Before & After Photos

Vented attics are hostile places - 30˚F in winter and 125˚F in the summer. They are very bad places to store things, and the worst place to locate ducts because they are the extreme opposite temperature as the air in the ducts that you paid to heat or cool. The attic floor (your ceilings), allow air from inside the house to leak into the attic where it is lost. For each cubic foot of air that leaks out, a cubic foot of air from the outside enters the bottom of the house, making your lower levels cold and drafty. Heat from the house in the attic melts snow on the roof where it refreezes at the eaves causing destructive ice damming. In the summer, the sun heats your roof to 160˚F, which radiates to the attic and then to your ceilings and rooms.  The problem, heat loss to the attic from house and ducts in winter, and heat gain in summer, uncomfortable rooms, more drafts upstairs and downstairs, higher fuel/electric bills.

The Solution, SilverGlo™ EPS foam insulation board with graphite is installed on the underside of your roof deck. The graphite gives it superior R-value and a foil face on both sides reflects heat out in summer and back in during winter. The roof is still vented, kept cold in winter to prevent ice damming. In summer, excess heat is vented out. No harsh chemicals are sprayed in your home, like spray foam. The attic is now part of the conditioned space in your home, and ducts in the attic are no longer in a hostile environment. Your attic is clean, less dusty and suitable for storage. You can even finish your attic! Results - Your home is less drafty, warmer in winter and cooler in summer, lower fuel and electric bills, and less dust.

This homeowner in West Springfield, MA called us hoping that we would be able to help him. He had rain coming into his basement through his window wells. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he noted that the window wells had ill-fitting covers and, additionally, did not let light into the basement. 

We had the perfect solution for this customer. We were able to help him by installing a SunHouse™ basement window enclosure with a drainage system (not pictured) to prevent flooding. SunHouses™ are sturdy and keep rain and leaves out due to their clear cover, and the bottom reflects natural light into the basement due to its light color. 

Now, this homeowner is much happier with their window wells! 

This homeowner in West Springfield, MA called us hoping that we would be able to help her with the house she shares with her mother. She needed new insulation and had some issues with mold in their three-season room. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he noted that there was a small space above their three-season room that had not been insulated previously, and was not accessible previously.

We were able to help this homeowner! We started by getting access to the space above the three season room. Once we had access, we went around the room, air sealing all cracks and gaps in the floor of the space. This air sealing was done using our Zypfoam™ one part spray foam. After that, we insulated that space using blown-in TruSoft™ cellulose insulation. This was blown into the space using a long hose. Blown-in TruSoft™ insulation is able to fill all gaps and odd-shaped voids, meaning that there is a consistent blanket of insulation. Now, this homeowner will have a much more comfortable home! 

This homeowner in West Springfield, MA called us hoping that we would be able to help him with his home. He had bad attic insulation and no basement insulation. He also had a rodent problem in the past and did not want it to reoccur. He wanted to be able to insulate the basement to increase the comfort levels in his home. In a basement, 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.

We had the perfect solution for this customer. In this solution, we spray foam the rim joist in the basement in order to seal and insulate it. 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 homeowner in West Springfield, MA called us hoping that we would be able to help with his attic insulation. He believed he did not have enough insulation, and had had rodent issues that meant that he wanted his insulation removed and replaced. 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.