Before & After Photos

Owners Josh and Sydney called us to improve the comfort and efficiency of their 130 year old home.

 Upon inspection many deficiencies were discovered including very inadequate insulation, large air gaps and over 100 years of dirt and pest droppings.

 Foreman Mike Y. and his team first removed all of the insulation, dirt and debris out of the attic. Next they air sealed the attic and properly insulated with cellulose insulation to R60 to give the optimum results.

In a crawl space, fiberglass insulation tends to absorb moisture, which causes it to lose R-value and fall out of place, rendering it totally ineffective while also creating a mess. To keep moisture from entering the space, we installed drainage matting and the CleanSpace vapor barrier above it. On the walls we used SilverGlo Wall Insulation. After we repaired and waterproofed the crawl space, the owners never had to worry about crawl space humidity and energy loss again!

The owner Virginia P called us after finding us online. They had a moisture problem and a musty smell in their home they couldn’t figure out.

 Mark O evaluated the home.  He discovered a vented crawl space below most of the home to be the problem. During Marks inspection he also discovered some wood rot and very high humidity in the wet crawl space. Mark had solutions to resolve the homes moisture problems and musty odors.

 Foreman Mike Y, installers Craig C. and Jeff W. installed and air sealed SilverGlo insulation on the walls and in the rim joist followed by CleanSpace Liner throughout the crawl space.

 The end result was a dry crawlspace, normal humidity throughout the home and the musty odors are gone

A Cape Cod home is a story-and-a-half design. Most Capes have second-floor bedrooms featuring 4-foot kneewalls and two sections of sloped ceiling. The sloped ceiling sections usually rise to meet a narrow horizontal ceiling in the center of the house. Most Capes have triangular attics behind the second-floor kneewalls and a tiny third-floor attic that is too cramped to stand up in. If you squeeze behind the kneewall in a Cape, you never know what you’ll see. You might see a space with no insulation at all — or perhaps just some thin insulation between the kneewall studs. You might see a space with insulation on the floor, but not along the roof slope.You might see a space with insulation everywhere — on the floor, between the studs of the kneewall, and following the roof slope — with all of the insulation in terrible shape.You will almost never see any attempts at air sealing work.

The basic problem with a Cape is that most examples have a poorly defined thermal boundary. Should the triangular attics behind the kneewalls be considered indoor space or outdoor space? From a building science perspective, the answer is clear — these attics should be inside the home’s thermal boundary. However, most builders don’t have the foggiest idea where the thermal boundary in a Cape belongs. That’s why builders and homeowners are always scratching their heads when they contemplate where to put the insulation in a Cape.

This is why you should call the professionals at Home Environment Solutions! 

Kelsi called Home Environment Solutions saying she would like to schedule an appointment to determine why her energy bills are high and where she is loosing her heating and cooling. We scheduled our expert Russell to perform a free energy audit of her home. Russ found old batt insulation, uninsulated scuttle cover, numerous penetrations left unsealed such as recessed light, wire and pipe runs. We sent our insulation team out to remove all of the old insulation and dispose of it. They air sealed and insulated the scuttle cover with Silverglo, installed Titeshell recessed light fixture covers, sealed all pipe/wire runs and insulated attic floor with Trusoft cellulose.