Why Weatherize

Why Weatherize?
Are you tired of running your furnace all winter and paying those high heating bills? Then it is time to improve the energy efficiency of your home. The most effective way to do this is to update your existing insulation and to Air Seal all air gaps. Updating the insulation you have in your attic, walls, and basement and Air Sealing wire penetrations, interior wall tops, and light fixtures will go a long way towards keeping those bills down, keeping you warm in the winter and keeping you cool in the summer.


How Do You Lose Heat?
You lose heat through conduction and convection. Conductive heat loss is through solids such as your walls and your ceiling. Convective heat loss is through penetrations in the air barrier such as a light fixture in your drywall. Insulation is what we use to stop heat loss through solids. So, heat travels through your ceiling and walls and hits insulation, which slows heat loss down. You want to have at least an R-Value (resistance to heat) of R-38 in your attic and R-13 in your walls. Heat also travels with air through gaps in the drywall at places like light fixtures, chimney chases, and interior walls. Air Sealing these places is just as important as insulation. Remember, this all applies to keeping the heat out of your house in the summer as well!


How We Insulate Existing Homes:
To update the insulation in your attic we can either install fiberglass batts, Blown-In Fiberglass or Blown-In Cellulose on top of your existing insulation. Blown-In Cellulose is a better insulator than fiberglass and is easy to install. To insulate your walls we remove siding, drill 2" holes in every bay, and dense-pack cellulose into each wall cavity. This dense-pack cellulose is packed so tight that it will fill the entire bay, never settle, and cut off all airflow.



How We Air Seal:
We move existing insulation to find all interior wall tops, light fixtures, chimney chases, and all dominant leakage pathways. We can use a tool called a Blower Door to calculate the leakage of a house and determine if a house is too leaky, too tight, or just right. It is a fan that pushes air out of the house so that more air tries to find its way in. While it is running we walk around the house and feel for air. This is a great way to find and seal all the leaks in your home! 

This was a very simplified explanation of how we can help you. Please call with questions that deal with the specifics of your own home!