Before & After Photos

The owner of this Enfield, CT home reached out to Fogarty's Home Services because her home was feeling drafty and cold. After completing her free home energy evaluation, we found that one of the contributing factors to this discomfort was a kneewall space in her attic that wasn't properly insulated. A kneewall space is created when a finished room is built within a sloped roof. A short wall called a "kneewall" forms a triangular space which mar or may not be accessible with a short door or access panel. The floor of the kneewall space forms the ceiling of the room below it. The floor and kneewall space side with exposed fiberglass batts. Since fiberglass does not stop air flow, the insulation does next to nothing to air seal and insulate. The floor of the upper level, the ceiling of the lower level and the kneewall are all cold in winter and hot (from radiant roof heat) in the summer. The kneewall space is not suitable for storage since it is dusty and very cold or hot. Fogarty's Home Services installed blocks of SilverGlo™ foam insulation between the ceiling joist bays. Outside the blocks, the surface of the ceiling was sealed with sprayed foam or SilverGlo™ foam. (Fiberglass insulation may be installed on top). SilverGlo™ foam insulation is installed under the rafters up to the kneewall and sealed at the top with foam sealant. SilverGlo™ is expanded polystyrene foam insulation with graphite infused into the foam, which increases the R-value by 24% compared to regular EPS foam. SilverGlo™ also has a radiant barrier on both sides to reflect roof heat out in the summer and house heat back in during the winter. The addition of this radiant barrier gives some thermal benefit so the insulation isn't left alone to do all the work. After installation, inside air can't get out of the house through the kneewall spaces and outside air can't get in. Insulation can now be added, with integrity, to the correct surfaces. This happy homeowner will now see results such as significantly warmer upstairs rooms in the winter, cooler rooms upstairs in the hot weather, less drafts, more comfort, less dust, a kneewall space that can be used for clean storage, and lower energy costs.

Fogarty's Home Services received a call from the homeowner who was experiencing cold, drafty rooms near the attic hatch pull down stairs to his attic. 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 of 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.

Fogarty's Home Services installed an exclusive "David Lewis Hatch Cover" (named for our engineer who developed it) that 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 to 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. Now the homeowner has a tighter, more comfortable, less drafty home he'll notice. His rooms are easier to heat and he'll experience lower fuel and electric bills.

This homeowner in Chicopee, MA called us with issues he was having with his energy bills being extremely high. He had original insulation from when the house was first built -- meaning the blown-in fiberglass insulation was over 50 years old and showing its age! We were able to help this customer by re-insulating his attic. We first sealed the many various points where air in his home was leaking into the attic. We then sealed and insulated other spots in his attic that were more tricky. We then replaced that insufficient fiberglass with blown-in TruSoft™ cellulose insulation -- keeping his energy bills lower and his home more comfortable. 

This homeowner called us because the attic insulation in his home was pretty nasty and ineffective. Over many years it  collected dirt, dust, pollen, bugs, and all kinds of undesirable things. Old insulation like this cannot be moved aside for a proper air sealing job that must be done prior to adding enough blown cellulose insulation to today’s standards.

Fogarty's Home Services conducted the unpleasant task of removing the damaged, soiled insulation in his attic.  Loose fill insulation was vacuumed with a giant vacuum located outside with giant filter bags and a very long, fat hose.

Result - Now this attic is clean! It’s ready for proper air sealing and installation of clean, new, fresh cellulose insulation or one of our other Dr. Energy Saver strategies to make your home comfortable and energy efficient.

This homeowner in South Deerfield, MA called us wanting his old attic insulation removed and replaced. 

Removing old blown-in insulation is not an easy task. When you have fiberglass batts, you are able to simply bag them up and dispose of them. However, with blown-in, you need a very powerful vacuum to remove all of the loose insulation. 

In order to achieve this, our team at Fogarty's Home Services took a large hose up to the homeowner's attic. We then started vacuuming up the blown-in, making sure that we got into every hard-to-reach area. 

Now, the attic is prepared and ready for air sealing and fresh insulation!