Before & After

Fogarty's Home Services Before & After Photos

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Fix Leaky, Uninsulated Attic Hatch Pull Down Stairs in Manchester, CT

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.

Making an Upstairs More Comfortable Year Round in North Suffield, CT

This customer called us when their home did not score well on a home energy audit.  Upon inspection, Fogarty's Home Services found their kneewalls were under-insulated and not properly air sealed. 

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 may 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 itself are open to the 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.  Silver-Glo™ foam insulation is installed under the rafters up to the kneewall and sealed at the top with foam sealant. SilverGlo™ 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. 

 

The Results, significantly warmer upstairs room in the winter, cooler room upstairs in the hot weather, less drafts, more comfort, less dust. A kneewall space suit-able for clean storage. Lower fuel and electric bills.

 

Insulate & Air Seal Drafty Kneewall in Enfield, CT

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.

Insulating a Basement in Coventry, CT

This customer in Coventry, CT called us with concerns he had about his basement insulation. When our Home Comfort Specialist arrived at the home, he identified several areas of concern. The largest was the insufficient insulation this homeowner had in his basement's rim joist. Not all of the rim joist was insulated, and when it was, it was with fiberglass -- notoriously insufficient insulation. The batts were falling apart and falling down, and they had rodents and other critters living in them. This customer also had issues with an uninsulated window that he had put a piece of plywood over. This did nothing to stop the outside air from coming through.

 

We took the old fiberglass insulation down. In its place, we installed two-part expanding spray foam insulation into the rim joist. This insulation expands to seal all the cracks, gaps, and joints in the rim joist. It has a high insulation value as well -- making sure that the basement kept the conditioned air inside.

 

Now, this basement will be comfortable for years to come! 

Install Structural Cover Over Sloped Stairwell Ceiling in West Springfield, MA

The owner of a beautiful brick home in West Springfield, MA contacted Fogarty's Home Services to help insulate his home. He was experiencing cold drafts and wanted to resolve this issue. One of our Home Comfort Specialists discovered that there were sloped stairwell ceilings that were open to the attic when conducting this homeowner's free home energy evaluation. When a stairwell has a sloped ceiling forming a big triangular space that is open to the attic, it creates a heat loss (winter) and heat gain (summer) problem in the home. The sidewalls of the open well into the attic are hard to insulate and often leak air from the walls of your house into the attic. The stairwell ceiling radiates heat from the house in to the attic, and from the hot attic to the house in the summer. Insulating the attic properly is not possible with this big stairwell hole in it. Fogarty's Home Services installed a cover made of wood over this stairwell at the attic floor level. Appropriate framing and wood sheets were used. The cover was sealed with expanding polyurethane foam to make it airtight. Blown insulation can now be installed over the attic floor and the stairwell cover. The sturdy cover doesn't pose a fall hazard if someone crawls into the attic in the future. Now, this happy customer is reporting less air leakage, less unwanted heat loss and heat gain, and the attic can be insulated properly.

our service area

We serve the following areas

MassachusettsConnecticut Our Locations:

Fogarty's Home Services
800 Prospect Hill Rd
Ste E
Windsor, CT 06095
1-860-863-0385


Fogarty's Home Services
258 Old Lyman Rd Suite B
South Hadley, MA 01075
1-413-266-5356
Northern CT, Berkshire County and Greater Springfield MA
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