Arrival
Upon arriving at the house in Arlington, VA, this was the scene. The first and most obvious issue is the air baffles. The air baffles are where you are seeing the sky! These black sheets of plastic should be upright, creating a barrier between the attic and the outside world. The next issue is the outdated insulation, though it is blown-in like our will be, it is a fiberglass composition. We now use a composition based in recycled paper and denim.
Correcting the Baffles
Here you can see the air baffles have been returned to their proper position exponentially increasing their efficiency.
Air Sealing
As you can see, after removing the old insulation, we can move on to air seal all potential points of leakage. To do this we use ZypFoam which is the orange substance you see around the base of this canlight cover.
More ZypFoam
Here is another shot of the ZypFoam
Encapsulation
This is a step that actually did not occur in this home, but here is a photo of duct work encapsulation. Ducts can be a source of unwanted conditions for the climate in your attic and it is important we address that as well. In this case we used spray foam to insulate the duct work.
Radiant Barrier
What we are looking at here is Radiant Barrier. The simplest way to describe the science behind Radiant Barrier is to think of it as it basically is, a big sheet of aluminum foil. Like the kitchen gadget, it creates a physical barrier that help minimize moisture, conducted heat, and the transfer of inside versus outside air. It is also an important reflective agent that rejects heat that comes directly from the sun and through your roof.
New Insulation
The last step is installing Tru-Soft! This is the new version of blow-in insulation which as previously mentioned is made of recycled materials.
More Tru-Soft
Here is another shot of the Tru-Soft.
