Condominum Energy Upgrade to Lower Heating Bills
Larry Janesky from Dr. Energy Saver walks us through energy upgrades in the attic and basement of a condominium unit, improving its efficiency and comfort levels. They start by bringing the R-Value of the attic insulation to the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s recommended value for the region, by blowing additional layers of loose fill fiberglass insulation into the attic. Next, to make the basement more comfortable and energy efficient, injection foam insulation is applied to existing wall cavities. Injection foam insulation doesn’t expand or stick like spray foam insulation, and can be used in wall cavities to add R-Value to walls previously insulated with fiberglass. Injection foam also seals gaps, thus preventing air leakage. Injection foam is water-based, so there are no toxic fumes or harsh smells.
For more information about Energy Upgrades or to schedule a Free Estimate, contact Dr. Energy Saver.
Injecting Polyurethane Foam into Existing Cathedral Ceilings
Cathedral ceilings by norm pose a difficult challenge when it comes to energy efficiency.
In this type of ceiling, the dry wall or plaster is attached directly to the bottom of the rafters that support the roof. There is no attic and there is usually only a few inches clearance between the roof and the sloped ceiling. To make matters worse, some of these roofs are vented.
A typical roof can reach scorching temperatures of up to 150 degrees during the summer, and can get freezing cold during the winter. With only about 8 inches clearance between roof and drywall, a cathedral ceiling needs to be insulated with materials that offer the highest possible R-Value per inch. This helps keep roof temperatures transferring to the interior of the home making it uncomfortable during hot and cold seasons.
Unfortunately, most cathedral ceilings are insulated with fiberglass baths, which have low R-Value and, if not properly installed and evenly spread, will leave gaps in the insulation envelope and allow air to flow through.
There are several different approaches used to make a cathedral ceiling more energy efficient, some more disruptive than others. In this particular case, the cathedral ceiling was tied to an unvented roof. Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Dr. Energy Saver, opted for insulating it by injecting Polyurethane Foam into the ceiling cavity.
The Dr. Energy Saver team used the same kind of spray foam as if they were insulating open-wall cavities. In this case, a small cannula was attached to the nozzle so the foam could be injected from the inside of the room, through very small holes drilled on the dry wall. Spray foam insulation expands as it is applied, filling gaps and air sealing the space.
A thermal imaging camera was used to monitor the expansion of the spray foam to make sure the entire cavity was filled, not leaving behind any gaps.
If your home has a cathedral ceiling or any other architectural feature that can potentially impact your home’s energy efficiency and comfort, call Dr. Energy Saver for an evaluation. We can make your home more comfortable, and much more affordable to own!
Injecting Foam Insulation into Existing Walls with Vinyl Siding
How do you insulate or add R-value to existing walls? Larry Janesky from Dr. Energy Saver demonstrates the process of using injection foam insulation in the exterior walls of a home with vinyl siding. Injection foam can be applied to walls even if they are already insulated with fiberglass batts. Besides increasing R-value, injection foam also closes gaps in the structure and seals air leaks. Injection foam insulation can be applied with less disruption than other conventional methods, even in finished and vinyl sided walls. In this particular case, pieces of the siding were removed, holes were drilled to apply the foam, and the vinyl siding was replaced afterwards. Injection foam is a water-based product with no toxic fumes or harsh smells. For a Free Insulation Estimate contact your local Dr. Energy Saver.
How New Homes Waste Energy
If you think energy waste is something you only find in older homes, and that new homes are all built with energy efficiency in mind, you are seriously mistaken. A lot of new homes are built with no regard to energy efficiency whatsoever. Sometimes it is because building codes are not updated to meet new energy efficiency standards. Sometimes it is because the builder is unaware of current best green building practices, and sometimes it is simply because they are trying to cut costs in a tough economy and spend more on visible features like energy efficient windows, and green roofing, while forgetting proper insulation and air sealing.
Larry Janesky, owner of Dr. Energy Saver, walks us through a new construction project showing the various details that are normally overlooked by builders. Such oversights can result in wasteful and very uncomfortable homes, very expensive heating and cooling costs, and high energy bills.
Improper attic insulation, that doesn’t meet the U.S. Department of Energy recommended R-Value for the regions is among the most common issues in new construction. Improperly insulated ducts running through unconditioned attics are other sources of energy waste.
