Insulation
Insulation is a non-structural material that makes your home or place of business more comfortable in a variety of ways, while reducing your energy costs. It does this by providing maximum thermal performance, acting as a shell to the surrounding weather, protecting against air infiltration, and controlling moisture.
Many homes are poorly insulated or missing insulation entirely. Knowing how much insulation and what type of insulation product(s) will best fit your house can be confusing. With our over 30 years of experience, you can depend on us to properly diagnose and recommend an affordable solution tailored specifically for your home. By installing the right type of insulation, at the proper levels we ensure that you maximize the return on your investment through the savings you earn from reduced energy bills.
We specialize in using high quality blown-in and batt insulation to ensure that your home’s insulation needs are met. Depending on the application, we typically use either recycled-cellulose or fiberglass insulation. Both types are reliable, provide great value and great performance. In addition, both are environmentally friendly, particularly cellulose, which is one of the “greenest” building products available.
Regardless of the application type, most insulation installations are completed in less than a day.
WeatherizationÂ
Weatherization is sometimes confused with insulation but is distinct from it. Our primary focus when weatherizing your home is to seal air leaks that are found throughout the home that lead to wasted energy and increased utility bills.
Many air leaks and drafts are easy to find because they are easy to feel — like those around windows and doors. But holes hidden in attics, basements, and crawlspaces are usually bigger problems. Other common leak sources include recessed lights and exhaust fans.
Once we have identified the sources of your home’s air leaks, our technicians install air sealing measures that stop the flow of these various air leaks in and out of your home making it more comfortable and more energy efficient.
Air sealing measures that we typically install include the following:
- Windows: Caulk window frames and trim; weather strip at top and bottom of window
- Exterior Doors: Install weather stripping around door; caulking around door frame,install door sweeps
- Attic Hatch: Install weather strip and insulate
- Electrical Outlets: Install gaskets around outlets; fill gaps clear silicone
- Exhaust Fans: Seal inside enclosure with aluminum tape,and always exhaust to exterior to prevent moisture in atiic space.
- Recessed Lighting Fixtures: Cover and seal as no insulation should cover these fixtures.
- Chimney/Fireplace: Seal any gaps around the fireplace chimney, furnace fluepipe and vent pipes that extend through the attic
- Dryer Vent: Install/replace dampers in exhaust ducts to prevent outside air from entering house
- Trim: Caulk baseboards
- Sealing Air Ducts: Seal with fiber-reinforced mastic
- Basement Sill Plate & Penetrations: Seal gaps where the basement ceiling meets the foundation wall and any penetrations to exterior air.
- Pipes and conduits: Seal around any pipes, conduits, wires, or cables that pass between floors.
- Drywall and plaster repairs to eliminate communication with exterior air
Comprehensive Energy Audits
Home energy audits are conducted by our certified energy auditors to help identify just how inefficient your home is and where we can make improvements to improve your home’s overall efficiency.
- Air leaks in the attic, ceiling, exterior walls, windows & doors.
- Missing or insufficient insulation.
- Building envelope integrity.
- Leaking duct work.
- Any unsafe gas leaks from your combustible appliances.
- Ventilation check and sizing.
- Basement and crawlspace performance.
- Moisture check on building foundation, basement, crawlspace and in attic.
The two primary diagnostic tools used during the audit are the Blower Door and the Infrared Camera. The pressure blower door is basically a big fan that depressurizes the air within your home in order to identify air leaks around doors/windows and from poorly sealed attics and basements that make rooms cold in the winter or uncomfortably hot in the summer.
The infrared camera takes thermal images of the walls and ceilings throughout the home to locate missing or inadequate levels of insulation as well as identify hard-to-find areas of air infiltration.
Depending on the size of your home, the energy audit will take between 3 to 4 hours to complete. Upon completion of the energy audit, we will prepare a detailed analysis of our findings as well as a customized list of recommended measures (and the associated costs) that will address the energy deficient areas of your home.