Insulating Attic In Simsbury, CT

Tuesday, August 16th, 2022 by Nivia Easterling

Challenge

The challenge with this home was old dirty Insulation, mold growth in the attic, leaky and uninsulated areas, and destructive moisture due to improper ventilation.

Our building science specialist inspected this home and found several issues of concern. The challenge with this home was the attic. Attic insulation in your home can get pretty nasty, and unventilated bathrooms and laundry rooms have lots of destructive moisture, without a proper ventilation fan, the humidity builds up and causes mold, rot, and eventually structural failure. Another challenge with this home was air leakage in areas of the attic such as holes, gaps, joints, pipes, wires, ducts, electrical boxes, fixtures, ceiling grills, and joints in the framing. In addition to the areas of concern mentioned this homeowner has an old whole house fan mounted in the upper floor ceiling. Today most of these whole house fans are obsolete and never or seldom used. The problem is that the fan louvers leak a lot of air even when the fan is off. The whole house fan was a challenge, but the chimney was unsealed and the Can lights were causing air leakage.

Solution

The solution to fixing this uncomfortable home was to remove the old insulation, get rid of the mold, and seal all the areas of the attic with air leaks, then finally add our Tru-soft cellulose insulation.

Fogarty’s Home Services, the first step in fixing this uncomfortable home was removing the damaged soiled insulation in the attic. Properly air sealing all areas exposed to air leakage was the next step because adding insulation without sealing all air leaks should never be done because if so that would be burying air leaks and making them impossible to seal later. To resolve the issue with the unventilated bathroom Fogarty’s Home Services cuts a properly sized hole in the ceiling of the bathroom and installs a new fan with or without a light included, this home got one with a light. The bath fan was then piped to move the exhausted moisture outside either through an end wall, a soffit, or a roof vent. This installation helps to reduce humidity and reduces occurrences of mildew, mold, and structural damage. Removing the whole house fan was another step in fixing the problem. The solution is simple - remove the fan and its leaky louvers, and install drywall over the hole. This eliminates the air leakage and allows the space formerly occupied to be filled with attic insulation. Installing can light covers with our Titeshell product that are safe from fire hazards, helps when the insulation is blown in to eliminate costly gaps in insulation adding to R-value. We also sealed the chimney chase, sealed the floor with zyp foam, and air sealed and insulated the scuttle cover. Getting rid of the unhealthy mold growth was next on this list. Fogarty’s Home Services used a Mold-X Neutralizer as an effective treatment to kill and stop the mold from producing spores. The final step was the installation of the TruSoft cellulose insulation. Our premium TruSoft Cellulose insulation is blown to optimum R-value (typically R60). TruSoft will not burn, get moldy, or attract pests.

Results- a more comfortable home, a less drafty house that you’ll notice everywhere, even downstairs. House is quieter. Fuel and electric bills are lower.