Home Insulation Services Before & After Photos

This detached brownstone row home, likely built in the late 1800s had an addition built over a previously existing porch. The owner wanted us to make the rooms in this addition warmer in winter.

An Energy Audit conducted by Lawson Home Service found the problem was the way the space under the back porch addition had been enclosed and insulated.

A Dr. Energy Saver's CleanSpace™ Crawlspace Encapsulation System was installed, which included installing SilverGlo™ insulation on the walls, and a thick layer of spray foam on the rim band between the floor joists. With this simple and effective method the insulation hanging from the floor was no longer necessary. The access door was replaced with an air tight EverLastTM Crawl Space Door.

Now the addition room will be comfortable all year long, thanks to the work of Lawson Home Service's hard-working crew.

This three story townhouse, built in 2007, had 7" fiberglass batts on the attic floor. The R value was approximately R18. 

This old insulation was removed to provide a totally clean attic floor. This is done so the attic floor can be air sealed, a crucial step in preventing expensive loss of conditioned air into the attic. In addition, it was necessary to re-route the bathroom fans so they terminated properly on the roof, rather than in the attic.
Once all the prep work was thoroughly completed the crew blew in a 17" blanket of TruSoft™ Cellulose insulation, tripling the R-value for a cozy comfortable R60. Kudos crew! The homeowner was happy with the results.  

A lot of the attics we go in require you to walk across joists or unsecure planks of wood to access air handlers, duct work, and attic fans. To the inexperienced individual it can be a dangerous area to walk and climb across.  Other attics have entrances and areas that aren’t securely blocked off from insulation.  This can cause insulation and dust to spill into unconditioned areas of your finished home.  

At Lawson’s we install secure, durable dams and decking. (1) We insulate the deck to make sure we are not sacrificing insulation and (2) we create a safe and secure way to enter the attic and if necessary service your air handler or other equipment located in that area.  As an addition we can even expand the decking for extra storage.

This homeowner in Milton, DE was experiencing an unusually cold bathroom in his 2005 home. 

Lawson Home Services discovered there was no insulation at all in the attic over top this bathroom and installed TruSoft™ Cellulose Insulation. 

Home builders were just beginning to understand the harmful effects of moisture in crawlspaces back in 1985 when they installed overlapping plastic sheets directly onto the dirt crawlspace floor beneath this townhouse in Berlin, MD.  Their efforts, though well-intended, were not entirely effective.  Ground water water, which seeps into the dirt of the crawlspace, evaporates into water vapor, and then travels right around the edges of the thin plastic sheets.  That moisture is then absorbed by the wooden structure inside the crawlspace, somewhat like a sponge.  You may be surprised to learn the vents those builders installed in the foundation walls for the purpose of venting moisture out of crawlspaces actually provide one of the primary ways moisture gets into a crawlspace. This is especially true in warmest months here in the Mid-Atlantic region when the relative humidity of the outside air is most often above 80% (100% when it is raining). The recommended indoor relative humidity should be maintained between 45%-55%.  But that’s not the end.  The old methods of venting crawlspaces to allow outdoor air to circulate through the crawlspace results in another big problem, especially in Winter: cold floors.  

The owner of this home opened the access door to her crawlspace and noticed a foul, musty smell. When she looked up at the structure above the crawlspace, she discovered mold was growing, not only on the underside of the subfloor plywood, but on the wooden floor joists that supported it all.  She made a great decision to call Lawson Home Services.

You can see in the “Before” picture, what Lawson Home Service’s energy auditor saw when he opened the access door and went inside to inspect the crawlspace:  a cold, damp, nasty environment full of moldy wood, the perfect home for all kinds of creepy crawly things and the spiders who love to eat them.  Who wants to live in a place like that, knowing all the nastiness that is going on just inches below your feet?

Our production team had their work cut out for them before they could begin “encapsulating” the crawlspace. The first thing they did was remove the old plastic sheets and junk from the crawlspace. Next, they sprayed the wooden structure with Mold-X2, special, all-natural anti-microbial product which kills the mold and bacteria, cleans the stains off the wood, and removes the “musty” odor of mold. They sealed off the foundation vents from the inside. And finally, trenches were dug around the edges of the foundation for the drainage system.  Once the preparation was completed the team installed the following:

·      SmartSump™ and Hydrolink XG™ groundwater removal system

·      TerraBlock™ drainage mat and CleanSpace™ liquid water and water vapor barrier

·      Sedona SaniDry™ dehumidification equipment

·      Everlast™ Crawlspace access door

As you can see in the “After” picture, this crawlspace is now a nice white, clean, dry space.