Click on a photo to enlarge.
Conditioned air (Heated or Cooled) passing through HVAC ducts can be impacted by the temperature in the area the HVAC ducts are located. Imagine 60 degree air passing through an HVAC duct. If that duct goes through an attic in the summer the temperatures in the attic can reach as high as 120 degrees. Cold air + hot metal HVAC duct = condensation. It also means that cold air gets heated by the time it passes all the way through, making your home less comfortable than intended and causing your HVAC system to work harder. The same is true in reverse during the colder months. Spray Foam can be used to encapsulate HVAC ducts, keeping the conditioned air inside the way it was meant to be.
This home in McLean had a very unique design with the ceiling running at different heights and levels from one room to the next. This resulted in an attic space unlike most. The attic had points that would allow for an adult to stand up and other areas that were barely tall enough for a child to crawl through. There was also a wall that was straight up and down and shared its opposite side with the outside of the home. This all resulted in having minimal ability to use traditional bat rolled insulation or even blown in cellulose insulation with an effective result. Our Home Performance Sales Pro Jon was able to recommend an attic project using Silver Glo insulation panels and Zyp Foam to make it all work.
This Woodbridge VA home had a top floor that was too hot. During the Home Performance Inspection, our sales pro Pedro discovered an improperly design bathroom exhaust vent. The vent extended just into the attic and was distributing air from the bathroom into the attic adding unnecessary moisture to the space. Our team extended the vent and made it properly exhaust air outside of the home.
Any proper attic insulation project should include air sealing. Often times we find clients who previously worked with other companies and the only thing they did was add insulation on top of what was originally there. We make sure to take the extra time and remove existing insulation so that we can use Zyp Foam to seal up all of the gaps, cracks and seams in the attic floor. This helps prevent conditioned air loss from the rooms below, making homes more comfortable and energy efficient. After air sealing, we blow in new Tru Soft cellulose insulation.
In addition to air sealing and insulation the surface of this Annandale VA attic, we needed to treat the walls too. Removing the old traditional batt insulation was step one. We then used the orange ZypFoam to seal up and cracks or places when air could come in our out. Afterwards we cut SilverGlo insulation panels to fit the wall and then used ZypFoam again to seal that. When the sun hits the outside of this home, this wall will keep the heat from building up on =side of the attic.