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March 2020
We made it through the winter, thank goodness! Notice any cold or drafty spots in your home this past winter? Improving insulation levels and dealing with drafty areas can substantially improve the thermal efficiency of your home and save you LOTS of money. Utility companies usually offer attractive rebate incentives for improving thermal efficiency (e.g., insulation, windows, appliances, heating systems, etc.) that are certainly worth pursuing; make sure to take advantage of these rebates! 

Your home can even be tested for thermal efficiency with blower door testing (tests for air leakage) and infrared thermography (identifies cold spots). These high-tech tools help locate problematic, costly heat loss areas in your home. A qualified professional can help you identify no-brainer, cost-effective solutions that will save your pocketbook in the long run and—as a nice perk—help our environment! 

 

- Tim Hance

3 Questions:
Insulation Issues with
Pacific Rim Insulation

Every month, we seek to bring our readers insight from the worlds of home construction, home repair, and home maintenance straight from local Northwest Washington contractors in a segment we call “3 Questions.” Yep, you guessed it: we ask three questions, and the contractors answer them.
 
This month, we learn about insulation issues with Brea Mason at Pacific Rim Insulation Inc. in Friday Harbor.
 
Q1: Attic insulation is priority No. 1 for homes (hot air rises after all!).  There are lots of options for insulating attics (e.g., spray foam, blown-in fiberglass/cellulose, batten insulation, etc.).  Can you please let us know some pros and cons in material choices and overall advice for insulating attics?
 
There are many different choices for insulating your attic spaces. If you have an existing house, with a nice clean attic and are looking to increase your insulation,  I really like to use blown-in fiberglass insulation. It fills in all the gaps and cracks you may have and sets down a nice blanket to cover it all up.  I think getting an attic to an R50/R60  provides great resistance from the outside elements in our area. On new homes you have many options, but we have been installing closed-cell foam with batt insulation combo in quite a few homes. It makes your roof a non-vented system, so no worries that you don't have enough air-flow behind your insulation. 
 
Q2: What’s your favorite type of insulation and why?
 
My favorite type of insulation would be rockwool, or closed-cell foam. Rockwool is so versatile, good for sound, gives you an R23 on exterior walls, is fire protectant, and is an overall very dense product—which means better resistance (or R-value). Closed-cell foam is my other favorite because of the sealing power it has as well as its high R-value per inch (R6.9 per inch). On older houses with 2x4 exterior walls you get an R21 and 11 percent sheer power, so that is a win-win.
 
Q3: An amazing statistic is that up to 30% of heated air can be lost through a ceiling attic access hatch that isn’t insulated and weather-stripped.  Do you have any high-impact recommendations homeowners can employ to improve thermal efficiency and save money?
 
I think a lot of people don't know if their access hatch has any insulation on it at all. We always build a dam of insulation around the hatch and then install insulation to the backside of the access cover. You can hold the insulation with twine or you can cut a piece of rigid insulation and glue it to the back of the hatch. Weatherstripping is so important! Around light can covers, electrical outlets, and attic access hatches. We are always trying to stop the air from infiltrating.
 
About Pacific Rim Insulation Inc.
 
Brea Mason is the owner and operator of Pacific Rim Insulation Inc., which she started 21 years ago. Brea grew up and graduated from Friday Harbor, then went on to attend The University of Montana for Management and Business. After earning her degree, she moved back to Friday Harbor to start her company. Pacific Rim Insulation Inc. installs batts, cellulose and fiberglass blown-in and closed-cell foam. The company mostly works with new construction projects and remodels, but also cleans out crawlspaces and attics. Pacific Rim Insulation Inc. serves all of the San Juan Islands. You can reach Pacific Rim Insulation at (360) 378-8743. 

A big “thanks” to Brea for her responses!
 
If you have questions or comments about insulation issues or home inspections in general, tweet me (@AIHomeInspect).

Copyright © 2020 Madevelyn Enterprises LLC dba All Islands Home Inspections, All rights reserved.


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