TCI Home Services Case Studies: Cellulose Insulation in Saline, MI
Challenge
The homeowner explained that his energy bills were abnormally high and that he could tell that his home was warm in the summer and cool in the winter even when the HVAC was running all the time. The home was hot in the summer and cool in the winter. HVAC system would turn on right after shutting off. Rooms below the attic were uncomfortable and not keeping a constant temperature to what the thermostat was set at. Lack of Insulation. Attic contained R-19 Batt Fiberglass Insulation. In Zone 5 of Michigan, it is recommended to have between R-49 to R-60 on the attic floor. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he was tired of spending so much money on his bills and not being comfortable in his home with the amount of money on energy he was spending. The homeowners biggest concern with the problem was that he was not comfortable in his home.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we were able to show him through thermal imaging how warm his ceiling was during the summer and how that heat radiating down into his conditioned space was the contributing factor as to why he was having warmer rooms in the summer and cooler rooms during the winter months. Our solution was to add more insulation to his existing fiberglass batt insulation because the fiberglass batt was still in pristine condition and we could provide him with a better thermal boundary between his conditioned space and the attic by getting his existing insulation to R-60. The attic was a multi level attic and getting down to the lower portion of the attic proved difficult as we had to climb down utilizing a ladder built along the wall between the upper and lower level attic with only 3' of clearance between the roof deck and top plate. We utilized multiple products to achieve our end results. We used Durovent Baffles, Zypfoam, SilverGlo expanded polystyrene foam board and TruSoft Cellulose Insulation. The homeowner now has a more comfortable home and is saving money on energy bills the same day.
