Existing Insulation
This attic was originally blown to a supposed value of R19. But in order for that to work you have to have even coverage. We found places on this attic floor that were completely bare.
Ceiling mounted lighting fixture.
You may not realize how much air can leak through a light or fan fixture mounted in the ceiling until you are up in the attic looking down through it and seeing all this day light. Add all the lights in your house together and you have a lot of potential for heat loss.
Unsealed wall top
Here the Energy Auditor has inserted a card into the crack so you could see it in the picture. Big losses of energy and heat through these.
Uninsulated Rim Band
This is the rim band which rests on top of the foundation wall. It must be properly insulated and air seals to prevent air from being sucked in by the natural air currents found in every home.
Leaky HVAC Ductwork
Imagine, the homeowner has just paid a lot of money to heat and cool the air. Then it travels through this duct work which is uninsulated and full of air leaks. By the time the air gets to the rooms, if it even makes it there before it leaks into another part of the house (in this case the basement) the temperature of the air has changed to whatever the temperature inside the basement. No wonder the air coming out of the registers doesn't feel like it should.
More leaks in the HVAC Ductwork
This leak is so large you can actually see right through it into another room.
Blower Door Reading Before
That number 2430, is a measure of how much air is leaking through all the cracks and flaws in the home construction. Newer homes are built to be much more air tight than this. This house will be much more air tight when Lawson Home Services finishes the job.
Radon Concentration Measurement
Part of Lawson Home Services' energy audit is a radon level assessment. Anytime that reading is over 2.00 the homeowner should consider installing radon mitigation equipment. Radon is a deadly radioactive gas commonly found in homes all across the nation. It is the second leading cause of lung cancer and may be the cause of other cancers as well.
Attic floor clean and sealed
Lawson Home Services workers have removed all the old dirty nasty insulation so that drywall top sealing work can be done, starting with a totally clean surface
Clean Start
Lawson Home Services begins the attic work by removing all the old dirty nasty insulation.
Rim Band foamed
This rim Band is properly insulated and airsealed using expanding foam insulation.
This "bucket' is actually a Canned light Cover
This "bucket" is a heat safe, air tight material that is placed overtop all the lighting fixtures below. This allows the workers to seal the light fixture so that air from the room below cannot escape into the attic.
A new cellulose blanket
Once the attic floor has been cleaned, sealed, and other preparations completed, 17" of nice fluffy TruSoft cellulose insulation is blown into the attic providing an insulation value or R60. That will make a HUGE difference in the ability of the HVAC equipment to make the rooms comfortable, year-round.
Clean HVAC Duct
This is how the HVAC duct work looks when Lawson Home Services gets done cleaning it. Now the occupants of this home can breathe a lot better.
Aeroseal Truck
This truck carries the Aeroseal equipment used to seal the leaky HVAC ductwork.
FInal Blow Door Reading
We started with 2430 cubic feet per minute (see other blower door photo). Once all the air sealing measures were done we checked it again. We have reduced the air leaks to 2145, almost 300 cubic feet per minute. That will help keep that conditioned air INSIDE the house where it is wanted, rather than leaking away into the attic.
Problems Problems Problems....
Where do we start with all the problems, we found wrong in this photo alone. To start with we see places where there is no insulation, which, is directly over a bathroom. BRRRRR!!! We see a bathroom exhaust fan terminating in the attic - a big 'no no' to vent hot moist air into another cavity of the home - but we find this often.
Unsealed drywall tops
This is the top of a wall structure in a room below. When the drywall joints are not sealed conditioned air from the room below escapes into the attic, pushing right past the insulation and carrying away with it the hard-earned money the homeowner paid to condition that air. This small crack might not seem like much of a leak - but when you consider it's all throughout the entire house along the top of every wall it adds up to huge losses of energy.
Darkened insulation
The old insulation used to be a pretty pink. After many years it turns black. That's because this insulation is acting like a giant filter as the dirty air from below is forced through it. Often the moisture in that air condenses on the insulation and then guess what starts growing all over it.... yeah, microbial growth which can turn into mold over time. ACHOOO!!
Dirty HVAC duct work
Just remember - if you don't have your HVAC duct work cleaned regularly, it collects a lot of dust, dirt and lint. Then whenever the heat or AC kicks on, it blows this stuff all over the house. ACHOOOO!!!
Attic space adjacent to living space.
Whenever you have a portion of an indoor wall next to an attic it must be insulated properly or you're going to have a lot of heat transfer across that wall. Since heat always moves towards the cold, this means heat coming in during the summer, and going out in the winter - the exact opposite of what you're heating, and air conditioning is trying to accomplish.
Funky Attic area around masonry chimney
This area has a weird shape, and you can actually see the backside of the drywall of the room below. That's going to be an uncomfortable room that is hard to heat and cool.
