This homeowner in Bethesda, MD was complaining that the top floor of her home was too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. Comfenergy found dormer windows with knee-wall areas allowing air leakage and intrusion on the top floor of the home. The attic was a walk-up access and also had significant air leakage.
Solution
Comfenergy moved the thermal boundary of the knee-wall areas to the roof deck using SilverGlo foam boards and foam spray to make an air tight seal and provide R20 insulation value. An air tight hatch cover was built to seal the air leaks around the walk-up access to the attic. Then, the entire attic was selaed from air leakage using one part foam spray. Finally, TruSoft cellulose insulation was blown throughout the attic to provide a deep, even coverage of insulation.
Project Summary
Evaluator: Chris Last
Notice the dormer windows on the top floor. These typically will have knee-wall spaces, or open cavities behind and around them allowing hot/cold air into the top floor of the home.
A closer view of the dormer windows.
If you have these, you might experience the top floor of your home being colder or hotter than the rest.
Here is the access door to the empty areas around the dormer windows.
A before picture of the knee-wall area shows you how cold air from the vented soffits was drafts to enter the home.
SilverGlo 4" thick foam boards with heat radiant barrier were used to create a conditioned space in the knee-wall.
Notice how each joint in the SilverGlo was foam sprayed for a complete air seal.
Look how nice that looks when done. Hot/cold air stays out and now we have a conditioned knee-wall storage area.
SilverGlo foam boards were also used to completely seal the attic access.
A close up of the attic hatch.
The last step was to air seal and insulate the attic. The top floor of this home is now warm and cozy!