Some architectural features such as cantilevers, bay windows, and custom windows with round frames, pose additional challenges when it comes to insulation. In particular, they create odd spaces that are hard to fill with popular insulation choices. Fiberglass bats, for example, is the material of choice in most new construction projects, because it is the least expensive, yet it only works when evenly distributed and fluffed inside wall cavities. Compressed fiberglass loses R-Value. These odd spaces around architectural features are often neglected or poorly insulated, creating gaps and cold spots in the building envelope. Common sources of air leakage are often overlooked as well. Holes around pipes, fixtures, ducts and duct chases, allow unconditioned air to move through and leak in and out of the house if not properly sealed.
If you have concerns about your new or old house energy consumption, and want to make your home more comfortable and affordable to own, call your energy conservation experts at Dr. Energy Saver!
Injecting Foam Insulation into Exterior Walls with Clapboard
Dr. Energy Saver was called to add insulation to the exterior walls of an old Sears, Roebuck & Co. home. This particular home had hardly any insulation and the owner was spending a lot of money in heating bills. Dr. EnergySaver opted for using injection foam in this job. Injection foam doesn’t expand like spray foam and can be applied to any existing wall cavity, either by itself or to increase the R-value of walls formerly insulated with fiberglass. Holes were drilled in the clapboard to access the wall cavities. After the foam was injected, the holes were plugged and repainted. Injection foam also closes structural gaps, sealing any air leaks in the walls. As a water-based product, injection foam doesn’t emit toxic fumes or harsh smells.
For Free Insulation Quotes contact your local Dr. Energy Saver today.
Problems With Ducts in The Attic
Larry Janesky, founder of Dr. Energy Saver, was recently in Florida helping a homeowner solve a problem many other homeowners in the southeast have and don’t even know about: ducts in the attic. While these ducts are sometimes used for heating during the winter, most of the year they are used for cooling in the warmer areas of the country. They distribute cool air throughout the house.
The problem with having ducts in the attic in these areas is that, as the sun shines relentlessly over the roof during the hot days of summer, regular roof shingles absorb a lot of heat from the sun and that heat is transferred to the attic. On hot days, the temperatures in the attic can be as high as 140 or 150 degrees.
When typical ducts, used to distribute cool air throughout the house are located in the attic, and are improperly insulated and air sealed, the air that you paid to cool down to 50 degrees, is running through metal ducts that are baking at 140 degrees in the attic! The air will be heated again, before it reaches the rooms in the house.
As a result, your air conditioner system will work harder, more often, and your home will still be uncomfortable. Ducts that run through the attic need to be thoroughly air sealed and insulated.
For this particular job, Larry opted for using spray foam to insulate and air seal the ducts, and the connections between ducts and drywall ceiling. While newer homes, built with energy efficiency in mind, will have ducts running through conditioned areas to prevent heat gain and loss, older homes can be made energy efficient with proper duct air sealing and insulation.
For more information about how to save energy through sealing and insulating air ducts, or for more energy saving tips, visit our website or call Dr. Energy Saver for a comprehensive home energy audit!
Insulating Exterior Walls and Dormers of a Cape with Injection Foam
Dr. Energy Saver performs an energy upgrade in an old cape, which was remodeled many times over the years. Due to that fact some exterior walls have fiberglass insulation, and some have no insulation at all.
For this job, our energy conservation experts chose to use injection foam. Injection foam insulation can be applied to empty wall cavities and walls already insulated with fiberglass, to increase R-Value, close gaps in the structure and completely air seal the walls.
The next step was to insulate and air seal a bay window and the dormers, which are typically a huge source of leaks and heat loss .
Injection foam is applied from the outside, with no disruption or mess inside the home. Wall, window and roof cavities are accessed by removing siding or shingles. Holes are drilled and after the foam is injected, the holes are plugged, and the shingles and siding are replaced.
The Importance of Air Sealing and Insulating Attics
Homeowners across the U.S. tend to mistakenly believe that proper attic insulation is only adequate in the cold regions of the country, to maintains the home’s heat.
Larry Janesky, founder of Dr. Energy Saver explains that insulation is also needed in warmer areas. Insulation prevents heat transfer. It prevents hot air from being transferred to the outside in the wintertime, and prevents the attic’s scorching heat from being transferred into the living areas of your home during the summer. In doing so, you are considerably relieving the burden on your air conditioner systems.
