Archives: Insulation

Prevent Mold Growth Under Fiberglass Insulation

By Todd Fratzel on Basements, Insulation

Missing Vapor Barrier Leads To Mold Growth Quite often we get emails from folks asking why their walk-out basement walls have mold growing on the inside of the exterior wall sheathing. Some folks even find frost under the fiberglass insulation on extremely cold days. The following is such an example and why this has happened.…

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How To Insulate A Concrete Floor

By Todd Fratzel on Basements, Foundations, Insulation

Insulating Concrete Floors If you live in a cold climate then you’re no stranger to cold concrete floors in the winter. If you’re planning on finishing a basement or portion of your home that has a concrete floor then it may be a good idea to insulate it before installing basement flooring. Concrete floors are…

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Insulate Under Stairs

By Todd Fratzel on Basements, Insulation

Insulate The Bottom Side Of Stairs Effectively insulating a house isn’t rocket science but there are a few areas that folks forget to account for which can result in quite a large amount of heat loss.  Some areas that get overlooked include; insulating attic stairs and properly insulating basement walls. The other are that is…

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Basement Insulation | Spray Foam Installation Video

By Todd Fratzel on Basements, Insulation

Insulating Basement Walls with Spray Foam We’ve written quite a bit of content on how to insulate basement walls. Most of our content features the use of foam board products which offer DIY’ers the best basement insulation solution at an affordable price. However, the Cadilac of basement insulation solutions is using spray foam. If you…

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Blocked Proper Vents Causing Ice Dams

By Todd Fratzel on Insulation, Roofing

With winter quickly approaching I thought it was time to discuss one of the problems that causes ice dams. Ice dams cause significant amounts of damage each year and most of them can be avoided if you understand the root cause. The following information should help you understand some of the causes of ice dams.…

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Recommended Levels of Insulation – New England

By Todd Fratzel on Energy Conservation, Insulation

Minimum Levels Of Insulation The U.S. Department of Energy recommends the following R values of insulation for renovations of homes located in New England. The recommendations are cost-effective levels of insulation for this area. Recommended R Values for Existing Homes Ceilings/Attic = R49 to R60 Walls = R11 to R22 Floor = R25 to R30…

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Insulating Basement Walls With Spray Foam

By Todd Fratzel on Insulation

Spray Foam Insulation for Basement Walls I’ve written quite a few posts on Insulating Basement Walls using rigid foam board insulation. In this article I’d like to share several other sites that discuss using spray foam insulation for basement walls. Spray foam insulation is in my opinion the best option for basement walls if you…

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Insulating A Finished Basement

By Todd Fratzel on Basements, Insulation

Insulating Basement Walls Insulating basement walls properly is extremely important if you want to enjoy your finished basement investment. Every year thousands of basements are finished with poor insulation details that lead to mold, mildew and moisture problems that render the newly finished space un-usable. One of the most popular topics on this site has…

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