Blown and Batt Insulation
With Greenfoot, we believe that insulating your home is your first step to making your home more energy efficient.
If you think about it, by insulating your home or business properly, you reduce heat loss therefore reducing the required output capacity of your new heating system.
In most cases, if you combine the reduced cost of getting a smaller heating system with a government insulation grant, your insulation should be cost neutral meaning it will be offset by other savings.
Attics are the first place people look to in order to save money on their heating bills and with good reason. Hot air rises and the attics are usually the simplest and most cost effective insulation retrofits a homeowner can get done.
It is important to understand that basic building science teaches us that heat flows from hot to cold therefore we also need to look at the walls and not only the attic.
The first step would be to determine what is in the walls to start off with.
Most houses built post 1980 will probably have a 2x6 stud wall construction with R-20 batt insulation and vapour barier.
Most homes built between 1970-1980 would probably have 2x4 stud wall construction with either R-12 batt or R-10 batt with paperback.
Homes built between 1950-1970 will most commonly have either R-8 paperback batts, wood shavings or even vermiculite.
Prior to 1950 is hard to know unless really drilling a hole through the walls and finding out exactly what is in there. Many homes had no insulation in the walls and some of them had horsehair or even seaweed.
Once we know what is inside the walls, we can then determine if a cellulose “dense pack” is right for your home. Our energy advisor estimators will be able to give you solutions on getting your walls insulated properly.
In most cases with vinyl siding or wood shingles, we can insulate from the outside. When we come across metal siding or brick, we usually have to drill holes from the inside of the house and then patch the holes and then re-paint.
In most cases, ice damming and ice-cycles are formed when either heat and/or moisture is flowing through the attic therefore melting the snow on the sheathing creating a melting/freezing again scenario which can cause very expensive damages to the house.
Can this be fixed? YES IT CAN!
The first thing we usually notice with attics is the poor levels of insulation but in most cases, this isn’t the main source of the problem. The issue is often linked to penetrations from the living areas of the house into the attic that allow moisture to flow through the attic. Let’s not forget that moisture will flow to where it is more dry therefore the attic usually gets the bulk of it.
Penetrations include exhaust fans venting in attics, attic hatches not being air tight, partition wall electrical penetrations, light fixtures, plumbing stacks and more.
Before each attic insulation job, our Greenfoot insulation team's walk through the attic sealing all penetrations they can find that is easily visible.
In very extreme cases yet somewhat common, we have performed the following tasks to ensure optimal air sealing which led to fix any ice damming or ice-cycles.
Step 1: Remove all insulation from attic (We have commercial vacuums for this so not to worry!)
Step 2: Add through vents in soffits to ensure proper air flow circulation.
Step 3: Spray foam 2” of closed cell polyurethane foam (R-12) directly onto ceiling from the attic to create a complete vapour barrier air tight seal to stop all moisture from flowing to attic.
Step 4: Add R-40 cellulose blown insulation on top of spray foam to give it a total of R-52.
PROBLEM SOLVED.
Building a new house or simply renovating? Greenfoot can offer you a one stop shop solution to your project with complete top to bottom insulation services.
We do it ALL!
Absolutely! Our financing partners at Financeit can offer flexible financing packages that allow you to pay off your loan at any time without penalties. Save now, pay later. In most cases, the savings you will get from insulating will offset your monthly payments. #nobrainer
