The homeowner explained that in his tri level home, the upstairs was always hot in the summer and cold in the winter. He bought a laser surface temperature gun and noticed that the ceiling temperature in certain areas were inconsistent and figured that's why he was having uncomfortable rooms upstairs. The symptoms of the problems were inconsistent temperatures on the upstairs ceiling, rooms were uncomfortable in the winter and summer months and his energy bills were always high. The problem was caused by a lack of insulation on the ceiling floor. The attic floor only contained an average of around 4" blown fiberglass insulation or an R11 value. The insulation was mostly in the middle run of the attic and was as low as 1" around the eaves of the house. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he was tired of the bedrooms upstairs and his office being cold during the winter and hot during the summer. The homeowners biggest concern was that he was spending too much on his energy bills and that his family was uncomfortable in their home.  

    The homeowner chose our company because we were referred to him by a friend of his and he was very impressed with everything that we found that was causing the true root of his problems in his home and how we would be able to correct them. Our solution was to remove the old blown-in fiberglass insulation, air seal his attic floor and the drop down staircase opening, install duel wide baffles to his soffit vents, air seal and insulate his hatch cover and then install R49 insulation on his attic floor. The biggest challenge to move through the attic as it was only around 3 1/2' tall. We used SilverGlo, ZypFoam, Weather-stripping, DuroVent duel wide Baffles and TruSoft Cellulose. The homeowner now has a more comfortable upstairs and cam feel a noticeable difference in temperature stability. He now has energy star rated insulation on his floor and is saving money on his utility bills.

Insulation Installation and Home Comfort

Are areas in your home freezing cold in the winter and super-hot in the summer? Or just looking to improve your homes energy efficiency and comfort? the attic should be at the top of your priority list. Insulation and air sealing in the attic have a dramatic effect on the home's overall energy performance, and upgrades in this area can lead to significant savings on heating and cooling costs. 

Most homes in Michigan have R-30 (just under 10 inches) which was the previous code. With increasing to the current code of R-49 (approx. 15 inches) our homeowners experience significant savings on their heating bills and savings on their electric bills during the summer months when air conditioning is used. Think of your home like a large bag surrounding your living environment. If you turn your furnace or air conditioning off how long will the hot or cold air stay within your home? The more thermal barrier to the outside environment you have the less your equipment will run saving you money and increasing comfort

How the attic impacts home comfort

Cellulose insulation can be installed over existing insulation without interfering with your storage area

About 50% of energy costs are typically attributed to heating and cooling, making it one of the biggest expenses for many homeowners. The attic has a major impact on home efficiency for several reasons:

• Air leaks and drafts between attic and living space
• Air leaks and drafts between attic and outdoors
• Poor or incorrect ventilation
• Insufficient attic insulation
• Uninsulated ductwork in the attic

Best methods for improving attic efficiency

• Air sealing: The first step to improving attic efficiency is air sealing. Your attic is full of gaps and cracks that allows conditioned air to escape from the living space into the attic and unconditioned air to enter from the outside. Sealing these air leaks helps to keep your attic isolated from the outside and keeps conditioned air inside your home.
• Attic insulation: Many attics are lacking proper insulation, which is one of the biggest causes of energy waste and uncomfortable rooms. Raising attic insulation to proper levels prevents heat transfer between the attic and the living space, meaning your HVAC system will run less because conditioned air is being contained in the areas you want to heat and cool.
• Ductwork services: If you have ducts in your attic, they are affected by the extreme hot and cold temperatures that occur in that space. When you try to send cold air through hot ducts or vice versa, the air in the ducts is heated in summer (and cooled in the winter), making it difficult to heat or cool your home. Having ducts in attics is extremely inefficient, which is why duct sealing and duct insulation are smart upgrades for homeowners with ductwork in the attic.

  Once our customer had put their home on the market for sale a buyer was immediately interested in this home.  Our buyer had a Home Inspector do an inspection and unfortunately found a prodigious amount of Mold in the attic and other issues arose once the inspection was completed.  After searching remediation companies our name came up and our customer found our website and was pleased to see they weren't the only home that may have mold issues. 

  After our company remediation inspector completed his walk threw of the attic he also found a couple of bath fan vents not directed out the roof, instead of blowing warm steamy air from the bathroom into the attic space.  Also found a majority of the soffits were blocked with insulation and either incorrect size or improper install of baffles.  These two issues add to the moisture in this attic and therefore the ventilation is unable to circulate properly in the attic causing a higher humidity to allow mold to form.

  Our customer was pleased to see the issue was solvable and we were able to complete this job in a timely manner.  Once all the mold was remediated with our RMR solution to kill mold staining and remove mold, we also cleared the insulation from the soffits and added all-new baffles.  The bath fans were also vented out the roof can we used new insulating ducting.

  Once our job was completed my customer was very pleased we offer a year paid in full warranty for remediation and before and after pictures of the attic. This is a complementary way to show our homeowners the work we did for not everyone wants to go in their attic space.