At RetroFoam, we’re used to all kinds of jobs—not just homes, but barns, stables, trailers, even boat hulls and bridges! Still, it’s always fun when we get to work on an existing home that needs a bit of love in different places and ways throughout the structure. Sure, that’s partly because we love a good challenge, but mostly because we love to make a real difference in our customers’ lives!
One such opportunity presented itself in late fall, just before the snows started falling in December. We were in southwestern Allegan County, Michigan to check out a great modular-style home with a lot of character—but also a lot of insulation problems.
One of the most important concerns was the attic. Like many homes of a certain age, the attic contained a lot of ductwork. Because the attic is not in the “conditioned” part of the home, ducts that go through it tend to leak a lot of hot or cold air. In effect, you must heat up the entire attic first before the system can begin supplying heat efficiently to the rest of the house! That means much higher heating bills and much worse heating performance.
Of course, the est solution to this problem is to not run HVAC ducts through your attic at all—but obviously that’s not an option for many older homes. The most sensible option is to defend against heat loss with insulation. We spray-foamed the ductwork itself, blocking the transfer of heat and cold from the HVAC system into the attic. We also used a cellulose foam to insulate the flat areas of the attic to prevent heat transfer through the ceiling, to a minimum R-50 standard. (Click here for an explanation of R-values).
Another area of concern? The home had a great second-floor living space positioned directly above the two-stall attached garage, with angled roofs that reached down to the floor. In nice weather, it would make a great guest bedroom or playroom for kids. But it was like a refrigerator in there!
We spray-foamed the ceiling, all the walls, and the roof. Now you don’t need to bring your coat when you use the room!
Of course, we also attended to the sidewalls throughout the house, upgrading the existing insulation with our signature RetroFoam product. RetroFoam can be injected directly into a wall cavity without tearing out any drywall or creating any mess—you don’t even need to tear out the fiberglass batting already there! It’s the fastest and simplest way to bring an existing older home up to the high R-value insulation standards of today. We also came back a few weeks later to finish off the rim joists.
The whole project took a little more than two days from start to finish—and this was a complicated home with a lot of different challenges. Many of our other jobs can be completed within a day.
Do you have a newer or older home, barn, stable, or any building or structure that needs insulation? Do you want the job done quickly, correctly, and affordably? Call RetroFoam of Southwest Michigan today at (269-751-2000)
for your free estimate.