Insulation & Mold Removal Contractor in North Adams, MA

This homeowner in North Adams, MA called us hoping to get their basement finished. When our Home Comfort Specialist arrived at the home, he noted that the insulation in the basement was damaged and moldy. As insulation gets older, and exposed to moisture, it is pulled by gravity away from where it is supposed to be insulating. The same cold air under the insulation flows into the space on top of it - rendering the insulation useless. Fiberglass batt insulation has paper facing and organic material in the resin used to set the fibers into a batt - both are mold food. Results - mold, smelly insulation that is not providing any insulation value and has sagged or even fallen.

Before we were able to do anything else in the home, we first had to remove the old insulation. Unfortunately, fiberglass insulation has hostile fibers when it’s disturbed. The insulation is very bulky and takes up a tremendous amount of space in trucks and our dumpsters which must be emptied. But it’s necessary to have a healthy home in the end. Result - now the basement is ready to be fixed properly with our other solutions. No more nasty fiberglass insulation!

This homeowner in Florida, MA called us stating that she had cold floors that she would like remedied. When our Home Comfort Specialist arrived at the home, he noted that there was part of the house that had outside air underneath 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.

Fogarty's Home Services had the perfect solution for this customer. SilverGlo™ foam insulation board was 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. Result - Much warmer floors, less drafts and more comfortable rooms, quieter home, lower fuel and electric bills.

This homeowner in North Adams, MA called us originally with concerns about ice damming. When our Home Comfort Specialist arrived in the home, he noted several issues with the home's attic and basement insulation. However, he also noticed there was a lot of humidity in the basement, which was causing a mold problem. High humidity causes many problems in a home, such as mold (which grows at Relative Humidities [RH] above 75%), rot (which happens above 90% RH), odors, increased pests and insects such as termites, and higher air conditioning and heating costs. Since air rises up from the basement to the rest of the living space, if the basement is humid and smelly, so is the upstairs because of it. Result - cold floors above, condensation, mold, rot, odors, drafty, uncomfortable home, higher fuel and electric bills.

Luckily, Fogarty's Home Services had the perfect solution for this homeowner. We were able to install a SaniDry™ Sedona dehumidifier in the basement of the home. The SaniDry™ Sedona air system is a powerful but energy efficient dehumidification and air filtration system in one unit. Able to remove an incredible 100 pints of water per day and using only 5.9 amps of electricity, the SaniDry™ Sedona drains automatically to a sump or the outside with a condensate pump. It has a powerful 310 cfm blower to circulate the dry air completely around to dry building materials and contents. Mold doesn’t have a chance! An automatic control is easy - set it to 55% RH and forget it - the SaniDry™ Sedona does the rest! And there’s no buckets to empty! Results - Low Relative Humidity, mold stops growing, odors are reduced, basement is suitable for storage, lower air conditioning cost, upstairs is dryer.

This homeowner in North Adams, MA called us when he found out that he had a lot of mold in his attic. One of the biggest reasons why he was experiencing this level of moisture and mold was due to the fact that his vent for his bathroom fan was emptying out into his attic. Bathrooms have lots of destructive moisture when the shower is running. That’s why bathrooms have fans to get the moisture out. But out to where? Often plumbers and electricians leave these fans dumping into the attic. But when warm humid air hits cold attic surfaces - it condenses into water. Results - Mold all over your roof deck, rafters, ceiling joists - and even rot.

This was a fairly easy solution for this customer. Our team was able to redirect the moisture to outside. The bath fan was ducted with insulated duct work outside through the roof with a proper vent hood. Result - Bath fan no longer feeds moisture to mold in your attic, and mold and rot from this source stop.

This homeowner in North Adams, MA called us due to issues he was having with moisture in his home. Upon arriving at their home, our Home Comfort Specialist noted that they did not have a sump pump in their basement. Sump pump holes are typically open holes in the basement floor with a pump stuck in there. Besides being ugly, the house sucks air up from the hole; air that is cool, and contains moisture, odors, and radon gas. The open sump hole is a safety hazard. If objects fall in they could clog the pump or switch operation, cause pump failure, and a flood. Results - A more humid basement, greater home air leakage, hazards and possible floods.

