Crawl Space Insulation In North Stonington, CT

This homeowner in North Stonington, CT called us stating that they had some air leakage in their attic. Attic hatch pull down stairs are necessary to access an attic. The problem is that when closed, they leak a LOT of air that the homeowner paid to heat from the home to the vented attic where it is lost. All this warm air leaving the top of the house is replaced with cold outside air entering at the lower levels of the home, causing drafts, cold floors and uncomfortable rooms that are hard to heat. In addition to these problems, the pull down stairs are a big area in the ceiling that is not insulated - and an attic can be 30˚F in the winter and a blazing 130˚ in the summer! Result - cold drafty rooms that are hard to heat, high overall home air leakage, and higher heating and cooling (fuel and electric) bills.

We had the perfect solution for this customer! Our exclusive “David Lewis Hatch Cover™” (named for the engineer who developed it) rests right over the pull down stairs. It stops air leakage and insulates over the stairs. Made of lightweight SilverGlo™ foam insulation, the homeowner just lifts it aside to go up into the attic, and sets it back in place when they leave. The homeowner doesn't see anything from the finished area of the home. SilverGlo™ foam insulation has graphite infused into the foam which bumps up the insulation value by 24% over standard EPS foam. It also has a radiant barrier (foil) on the flat lid to reflect heat back in during winter and out in the summer, so the insulation isn’t doing all the work by itself. Result - a tighter, more comfortable, less drafty home the homeowner will notice. Rooms easier to heat. Lower fuel and electric bills. 

This homeowner in North Stonington called us while in the process of purchasing his home. Old and inefficient insulation had been noted on the inspection, and they wanted to get the issues fixed as soon as possible. Days after they closed on the home, we came out to do our own evaluation. One of the issues we concurred with was the attic was in need of insulation. 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. Attics are dramatically under insulated compared to today’s standards. Result - cold drafty rooms downstairs, colder floors, house is harder to heat and keep comfortable, higher fuel and electric bills.

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. Results - a warmer, more comfortable, less drafty house that the homeowner notice everywhere - even downstairs! House is quieter. Fuel and electric bills are lower.

This homeowner in North Stonington, CT called us hoping that we would be able to help him. He had a large basement that he was interested in getting insulated and then finished. Our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home and noted that his basement had almost no insulation and poured concrete walls. Poured concrete basement walls are buried in the cool earth and are perpetually cold - about 17˚F cooler than we like the interior of our homes to be. In the winter the part of the foundation that sticks up above the ground is much colder than that. Heat moves from more to less. The dense concrete has a lot of mass and heat from our basement constantly flows into and through the wall by conduction. In the summer, warm humid air from outside hits the old basement walls and condensation forms, supporting mold. Results - cold basement, cold floors above the basement, higher fuel bills, more difficult to heat the house.

We had the perfect solution for this homeowner. In this solution, we utilize our Foamax polyisocyanurate (Polyiso) foam insulation board. It is installed on the basement walls with our proprietary Foam-Tite fasteners. But not just any foam - Foamax polyiso foam has the flame retardant properties to satisfy building codes to leave it exposed in a basement - unlike expanded or extruded polystyrene foam (EPS, XPS). In addition, the Foamax polyiso board has a foil facing to reflect heat so the insulation isn’t doing all the work by itself. Results - warmer, more comfortable basement, warmer floors above basement, less condensation in the summertime, lower fuel bills, house is easier to heat.