Fogarty's Home Services serving Florence, MA

This homeowner in Florence, MA called us hoping we would be able to help her with the attic insulation in the home she had just purchased. She knew when purchasing that the attic insulation was insufficient and she had vermiculite. After the vermiculite was removed, we were able to help this customer. Since attics are vented, we should think of them thermally as outside in the winter. In summer because of the suns radiant heat, they are much worse than outside, reaching 130˚ on summer days. Clearly, we need to keep an absolute boundary between our living space and the attic so inside air doesn’t move to the attic in the heating season (convection), and heat doesn’t pass up through our ceilings in winter (conduction), and down from our ceilings in the hot summer (conduction, radiation). To reduce overall air leakage, the attic is the first priority because warm air rises to the top of the house and finds any and all holes to leak out into the cold vented attic and is lost. Holes, gaps and joints include between drywall and framing at the top of walls, around pipes, wires, electric boxes, fixtures, duct, penetrations, ceiling grilles and joints in framing. And the only reason cold air leaks in from the outside at the lower levels of the house, is that warm air leaked out of the top and created a suction at the bottom. 

We had the perfect solution for this customer. Adding insulation in an attic without sealing all air leaks first should never be done, because it is just burying air leaks and making them impossible to seal later - and insulation DOES NOT STOP air leaks. That’s why, in this solution, we first carefully air seal the many various points where air from the home leaks up into the attic and is lost. Our premium TruSoft™ cellulose insulation is blown to the optimum R-value (typically R60). TruSoft™ will not burn, get moldy, or attract pests. Blown insulation fills all gaps and odd shaped voids, and by filling over framing members, “thermal bridging” is avoided.

This homeowner in Florence, MA reached out to us hoping we would be able to help them with their crawl space. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he noted that they had an old and loose fitting crawl space door. Since the old thinking was that crawl spaces could have dirt floors and be vented, it was okay for access doors to be loose fitting and unsealed. Today we know that to have a comfortable, energy efficient home, free of mold, rot, bugs, and odors we must seal off all air (and water) leaks from the outside. Results- Warm, humid air leaks in during summer, causing condensation all over the crawl space, cold air leaks in during winter causing cold floors above and cooling off heating ducts, higher fuel and electric bills. 

We had the perfect solution for this customer -- the Everlast™ crawl space door! The Everlast™ Crawl Space Door is 1/2" thick solid, durable polyethylene. It's custom cut to the size needed and installed with a U track along the bottom and special threaded knobs. Anchors are installed into the foundation to hold the door tight. Thick weather-stripping around the perimeter seals the new door airtight. The door will never rust, rot or need paint! Result - An airtight access door that will last forever! Less air leakage, less condensation, more comfortable home. 

This homeowner in Florence, MA called us hoping that we would be able to insulate her basement for her. She specifically needed new insulation in her rim joist. The “rim joist” is the perimeter of the floor framing system along the exterior of the house. The joints and gaps between all the framing members allow for a lot of air leakage into the house. The rim joist is seldom insulated and never air sealed. Basement ceiling insulation, especially fiberglass batts, doesn’t stop the flow of cold air into the home. Results - cold floors, drafty, uncomfortable rooms, cold basement/lower level, higher heating and cooling bills and more condensation in the basement or crawl space in the summer.

Luckily, we had the perfect solution for this customer. In this solution, two part expanding spray foam is installed on the rim joist and over the sill plate to seal all air leaks from the outside and insulate this important area of the home. Our spray foam has a high insulation value per inch of R7, and because it expands, it seals all cracks and gaps and joints where air from the outside enters the home. Results - warmer floors, less drafts, more comfortable rooms, the house is easier to heat and costs less to heat, less summertime condensation on cold basement surfaces.

This Northampton, MA homeowner reached out to Fogarty's Home Services to update their basement from a bare and uninviting space into a beautiful, comfortable living space. This space was uninviting and neglected. The homeowner wanted to be able to use this space to increase the living area of the home. First, we were called in to make the basement more energy efficient to prepare it for finishing. We provided a series of excellent solutions to the our homeowner. This previously uninviting, neglected space was transformed into a more energy efficient area of the home. First, Fogarty's Home Services removed all of the old, moldy, and damaged batt insulation from the basement. Next, we installed Foamax™ Insulation Board on the basement walls to properly insulate and prepare the walls for finishing. Once the walls were insulated, we sprayed the rim joists with closed cell spray foam to seal all air leaks from the outside and to provide additional insulation. Now, this space was ready for finishing. Fogarty's Home Services installed EverLast™ wall panels with a "fire-stop" at the top of the walls to stop fire from going up the walls, and stopping airflow from above the ceiling from going down and up behind the walls. These walls won't rot, get moldy, get ruined by water, need paint, and they won't dent. They are washable, can easily be patched over to cover nail holes, and they have a continuous layer of unbroken insulation. To finish the ceiling, Fogarty's Home Services installed Finished Linen Drop Ceiling, complete with new recessed lighting to make the space bright and inviting. We used a ThermalDry® Elite Plank Flooring System, the only all-inorganic floors in the world. Water won't ruin them, water vapor won't go through them, and mold won't grow on them - making them the perfect basement finishing flooring solution. Once these were complete, Fogarty's Home Services put on the finishing touches including outlets, switches, doors, and trim. At the conclusion of every job, we also do a stellar clean-up of the basement so the area is pristine and ready for the homeowner to use right away. Lastly, this space is ready to be fully furnished and used to exponentially increase the living area in the home without adding an addition. Not only did we finish our homeowner's basement to their desired results, but we also delivered a beautiful finished product that they can be proud to show off for years to come. This unused and unwelcoming area of this home went "From Basement to Beautiful"! 

This homeowner called us for a Free Home Energy Evaluation because they were interested in conditioning their attic space and allow space for new duct work to be installed. They mentioned having old blown in cellulose insulation. a Building Science Specialist conducted our Free Home Energy Evaluation to see what we could do for them! We knew we could make their attic a conditioned space for them, but the homeowners had some other concerns as well. 

There were some drafty areas in the home, and the room over the garage was very cold in the winter. Now, we can get out production team out to the home to relive these concerns! 

Our production team installed a Super Attic Conversion System which will make the attic a conditioned space as the customer wanted, eliminate uncomfortable rooms, ice damming and cold drafts, and of course, energy loss. Then, we dense-pack with out cellulose insulation into the ceiling of the garage, under that cold room! This prevents the harsh, uninstalled garage air from rising up into the room, making it uncomfortable and cold in the winter! Lastly, we seal the perimeter of the rim joist in the basement with our Spray Foam insulation. The homeowner was very happy with the changes they saw immediately in their home!