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Mid-State Home Services
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Dr. Energy Saver and Larry Janesky's team is back on the job in this 80-year-old cape-style home to perform additional energy efficient retrofits. This time, they will be insulating an existing cathedral ceiling and shed roof with dense packing cellulose. A properly dense packed cathedral ceiling can significantly improve the comfort of the home and lower the dependency on heating and cooling systems!
The cathedral ceiling in this home hangs above a charming farm room, carefully restored with a stained wooden ceiling. To avoid disrupting this cozy little room, Dr. Energy Saver opted for accessing the ceiling from the outside. Cellulose application is a messy process and in an existing home it should only be done from the inside of the living space if there is absolutely no other choice.
The roof above that room is an un-vented roof. There was a ridge vent, but no soffit vents so Larry and his team opted for an un-vented assembling. When they took a portion of the roof off, they noticed that it was remodeled at least a couple of times over the course of many years, and received two layers of rigid foam insulation, amounting to an R-Value of about 20. The problem is that the rigid foam was not air sealed so air was still leaking out of the house.
To make matters worse, bees had found a home in the roof eating parts of the foam board and causing dust to fall from the roof into the room below. Dr. Energy Saver suggests dense packing cellulose to insulate this cathedral ceiling, where air flow will now be interrupted and insects and pests will be unlikely inhabitants.
Cellulose is treated with Borate, a harmless, naturally-occurring mineral that has the ability to deter bugs; so bees, ants and termites won't find that ceiling so inviting anymore.
Dr. Energy Saver utilizes a PVC rigid fill tube to properly insulate hard to reach areas, dense packing each cavity with high density. Dense packing cellulose in a closed cavity involves proper technique and if applied right, your home will reap the benefits. This is a technique that dense packs 3.7 lb of cellulose per cubic feet into existing wall and roof cavities.
A properly applied dense packing of cellulose, provides excellent R-value to the home, at 3.5 and 4.0 per inch, dense packing cellulose helps stop air flow and improves home comfort.
To insulate the ceiling over the shed roof section of the house, Larry and company decide to add insulation from the outside through each rafter bay by taking off the gutter and fascia board. With the PVC rigid fill tube each rafter bay is dense packed with about a foot of cellulose to help this section of the home prevent ice damming in the winter and increase the interior comfort directly below. Once the cellulose insulation is tightly packed within each rafter, the fascia board is secured and the gutter is put back in place.
Our job here on this cape-style home is done, we have air-sealed and insulated the cathedral ceiling above the farmhouse and the shed roof. Dr. Energy Saver takes pride in making old and new homes more comfortable, energy efficient and environmentally friendly every day.
If you have uneven temperatures around the home, rooms that are too hot or simply cold or drafty, or if you just want to save money in heating and cooling, we can help. Contact your local Dr. Energy Saver contractor today to make your house more energy efficient and comfortable for every season.
