Energy Efficiency Experts
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Insulation Contractors Articles
How to Find and Seal Air Leaks in Your Home
Before considering insulation improvements, first find and plug air leaks—holes, cracks, and gaps that let cold air in and warm air out in the winter—and do the reverse in the summer.
Where You Should Have Insulation
All structural elements around your home’s living spaces should be insulated. It’s most practical to insulate many of these areas as part of a renovation. Otherwise, accessibility drives costs and determines what’s worth doing.
Does Your Home Have Enough Insulation?
Insulation is rated by its resistance to heat flow—or R-value. The higher the R-value, the greater the resistance. If you double the R-value by adding insulation, you halve heat loss in the insulated area.
Is It Worth It to Add Insulation?
If you don’t have any attic insulation now, adding to the recommended level and sealing big leaks produces substantial savings that fairly quickly recoup the costs of the improvements.
Finding an Insulation Contractor
The quality of an insulation job is vital to maximizing the effectiveness of insulation work. Fortunately, several area contractors are equal to the job.
Insulation Types and Materials
Installers recommend a product based on where it’s to be installed, their experience with the product, and their relationships with their suppliers. Here’s a roundup of the most popular types of insulation and materials.
Consumer Comments for Energy Efficiency Experts
Feb 20, 2019
Nov 25, 2018
Jun 28, 2015
https://www.dcseu.com/for-my-home/audits-air-sealing-insulation/audits
Pascale is clearly one of the very best companies in terms of her expertise and quality of work in the greater Washington DC area, and I highly recommend her services. Maslin performed an energy audit of my home, and her written report was very comprehensive and identified all of the issues in my 50 year old home.
The key issue in the installation of blown-in insulation is the location of the vents in the soffits and eaves, and to prevent blown-in insulation from clogging those vents — which will absolutely happen with blown-in insulation unless steps are taken to prevent it. The vents perform a critical function by allowing a free flow of air which lengthens the life of your roof, and prevents the formation of ice dams in the winter. In the vents are blocked, serious damage can occur, both from ice dams as well as mold in your attic. Equally important is air sealing of the top plates, walls, and lights that penetrate the attic. In the case of my home, if the job had been done wrong, it could have only been corrected by literally removing the roof, shingles and plywood in order to fix the problem.
I was a bit concerned when I realized that Pascal would not personally supervise the installation of baffles to keep the vents clear, as well as the blowing in of the insulation. I quickly realized that there was no basis for my concern. The job was supervised by a member of Pascale’s staff, Brendan. Brendan was clearly well trained by Pascale, as he did an incredible job, and he was in the attic the entire time with the crew personally supervising the air sealing of the attic, as well as the installation of the baffles. My home has a very low roof, and almost no clearance within the attic. To reach the end of the attic and the soffits is an incredibly difficult job, with clearance of less than a foot. Brendan and the crew did a remarkable job in a very tight attic and in difficult circumstances. To reach those areas Brendan and the crew literally crawled through 50 year old insulation and dust, in a hot attic, on their stomachs.
After the insulation was blown in, I installed a new roof and shingles. As part of that the roofer discovered that all of the plywood across the front of my house was rotten and had to be replaced, probably due to ice dams in the winter. The removal of the plywood allowed me to physically verify where the vents were, and verify that Pascale’s crew had properly installed the baffles and done a first rate job. Pascale even sent Brendan back to double check the insulation and baffles when the rotten plywood was removed, and that was clearly going above and beyond the call of duty.
If you want the cheapest job possible, some of the companies that receive the highest number of ratings on Checkbook charge considerably less. One of them quoted a price of $150 for air sealing and $100 for installation of baffles. Those prices are simply absurd given how labor intensive this work is, especially if it is done correctly. The low prices reflect what would be the quality of their work, and I am not surprised that they are not authorized for rebates through the DC program.
In light of the fact that air sealing and insulation is done only once, hire a competent company and do the job right the first time. That company is Energy Efficiency Experts and Pascale Maslin.