Furthermore, Larry explains why insulation without proper air sealing won’t help you save much energy. When a home is built, there are a lot of holes left on the building envelope around pipes, wiring, recessed lights, duct chases, etc. All these holes will allow conditioned air — that you paid to heat or cool — to leak out of the house, and unconditioned air from the outside to enter the home. As a result, your HVAC system will work much harder to keep up with the air exchange, significantly increasing your heating or cooling bills. Because the energy loss through the typical attic can be enormous, a properly air sealed and insulated attic becomes the main component of a truly green and energy efficient home, and it is our main priority at Dr. Energy Saver.
If you would like to learn more about saving energy through energy efficient attics and many other ways to save money and energy, visit our website or call us for a comprehensive home energy audit!
Super Attic – Attic Insulation System
The new Supper Attic, attic insulation system helps you save money and energy by elimination energy loss through the attic. Supper Attic makes your home more comfortable year round.
Installing Jumper Ducts to Make Bedrooms More Comfortable
Climate control and comfort in a home depends on much more than the size, power and efficiency of the heating and cooling system. It depends on proper insulation, air sealing and, above all, it depends on the air duct’s distribution and adequate balance between return and supply ducts.
Larry Janesky, founder of Dr. Energy Saver, was recently in Central Florida helping a homeowner with a high cooling bills, and uneven temperatures around the house.
The bedrooms in his house had only supply ducts. The only return ducts were located in the common areas. Using state-of-the-art equipment, Larry demonstrates how the lack of return ducts in this home’s bedrooms was increasing the positive pressure in the rooms above acceptable levels, consistently pushing air out of the house, and causing unconditioned, hot and humid air from the outside to be sucked into the common areas of the house. The differences in pressure made the air conditioner work harder, without ever making the whole house comfortable.
When homeowners experience similar problems, they tend to mistakenly believe that they need a bigger, and more powerful heating and cooling system. This is why it is a good idea to call in an energy conservation specialist, before you commit to buying an HVAC upgrade.
In this case, for example, just by adding a return duct to each bedroom, Dr. Energy Saver experts brought the pressure levels in the rooms down to normal. The temperatures are now even around the house, comfort has improved and the old air conditioner now works more efficiently.
If you want to save money, energy and make your home more comfortable, call a Dr. Energy Saver dealer in your area!
Sealing and Insulation in New Construction
Larry Janesky from Dr. Energy Saver walks us through the process of air sealing and insulating two newly constructed condominium units.
In new construction, you have many choices of insulation material to chose from: spray foam, rigid foam board, fiberglass, cellulose or a combination of these.
Here a combination of fiberglass bats with blown and spray cellulose to insulate different areas in these units.
Because fiberglass insulation doesn’t stop air flow, the structure needs to be completely air sealed before the bats are installed. Special attention should be paid to windows, doors, and gaps around plumbing, wiring, lighting fixtures, and ducts. The ducts also need to be sealed before the insulation and the drywall are installed.
The walls between the conditioned area and any unheated, un-insulated area of the house like the garage and the attic space upstairs also receive air sealing and insulation.
Insulating the Attic and Cool Roof Technology
The sun tends to heat conventional roof shingles up to temperatures as high as 140 or 150 degrees F during the summer. That heat is then radiated to the attic, which reaches scorching temperatures, usually 40 to 50 degrees hotter than the outside air.
The heat in the attic then radiates through the ceiling into the living areas making your whole house uncomfortable. To make matters worse, some homes have air conditioner ducts running through the attic. Picture this: you pay for the electricity to run your air conditioner to cool the air down to 50 degrees, and then run the cold air through metallic ducts in the attic, that are baking at 150 degrees. Your air conditioner will have to work much harder to keep up, and your cooling bills will be extremely high, especially if you live in warmer areas of the U.S.
There are many things you can do to cool down your roof and your attic while relieving the burden on your air conditioner. Proper attic insulation and air sealing, will keep the heat from radiating into the living areas. A radiant heat barrier will reflect the sun’s heat away from the home, and help cool down the attic.
To significantly improve conditions in the roof and attic, there is also the cool roof technology. Cool roof shingles are built with materials that reflect the sun’s heat, rather than absorbing it like conventional shingles. They also come in various colors so you can have the roof color you want, without the heat absorption.
If you are building a home, or planning to replace your roof, consider cool roof technology. Contact your local Dr. Energy Saver for more information about cool roof technology, attic insulation, radiant barriers and many other options to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient.
