BUILDING SCIENCE
GOAL: Perfecting the “Building Envelope”: – the “building envelope is defined as: a total system of construction materials and design components that control the temperature, movement of air and moisture both in and out of the building.”
Challenge: “The Stack Effect” – Sometimes called the “chimney effect”—is a problem most homes have. Basic science tells us that warm air will rise and cooler air will sink. In summer, your attic temperature routinely can hit 140 degrees. This warm air builds up and pushes all of your conditioned air down through the home and out through the floor of the lowest level. In winter, all of the heated conditioned air generated is slowly rising through each level of the home via ductwork, plumbing penetrations, recessed lighting, poorly insulated ceilings, etc. and then can easily escape through openings in your attic, ridge vents and soffits. Of course the air in the house below must be replaced, and in older homes the leakage can be as high as two air exchanges per hour. This is the primary contributor to your energy loses, and can affect your comfort levels (bodily and financial).
Problems Associated With “The Stack Effect”
- Heating and cooling systems work much harder than they need to in order to maintain the desired level of comfort (thus leading to excessive utility bills)
- High temperatures in attic spaces can lead to condensation/moisture build up on equipment
(reducing lifespan on that equipment) - Ductwork in the attic will experience excessive energy losses due to the high temperature environment
- In homes with a crawl-space, up to 50% of your air on the first level of your home comes from the crawlspace—often laden with high humidity, mold and bacteria.
SOLUTION: “Attic & Crawl Space Encapsulation”
Building Science
GOAL: Perfecting the “Building Envelope”: -the “building envelope is defined as: a total system of construction materials and design components that control the temperature, movement of air and moisture both in and out of the building.”
Challenge: “The Stack Effect” – Sometimes called the “chimney effect”—is a problem most homes have. Basic science tells us that warm air will rise and cooler air will sink. In summer, your attic temperature routinely can hit 140 degrees. This warm air builds up and pushes all of your conditioned air down through the home and out through the floor of the lowest level.
In winter, all of the heated conditioned air generated is slowly rising through each level of the home via ductwork, plumbing penetrations, recessed lighting, poorly insulated ceilings, etc. and then can easily escape through openings in your attic, ridge vents and soffits.
Of course the air in the house below must be replaced, and in older homes the leakage can be as high as two air exchanges per hour. This is the primary contributor to your energy loses, and can affect your comfort levels (bodily and financial).
Problems Associated With “The Stack Effect”
Heating and cooling systems work much harder than they need to in order to maintain the desired level of comfort (thus leading to excessive utility bills)
High temperatures in attic spaces can lead to condensation/moisture build up on equipment
(reducing lifespan on that equipment)
Ductwork in the attic will experience excessive energy losses due to the high temperature environment
In homes with a crawl-space, up to 50% of your air on the first level of your home comes from the crawlspace—often laden with high humidity, mold and bacteria.
SOLUTION: “Attic & Crawl Space Encapsulation”
Attic Encapsulation –
1. We apply Open-cell spray polyurethane foam directly to the underside of the roof decking, from the peak of the roof all the way to the soffits. In addition, we unplug all attic fans and seal around them, seal all vents, extend any necessary plumbing stacks to the top of the attic (for required ventilation) creating an “Attic Encapsulation”.
We now prevent the heat (that would normally rise up through the ceiling and go out the roof vents) from escaping thus backfilling the home with precious heat that previously would have been lost. Even in a relatively well-sealed home about half of the air escapes each hour out of the upper levels. The problem is endemic because the standard design of homes is to vent air out the top.
This creates suction on the lower levels, pulling air from the lower part of your house into the attic and out of the house. In the summer time, (after attic encapsulation) the attic space will now be no more than 10 – 13 degrees difference from the floor below it. The Attic space now becomes a semi-conditioned, usable space. This step is perhaps the single biggest contributor to lower your utility bills!
Crawl Space
2.We apply Closed-cell spray foam directly to the ceiling of the crawl space. By sealing every crack, nook, crevice, we are stopping contaminated air from moving up into the home, preventing ground vapor, mold, humidity, bacteria and gases from being drawn up through the floor into the living space.
The closed cell foam dramatically improves the structural integrity (up to 300%) of the floor joists and eliminates the creaking of the floor that you find in older homes and is impervious to moisture while like at the same time allowing the home to breath (similar to GORTEX).
In the summertime, we now prevent the air conditioning that normally is being pushed down through the home out through the crawl space/basement, from escaping. Building scientists say that in homes with a crawl-space, up to 50% of your air on the first level of your home comes from the crawlspace— By sealing the attic and crawl space we now have enhanced the building envelope
What people who have worked with us have to say
