Insulation Services Before & After Photos

The owners of a beautiful barn that came with their property contacted us to help make it usable and comfortable all year long. The outside air has access to the floors from underneath, so Fogarty's Home Services was happy to help protect that space and make the rooms above more comfortable. Since the floor is the surface of the room we are in contact with most, it's very important to fix, in order to be comfortable. There are two issues - air leakage through the floor, because heat moves from more to less through solid materials. Even if there is fiberglass batt insulation in the floor, because it sags down away from the sub floor, the same outside air gets over it ("thermal bypass") rendering it useless. Fogarty's Home Services installed SilverGlo™ foam insulation board is installed across the bottom of the floor joists with special long screws and 3" washers. SilverGlo™ is expanded polystyrene foam with graphite infused into the foam, which bumps up the insulation ("R") value by 24% over standard EPS foam. Further, SilverGlo™ has a radiant barrier to reflect heat, so the insulation isn't doing all the work by itself. All seams were then sealed. This family will now have the joy of using this barn year round as they now have much warmer floors, less drafts, more comfortable rooms, and lower fuel costs.

This homeowner contacted Fogarty's Home Services to come investigate why the temperature and moisture level in the home were so uncomfortable. We discovered that there was old, dirty batt insulation that had been exposed to the outside air due to leaks in the roof and attic areas. Air that the customer was paying to heat was leaking out of the attic and drawing cold outside air in causing drafts. Fogarty's Home Services removed and disposed of the old insulation. 

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 your home. 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 are all results of a leaky or poorly insulated rim joist.

Fogarty's Home Services provides a solution that is a two part expanding spray foam that is installed on rim joist and over sill plate to seal all air leaks from the outside and insulate this important area of your 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 your home.  The results are warmer floors, less drafts, more comfortable rooms, your house is easier to heat and costs less to heat, less summertime condensation on cold basement surfaces.

This homeowner in Unionville, CT reached out to us hoping to get his attic insulated. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he noted that the attic in the addition was insulated with old blown in insulation. It was unfortunately not air sealed, and the low catwalk meant that insulation could move around easily. This easily explained the issues that the homeowner was having with uneven temperatures throughout the home.

Luckily, we had a few solutions for this customer. One of these solutions was to replace the old blown-in insulation with our TruSoft™ cellulose insulation. First, we had to vacuum the blown-in insulation out of the home. Then, we went through and air-sealed the attic, adding insulated covers over the can lights in the attic.

This solution then was paused to begin installing the insulated catwalk and dam. This catwalk is insulated with SilverGlo™ foam insulation board. It was installed over the existing wood walkway. Then, oriented standard board (OSB) was installed over the SilverGlo™, using screws to keep it in place. The 18" dams are then installed on it, ensuring that the blown-in insulation does not spread onto the catwalk.

After the catwalk was installed and the attic was air sealed, we began to install the blown-in insulation. This is blown in using a large hose attached to a machine outside. This insulation gets into every crack, crevice, and odd shaped space, making sure that the entire attic is properly insulated to R-60. 

Now, this homeowner has a properly insulated attic! Within days of the work being done, the homeowner had let us know that the home was much more comfortable, and the temperature in the house was more even.

This customer called us when their home did not score well on a home energy audit.  Upon inspection, Fogarty's Home Services found their kneewalls were under-insulated and not properly air sealed. 

A kneewall space is created when a finished room is built within a sloped roof. A short wall called a “kneewall” forms a triangular space which may or may not be accessible with a short door or access panel. The floor of the kneewall space forms the ceiling of the room below it. The floor and kneewall itself are open to the kneewall space side with exposed fiberglass batts. Since fiberglass does not stop air flow, the insulation does next to nothing to air seal and insulate. The floor of the upper level, the ceiling of the lower level and the kneewall are all cold in winter and hot (from radiant roof heat) in the summer. The kneewall space is not suitable for storage since it is dusty and very cold or hot.

Fogarty's Home Services installed Blocks of SilverGlo™ foam insulation between the ceiling joist bays.  Silver-Glo™ foam insulation is installed under the rafters up to the kneewall and sealed at the top with foam sealant. SilverGlo™ increases the R-value by 24% compared to regular EPS foam. SilverGlo™ also has a radiant barrier on both sides to reflect roof heat out in the summer and house heat back in during the winter. The addition of this radiant barrier gives some thermal benefit so the insulation isn’t left alone to do all the work. After installation, inside air can’t get out of the house through the kneewall spaces and outside air can’t get in. 

The Results, significantly warmer upstairs room in the winter, cooler room upstairs in the hot weather, less drafts, more comfort, less dust. A kneewall space suit-able for clean storage. Lower fuel and electric bills.