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Before & After Photos

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Insulating Barn Floors from Underneath in New Marlborough, MA

The owners of a beautiful barn that came with their property contacted us to help make it usable and comfortable all year long. The outside air has access to the floors from underneath, so Fogarty's Home Services was happy to help protect that space and make the rooms above more comfortable. Since the floor is the surface of the room we are in contact with most, it's very important to fix, in order to be comfortable. There are two issues - air leakage through the floor, because heat moves from more to less through solid materials. Even if there is fiberglass batt insulation in the floor, because it sags down away from the sub floor, the same outside air gets over it ("thermal bypass") rendering it useless. Fogarty's Home Services installed SilverGlo™ foam insulation board is installed across the bottom of the floor joists with special long screws and 3" washers. SilverGlo™ is expanded polystyrene foam with graphite infused into the foam, which bumps up the insulation ("R") value by 24% over standard EPS foam. Further, SilverGlo™ has a radiant barrier to reflect heat, so the insulation isn't doing all the work by itself. All seams were then sealed. This family will now have the joy of using this barn year round as they now have much warmer floors, less drafts, more comfortable rooms, and lower fuel costs.

 

Encapsulating a Crawl Space in East Chatham, NY

This homeowner in East Chatham, NY called us hoping that she would be able to fix the drafts in her house before her baby was born a few months later. Our Home Comfort Specialist arrived in the home and proposed that crawl space encapsulation would be a fix to the issues they were having. 

 

The process first starts with clearing out any insulation or other clutter, so they have a clean workspace. After that, the rim joist is insulated with two part expanding spray foam, and walls are insulated with our SilverGlo™ insulation board. SilverGlo™ is infused with graphite, increasing the R value by 24% over standard foam.

 

Our team then installed a dimpled plastic drainage mat across the dirt floor of the crawlspace. This creates an air space and thermal break. We then installed TerraBlock™ insulation on the floor. Finally, we installed a heavy duty CleanSpace™ liner across the floor. We permanently install this liner with metal fasteners. 

 

Now, this customer's home is comfortable, less drafty, and ready to support their growing family! 

Replacing an Inadequate Sump Pump in Sheffield, MA

This homeowner in Sheffield, MA called us when his basement had a water issue. He had a small, inadequate sump pump. Unfortunately, it was unable to stop the water in his basement, and he knew he needed something more. So, our Home Comfort Specialist came out to see his basement.

 

After speaking with the homeowner, we recommended the TripleSafe™ sump pump system, which suited all of his needs. The TripleSafe™ has 3 pumps to protect from flooding. The first pump is a 1/3 hp, cast iron Zoeller pump that can pump up to 2,200 gallons per hour, 8 feet high. Should the first pump fail or not be able to keep up with the temporary heavy flow of water, a 1/2 hp AC back up pump on a separate discharge line can pump 3,900 gallons of water per hour. If the power fails, then a third, battery operated "UltraSump" pump automatically pumps up to 12,000 gallons of water out of the basement. Now, this customer's home will be protected during floods and heavy storms! 

Making An Addition Comfortable in Housatonic, MA

This homeowner had recently added an addition to their house and wanted to insulate it to make it into livable space. 

There was no attic floor, so we started by creating a layer to blow insulation onto with our Insulweb polyethylene webbing. Once the Insulweb was in place, we secured baffles to keep ventilation to the soffit vent, marked off any electrical work with flags, and blew in our TruSoft cellulose.

Thanks to Dr. Energy Saver by Eco Energy Solutions, this room can now be used all year round comfortably!

Remove Moldy, Damaged Insulation from Crawl Space Ceiling in Housatonic, MA

The owner of this Housatonic home contacted Fogarty's Home Services as he was concerned about his pipes freezing. One of the issues we found when doing the home evaluation is that the home had old, moldy insulation in the crawl space ceiling. The old thinking in crawl space construction was to vent the crawl space and create the thermal boundary (insulation layer) at the crawl space ceiling. It doesn't work. Insulation in this crawl space was pulled by gravity away from the sub floor. The same cold air under the insulation was flowing into the space on top of it - rendering the insulation useless. As the insulation got heavier with moisture content, it fell away from the sub floor even more and was falling to the floor. Fiberglass batt insulation has paper facing and organic material in the resin used to set the fibers into a batt - both are mold food. Fogarty's Home Services happily took on the difficult job of removing the existing fiberglass batts from the crawl space. The insulation was very bulky and took up a tremendous amount of space in trucks, and our dumpsters, but it was necessary to have a healthy home in the end. Now, Fogarty's Home Services is prepared to properly install insulation so the homeowner won't have to worry about his pipes freezing.

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