500 for a family of four.

If someone calls the city for help today, fixes could be made in January.

“The whole reason we’re doing this is rising fuel costs,” said Gail Phoenix, Auburn’s community development coordinator.

The city cannot give folks heating oil, she said. It can help folks use less fuel to keep their homes warm, though.

“We’re trying to get help to people now, this season,” Phoenix said. “People are not making ends meet.”

Barter plans to visit every home that meets the income requirements.

On Wednesday morning, he crawled into the attic of a century-old apartment building in Auburn’s downtown, stepping into a bedroom closet and onto a paint can before hoisting himself up through a trap door.

“I start at the top and work my way down,” Barter said.

The reason: up to 40 percent of a home’s heat loss goes through the roof.

In this case the attic did well, with about 10 inches of insulation keeping out the cold. However, a second-floor bedroom hid escaping heat.

Then, Barter turned on his camera.

Looking into the infrared camera’s small black-and-white screen, the wall glowed gray on the left side, a good sign. Then, as he panned right it turned black. A moment later, he discovered that the line also marked the spot where the side of the house jutted out, making the interior wall into an exterior barrier.

“The whiter it is, the hotter it is,” Barter said. “This wall looks cold.”

The lack of insulation was no surprise.

Most of the homes Barter examines are old and drafty. The fixes can be cheap, or expensive. In some cases, folks need new windows, furnaces or other big-ticket items.

Often, a few hundred dollars can make a big difference. In the Auburn home, he pointed out a new window that lacked caulking on one side.

“I can feel the draft,” he said, holding his hand up to the seam.

In many homes, Barter sees attic doors and hatches that are uninsulated. Other common problems occur in the basement. Too many homeowners have metal bulkheads that allow lots of heat to escape. In other cases, heat escapes alongside chimneys or out of poorly sealed basement windows.

“The older the home, the worse it is,” he said.

Money for the Auburn program comes from grants via the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City Council approved the measure on Dec. 17.

City workers have already begun compiling a list of contractors who could go to work on homes with little notice.

Phoenix hopes to make rehab money last, though she was uncertain what the cap may be. The number of local grants available will depend on their cost.

“If we have to, we’ll end it,” she said.

The same pool of money, part of the community development block grant fund, helps people with home emergencies such as septic system failures and leaky roofs.

“It has to last until July,” she said. “We’ll do what we can.”