Luckily, Fogarty's Home Services has multiple different sump pump options to choose from. This homeowner was interested in our SuperSump® model. The SuperSump® is a well engineered sump system - with all the parts working together. It features a sturdy liner, airtight lid, 1/3 hp cast iron pump which can discharge up to 2200 gallons per hour, 8 feet high, and a stand to keep the pump out of silt and sediment. A WaterWatch® Alarm System alerts you to pump failure before your basement floor gets wet. Results - a more reliable sump pump, less air leakage from the sump hole, a drier basement, less radon gas and odors, and a much safer and better looking installation!

This customer in Clarksburg, MA called Fogarty's Home Services after having a consistent issue with her home that was too hot, no matter how much she ran the A/C. When our Home Comfort Specialist arrived, he noted many issues with the insulation, including in the inaccessible kneewalls of the home. The second floor of the home suffered from inadequate insulation, and air leaks from the soffits into poorly insulated kneewall spaces. This results in cold drafty rooms in winter that are harder than necessary to heat, and hot rooms in the summer as roof heat radiates in unchecked. Kneewall spaces are dusty and too cold or hot - unsuitable for clean storage.

Fogarty's Home Services presented a solution to this homeowner. We added a “Super Kneewall™” to her home. This is a kneewall treated with SilverGlo™, dense-packing in the slopes, and finally insulating the flat spaces with TruSoft™ cellulose insulation. First, our SilverGlo™ foam insulation panels are installed on the bottom of the rafters in the kneewall spaces and the ceiling joist bays are blocked and sealed with foam to stop air leakage. Then the roof slopes are dense packed with TruSoft™ cellulose insulation to stop air flow and insulate. Finally, the flat ceiling is insulated with blown-in TruSoft™ cellulose insulation. Result - rooms are comfortable all year and need much less heat and air conditioning. Drafts are eliminated as knee-wall spaces are airtight and clean and suitable for storage. Summer roof heat is far less.

This customer in North Adams, MA called us regarding her basement. Among other issues, this homeowner was worried that there was insufficient insulation in the home -- they had just purchased it, and did not want to run the risk of high energy bills. Upon arriving, the Home Comfort Specialist we sent noticed that the basement lacked insulation, especially in the rim joists. 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. Combined with the specific house framing they have, this allows warmer air from your basement in the winter to escape right up to the attic and outside, increasing the overall air leakage rate of your home significantly. Results - 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.

Fogarty's Home Services was able to help this customer keep her home comfortable. We developed a plan where we were going to seal and insulate the rim joists with spray foam. In order to do this, wadding is stuffed up into the stud bay cavities to provide a backing for the foam. Then Dr. Energy Savers' two-part expanding foam insulation is sprayed into the rim joist area and over the sill plate. The foam has a superior insulation value of R7 per inch. It’s expanding action fills all gaps, cracks, joints and seals off the stud cavity to block air flow to the attic. Results - warmer floors, less drafts, more comfortable rooms, your house is easier to heat and costs less to heat, warmer basement, less summertime condensation. Overall air leakage of your home is reduced and heat loss to the attic is reduced dramatically.

