Cold in the Winter & Hot in the Summer Bloomfield Hills, MI
Challenge
The homeowner explained that her utility bills were higher than she would like them to be and she was also uncomfortable with the upstairs portion of her home because it was warm during the summer and cold during the winter. It was around 8-10 degrees warmer downstairs than it was upstairs. No snow was on the roof during the inspection in the middle of winter. The problem was caused by the lack of insulation on the attic floor R6 where a good thermal boundary is necessary. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because we were able to show her with pictures that the amount of insulation that she had on the attic floor was far below the recommended amount for her Zone. The homeowner's biggest concern was that she was paying way too much for her utility bills and would like to see them come down.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we were competitive in price with the other companies who did quotes for her, but she found that we were far superior in knowledge about how to solve her problem and the products that we use compared to the other companies. Our solution was to remove the fiberglass batt insulation, air seal the attic floor, cover the recessed lighting with titeshell can light covers, and filled the attic floor with R49 Cellulose Insulation. The biggest challenge that we faced during the installation process was the HVAC unit was in the attic and right down the middle run of the attic making it extremely difficult to get around as the attic was truss construction and only about four feet tall from the ceiling joist to the rafters. We used a combination of products to achieve our solution. We used Titeshell can light covers, SilverGlo foam board, Durovent baffles, ZypFoam, and TruSoft Cellulose. The homeowner now has a properly insulated attic floor R49 and is now more comfortable in her home and is saving money on her utility bills.
