Insulating Under a Home in Collinsville, CT

This homeowner in Collinsville, CT reached out to us while she was working on doing a bundled loan. She wanted to insulate her home as well as get solar installed. She was looking through the approved contractors for the loan she was getting, and found us on the list. She was looking for mostly attic insulation. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he found that in addition to the attic insulation, she needed to insulate under her floors. Some homes or additions are designed with floors that have the outside air under them. Other times a home or addition was originally used as a summer home or “three season room”, and was converted to all season heated space later. When the outside air flows under a floor it feels very cold and uncomfortable in the winter - especially with ceramic tile, linoleum or laminate floors. 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, and conductive heat loss 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. Mold on the floor joists and sub floor is also a concern. Results - cold floors, drafts, uncomfortable rooms, greater overall home air leakage rate, higher fuel and electric bills.

We had the perfect solution for this customer. In this solution, 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 are sealed. We also added skirting around the perimeter of the insulation so the edge is not visible. Result - Much warmer floors, less drafts and more comfortable rooms, quieter home, lower fuel and electric bills.