Since attics are vented, we should think of them thermally as outside in the winter. In summer, because of the sun's radiant heat, they are much worse than outside, reaching 130°F on summer days. Clearly, we need to keep an absolute boundary between our living space and the attic so inside air doesn't move to the attic in the heating season (convection), and heat doesn't pass up through our ceilings in winter (conduction), and down from our ceilings in the hot summer (conduction, radiation). to reduce overall air leakage, the attic is the first priority because warm air rises to the top of the house and finds any and all holes to leak out into the cold vented attic and is lost. Holes, gaps, and joints include between drywall framing at the top of the walls, around pipes, wires, electrical boxes, fixtures, ducts, penetrations, ceiling grilles, and joints in the framing. The only reason cold air leaks in from the outside at the lower levels of the house is that warm air leaked out of the top and created a suction at the bottom. Attics are dramatically under-insulated compared to today's standards. Results - cold, drafter rooms downstairs, colder floors, house is harder to heat and keep comfortable, and higher energy bills. Adding insulation in an attic without sealing all air leaks first should never be done, because you are burying air leaks and making them impossible to seal later - and insulation DOES NOT STOP air leaks. That's why Fogarty's Home Services first carefully air seals the many various points where air from your home leaks up into your attic and is lost. We use expanding foam, boards, caulk, and metal flashing and fire caulk around your masonry or metal chimney as appropriate. If necessary, baffles (air chutes) are installed in each rafter bay to keep soffit vents clear and prepare for insulation. Finally, our premium TruSoft™ cellulose insulation is blown to the optimum R-value (typically R60). TruSoft™ will not burn, get moldy, or attract pests. Blown insulation fills all gaps and odd shaped voids, and by filling over framing members, "thermal bridging" is avoided. Results - a warmer, more comfortable, less drafty house that you'll notice everywhere - even downstairs! House is quieter. Energy bills are lower.

Attic hatch pull-down stairs are necessary to access your attic. The problem is that when closed, they leak a LOT of air that you paid to heat from your home to the vented attic where it is lost. All this warm air leaving the top of the house is replaced with cold outside air entering at the lower levels of your home, causing drafts, cold floors and uncomfortable rooms that are hard to heat. In addition to these problems, your pull-down stairs are a big area in your ceiling that is not insulated - and your attic can be 30°F in the winter and a blazing 130°F in the summer! Results - cold, drafty rooms that are hard to heat, high overall home air leakage, and higher energy bills. To fix this uncomfortable problem, Fogarty's Home Services can install an exclusive "David Lewis Hatch Cover™" (named for the engineer who developed it). This hatch cover rests right over your pull-down stairs. It stops air leakage and insulates over the stairs. Made of lightweight SilverGlo™ foam insulation, you just lift it aside to go up into your attic, and set it back in place when you leave. You don't see anything from the finished area of your home. SilverGlo™ foam insulation has graphite infused into the foam which bumps up the insulation value by 24% over standard EPS foam. It also has a radiant barrier (foil) on the flat lid to reflect heat back in during winter and out in the summer, so the insulation isn't doing all the work by itself. Results - a tighter, more comfortable, less drafty home you'll notice, rooms are easier to heat, and lower energy bills.

Vented attics are hostile places (-30°F in the winter and 125°F in the summer). They are very bad places to store things, and the worst place to locate ducts because they are the extreme opposite temperature as the air in the ducts that you paid to heat or cool. The attic floor (your ceilings), allow air from inside the house to leak into attic where it is lost. For each cubic foot of air that leaks out, a cubic foot of air from the outside enters the bottom of the house, making your lower levels cold and drafty. Heat from the house in the attic melts snow on the roof where it refreezes at the eaves causing destructive ice damming. In the summer, the sun heats your roof to 160°F, which radiates to the attic and then to your ceilings and rooms. Results - major heat loss to the attic from the house and ducts in the winter, heat gain in the summer, uncomfortable rooms, more drafts upstairs and downstairs, higher fuel/electric bills. SilverGlo™ EPS foam insulation board with graphite is installed on the underside of the roof deck. The graphite gives it superior R-value and a foil face on both sides reflects heat out in summer and back in during winter. The roof is still vented, kept cold in winter to prevent ice damming. In summer, excess heat is vented out. No harsh chemicals are sprayed in your home, like spray foam. The attic is now part of the conditioned space in the home, and ducts in the attic are no longer in a hostile environment. The attic is clean, less dusty and suitable for storage. Now the attic can even be finished! Results - the home is less drafty, warmer in winter and cooler in summer, lower energy bills, and less dust.