Insulation Services Before & After Photos

Fogarty's Home Services was contacted by this Windsor, CT homeowner to help make his basement warmer. This home has poured concrete basement walls that are perpetually cold - about 17°F cooler than we like the interior of our homes, due to being below ground level. In the winter, the part of the foundation that sticks up above the ground is much colder than that. Heat moves from more to less. The dense concrete has a lot of mass and heat from the basement constantly flows into and through the wall by conduction. You can never heat them up. Heat that comes off the heater and hot water heater was being wasted - lost into the cold concrete, instead of warming the basement and floors above it. In the summer, warm humid air from outside hits the cold basement walls and condensation forms, supporting mold. This is why the homeowner's basement and floors above the basement were cold. Fogarty's Home Services made this home more comfortable by installing foam insulation board is on the basement walls with Dr. Energy Saver's proprietary Foam-site fasteners. But not just any foam - Polyisocyanurate foam has the flame retardant properties to satisfy building codes to leave it exposed in a basement - unlike expanded or extruded polystyrene foam (EPS, XPS). In addition, the "polyiso" board has a foil facing to reflect heat so the insulation isn't doing all the work by itself. This happy customer will now have a warmer basement and much warmer floors.

These home owners in Drury, MA had problems with cold floor and a freezing basement. A quick check of the basement and we found out that the rim joist wasn't insulated. Insulating a rim joist is one of the most important thing you can do to help make your home more comfortable. To stop the air from coming in and the cold from conducting through the wood, our team sprayed the rim joist and sill plate with our 2-part closed cell spray foam. This treatment will stop the cold air from getting through the cracks and will stop the cold from conducting through the wood and getting into your home. Once this is done, you will not have to worry about cold floors and a cold basement again!

With rim joist not being insulated or air sealed Fogarty's Home Services uses a two part spray foam to insulate the rim joist and steal plates. Insulating the rim joist seals all cracks and gaps and joints preventing air leaks from the outside an insulating the important area of their home.

This homeowner in New Hartford, CT called us saying that she had a three season room (which she described as a porch) that she wanted to insulate under. She stated that it was very uncomfortable in the winter. When our Home Comfort Specialist came out to the home, he talked more to the homeowner and her husband. Their home was lacking in insulation throughout the entire home, causing high energy bills. They specifically wanted to ensure that the three-season room was insulated due to the issues they were experiencing with it. 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. If necessary a skirt board can be installed around the perimeter of the insulation so the edge is not visible. The skirt board may require painting after we are complete. Result - Much warmer floors, less drafts and more comfortable rooms, quieter home, lower fuel and electric bills.

This homeowner in Chester, MA called us hoping that we would be able to help her with her energy bills. She said that her heating bills were $2,000 a month every winter. Additionally, her floors were very cold, and her allergies were very bad every spring. Despite these issues, other programs had told her that there was nothing wrong with her home. 

We were able to help this customer! One of the solutions we utilized was our CleanSpace™ crawl space encapsulation system. We first insulated the walls using our SilverGlo™ foam insulation. For the floor, we added a dimpled drainage mat to create a thermal break. We then installed TerraBlock™ floor insulation on top of that. Then, we installed a CleanSpace™ crawl space encapsulation liner over that insulation. We fastened it into both the walls and floor to create a permanent solution for this crawl space. We then added two-part expanding spray foam to the rim joist to ensure that the crawl space was covered. Combined with our other solutions, this homeowner will experience less drafts, warmer floors, lower energy bills, and a much more comfortable home!