Basement Insulation or Encapsulation: Which do you need?

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Most Maine homeowners don’t spend much time in their basements—using them mostly for storage, and maybe laundry if space is tight upstairs. As a result, it can be easy to miss the signs that your basement is contributing to poor home performance, unhealthy air, and high energy costs.

Evergreen Home Performance is here to help Mainers in Rockland, Belfast, and Bath improve their home health, comfort, and efficiency with basement services. But which service will best suit the needs of your home? Learn more about what signs could indicate that you’d be best served by basement insulation, or exploring basement encapsulation.

Top Signs Your Basement Needs Attention

Between the moisture in seacoast air and Maine’s temperature fluctuations throughout the year, our basements need to put up with a lot. Often, these spaces are under-cared for because homeowners underestimate a basement’s impact on whole-home comfort and health.

Common signs of home performance problems caused by your basement can include:

  • Mold growth in your basement

  • High humidity

  • Musty smell in your basement and even on the first floor

  • High heating and cooling costs

  • Uneven temperatures in your home

How to Know if You Need Basement Encapsulation or Insulation?

Encapsulation

An un-encapsulated basement is a common cause of allergy symptoms in a home, and can lead to more comfort issues than homeowners often realize. 

Signs that your basement would benefit from encapsulation include:

  • High moisture at home, leading to mold growth

  • Presence of pests & rodents

  • A drafty basement

Evergreen wants to be sure that our services create a comfortable, healthy environment for you and your loved ones. Our 4-step basement encapsulation process includes solutions for draining excess moisture, installing a vapor barrier, improving the durability of your basement, and helping you prepare to eliminate radon,, a common problem in Maine basements and homes, . 

Insulation

Adding wall insulation and more to the basement of your MidCoast home is the best way to keep the heat you pay for from escaping. This can help regulate your heating and cooling costs year-round and reduce strain on your HVAC systems—which saves you money on system maintenance costs too. Since the rise in popularity for heat pump installation in Maine, adding insulation to your basement ceiling can also help increase your ground floor comfort.

Signs that your basement would benefit from insulation include:

  • Cold floors in the winter months

  • High energy bills

  • Inconsistent temperatures on your first floor

Evergreen Home Performance is Here to Help!

Whether you have the symptoms that indicate a need for one basement service, or both, Evergreen is here to help you improve the efficiency, health, and comfort of your MidCoast home.

Furthermore, our expert technicians are trained to help you care for your home from the floor of your basement to the top of your attic, and everything in between with air sealing, wall insulation, attic insulation, and more. No matter what ails your MidCoast Maine home, Evergreen has you covered. 

Boost home efficiency before spring brings moisture, allergy symptoms, and warmer weather. Call 207-594-2244 or contact us online today!

Keep moisture and warmth out of your home!

Evergreen has home performance services to help. 207-594-2244

From start to finish, our experience was incredible. Justin was extremely helpful. The crew was fast, friendly, and efficient. And most importantly, our home is WAY warmer and our heating is less costly. I'd highly recommend evergreen to anyone looking to upgrade their home!

John S.

South Portland

I made the mistake of NOT hiring this company last year when I bought and renovated my home. I have brought them in now and what a difference. This group knows what they are doing. They take a complete look at everything and believe they can make your home more energy efficient. They are very professional in the way they approach problems and solutions. And they find ways to save me money. Don't bother with anyone else. Bring Evergreen in before you do anything. Let them assess your issues and give you the right solutions.

Shaw

Owls Head

Awesome company. It was a few years ago that they did the audit and then we commissioned them to do the work. We subsequently sold our house and moved to South Africa, but their level of service and expertise will live on.

Odette Brown

The Evergreen crew from initial inception to installation were professional, on time, and left our place spotless. The end result was exceptional.

John Brown

Evergreen did a fantastic job replacing 28 windows in our house. They were friendly, courteous, and very detail oriented. Brian did a great job planning, estimating and executing the project. Our energy use has dropped significantly since the work was done.

Alex B.

Kittery

Evergreen came back this year to finish insulating our house. We have been remodeling and renovating an 1850s cape for several years. Their employees are very professional and pleasant to deal with. Over several years Brian Robinson has been able to schedule us in for several small areas that needed addressing and finally turning a room we used to close off in the winter into a comfortable usable space. We primarily heat with wood and since Evergreens great work our furnace has only come on ONCE this winter. Fantastic. Really satisfied customer in Thomaston.

Chris F.

Thomaston

We are so pleased with the work the team from Evergreen Home Performance did in our home. The project included encapsulation of our basement with a reinforced vapor barrier, installation of a sump pump, spray foam insulation on the walls and insulation of the heating duct work. Everyone at Evergreen was friendly and professional. The project was completed on time and in budget. Our home is much cozier and warmer since the project was completed.

Linda Metzger

Nothing but good things to say. The guys that came and did the actual work were extremely nice and did a great job. The energy audit was thorough and I was presented with multiple improvement options, I was even given ideas for improvement that Evergreen didn't offer. I never felt like I was being "sold".

Ryan Adams

We just finished a large project air sealing and reinsulating our 1890s basement and attic. It had been completely renovated 8 years ago, but still felt cold, and lacked proper energy assessment and corrections. We met with Justin in December and were very impressed with his knowledge, professionalism and communication skills and knew Evergreen was who we wanted to work with. Dave was our on hands project manager and was excellent. The office staff has been quick to respond and helpful as well when needed.

E Gallant

Kennebunk

First we have Evergreen do a BIG project worth about $20K (windows, basement, insulate & rebuild an entire wall, a door, attics, and air sealing). They were so great we had them come back later when we decided we did want to do our other door. They are professional and do great work. They take care of your home and are trustworthy, and on top of all that friendly! I highly recommend you call them!

Garreth C Debiegun

Update 12/2018: Evergreen has completed Phase II of my house (insulating and installing air/moisture barrier on exterior walls, replacing old windows) and now that heating season is upon us, the difference is astonishing. The house is tight as a drum and so easy to keep warm. Worth every penny. Thank you all! Working with Evergreen was a positive experience from start (no charge energy audit) to finish (a MUCH more comfortable home). Brian Robinson spent a lot of time with me on the audit, explaining clearly what he was finding in my ca.

Rebekah W.

Rockport

Thorough, smart, informative, integrated, and communicative -- that's how my experience was with Evergreen even with the covid interruption midstream. The team picked up where they left off, insulated basement and air sealed attic and knee wall in 100' temps under the eaves! This business group was a pleasure to work with.

Karen W.

Gray

Highly recommended. Our heating usage is now less than half what it was before we had our roof insulated. Evergreen was knowledgeable, friendly, and left no trace they were ever in our house. Not only is our heating bill much lower now, but our home is generally more comfortable year-round with less temperature fluctuations. Money well spent.

RC Lations

We couldn't be more pleased with the easy, professional, high-value service from Evergreen. Having purchased an older home that had been in our family for generations, we needed multiple upgrades, including insulation throughout. Evergreen insulated our attic with blown-in cellulose, built a new, super-insulated attic hatch, sealed off the old one (which was just a piece of plywood in a closet ceiling), and also talked us through our best options to upgrade our heating system given the plans we have to add onto the house.

Tom G.

South Thomaston

Evergreen is a terrific company to deal with. Polite and efficient crews, meeting deadlines and major reduction in our heat bills. They corrected a lot of issues we suffered from doing work with a shoddy building contractor. We would recommend them to anyone.

Mary Carey

Portland Buy Local
Efficiency Maine
EPA Lead-Safe Certified
Building Performance Association
BPI Certified