The Home Performance Upgrade You Will Notice Most? Basement Insulation.

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As a home performance contractor, we talk to many homeowners throughout Southern Maine and the Midcoast who want to know which home performance upgrades will make the biggest difference. With each home presenting its own challenges, and with so many upgrades to choose from, it can feel overwhelming to comb through the retrofits that will increase your home comfort and energy efficiency the most. But we hear it time and time again: Insulation for the basement and basement encapsulation makes the biggest difference for Maine homes! Here’s why. 

Why Basement Insulation Works for Maine Homes

By trusting a local basement insulation contractor to insulate the area under your house, you are turning your basement into a conditioned space. The role of insulation is to prevent the transfer of heat between your home’s exterior surfaces —  like the foundation — and the outdoors. Once air sealed and insulated, your basement will no longer be at the whim of Maine’s sub-freezing winter temperatures and stuffy, humid summers. The more stable the temperatures are in the basement, the more stable the temperatures will be throughout your home! Some of the benefits of basement insulation include:

  • No more cold floors in the winter

  • Greater indoor temperature stability

  • Reduced “stack effect”

  • Lower heating & cooling costs

  • Fewer indoor drafts

The Best Way To Insulate a Basement

Some insulation contractors may tell you that insulating the basement ceiling is all you’ll need to do to insulate your basement — false! Insulating the ceiling may keep your floors less cold, but it will not do much for the actual temperature of your home, and could lead to frozen water pipes and cold heating system distribution networks (air ducts or hot water piping). We find that the best way is to insulate the basement walls. Why, you ask? Your basement walls are where your home is most vulnerable to the unpredictable New England weather, including moisture intrusion, cold air drafts, and the conduction of cold temperatures through your foundation’s stone, brick, or concrete wall surfaces.

By insulating the walls of your basement, you are preventing those unwanted temperatures from entering your living space in the first place, instead of just preventing them from reaching the floors of your home. 

Spray Foam vs Rigid Foam Insulation? It Depends.

The second aspect of properly insulating a basement is sealing up any air leaks. For older homes with stone or brick foundations,  utilizing an expanding spray foam insulation product, air seals and insulates all at once. And for newer homes with uniform concrete basement walls,  taped and sealed rigid foam panels can be a great solution. These treatments are particularly beneficial for Midcoast Maine homes that experience basement air moisture throughout all four seasons. The less moisture in your home, the lower your risk of mold growth.

Read how properly insulating the basement of a 19th Century Deering Center home helped reduce annual heating and hot water bills by $3,300, and how Evergreen helped this family save with Efficiency Maine Rebates!

READ THE FULL STORY


Evergreen: Your Maine Basement Encapsulation and Insulation Experts

If you’ve got questions about your insulation needs — whether it’s an environmentally friendly insulation for an unfinished basement, insulation for sills in your basement, insulation for the basement floor, or whether or not you should insulate your exposed pipes, we are here to make sure you get the answers you need. By scheduling an energy audit with Evergreen Home Performance, we can help you reduce your heat loss in the winter and stop the summer winds from blowing into your living space. From Belfast down to Cape Elizabeth, trust Evergreen with all of your home performance needs!

Wondering what the best home performance upgrade is for your Maine home? Ask the experts! Go Evergreen today, by calling 207-594-2244 or you can get in touch here.

Wondering why your floors have been so cold this winter?

The answer is in your basement. 207-594-2244

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

Really great experience from start to finish with Evergreen. They helped us prioritize what needed to be completed first, and has made a significant difference in our hearing costs already. Plus they were really friendly and considerate to work with!

Amy W.

Kennebunk

We needed basement encapsulation to stop moisture coming up into the house from our regularly flooding basement. We had mold growing on windowsills and furniture. All the staff were friendly, respectful of our home, and easy to work with. Humidity has gone from 70% down to 40% and mold has not grown back after two months. Very grateful.

Sarah C.

Belfast

We had Evergreen Home Performance of Rockland come in to make our home more energy efficient, and what a TOP notch crew. Brian and his crew did an amazing job from start to finish. Very knowledgeable and professional. We would Definitely highly recommend this crew to anyone who is looking for energy efficiency in their home with a company that truly is an expert and knows how to do a quality job and truly cares about their customer.

Melissa S.

Owls Head

Evergreen did everything they said they would and more. I actually don't mind going into the basement now since they sealed it. The air quality in the house is noticeably better and it's warmer in the winter. We can even store clothing down there where before, whatever was in there would mildew. Even the spider population declined! I used to vacuum so many of them from the corners of the ceilings in the house. Not any more!

Loriel Van Dusen

From beginning to end – that is from the moment Justin McEdward stepped into our home to assess our energy conservation needs until the crew left – the Evergreen Home Performance process went absolutely smoothly. Justin made a thorough inspection and took pictures with an infrared camera. His proposal described the scope of work in detail, and he explained what we could expect the proposed work to accomplish. Our proposal was forthcoming within a couple of days, and Justin was available to discuss it and answer questions.

Adrienne Harkavy

We had Evergreen come out to our tiny old (100+ year old) house to see what they would recommend for decreasing our carbon footprint, saving money, and increasing our comfort in the cold season. Richard and Bryan were great to work with, patiently answering our many questions and walking us through multiple options. We could only afford to tackle a few areas this year; we ended up replacing some windows and having them weatherize the entire house.

Alan M.

Falmouth

Working with Evergreen was a dream! Professional, knowledgeable, and super clean work. Communication was fast and service impeccable. The bedroom floors in our 1960's split ranch will be warm with the new insulation between them and the garage. Bring on the snow! (not really, but sort of)

Jess Dee Proctor

We had Evergreen redo the insulation in our roof. The team handling our project did a great job. They left the house spotless. We've already noticed the difference in how much better our house is retaining heat. I would definitely recommend and will use them for future projects.

Ffej C.

South Portland

Evergreen did an amazing job insulating our historic home. Their professional staff worked hard to ensure the tough areas in the attic were covered, and clearly communicated their progress. We are seeing the results with our discounted heating bills. Thank you, Evergreen!

Melissa Knoll

Portland

Great team!

George S.

Bath

Evergreen completed the work at my home thoroughly and professionally. An inspector from Efficiency Maine came to inspect afterwards and described it as "state of the art" and "outstanding". The crew was very pleasant and considerate during the project. Their cleanup each day was perfect. Communications with the office were easy and reliable. I am very satisfied.

Catherine H.

South Portland

The team members were very professional, worked very hard, paid very close attention to detail and cleaned up meticulously every day. I really appreciated the care they took knowing the smallest details were going to make a big difference to our heating bills. Thank you!

Pam B.

Brunswick

I was very impressed by the professionalism of this company and the workers. Brian R. was very prompt in replying to my questions; the crew was meticulous in all parts of the work and attentive to the safety aspects concerning Covid; and Brian was extremely thorough in the final inspection. My attic is now snug and warm and I've noticed that the second floor is warmer as well.

Julia S.

Rockland

The folks at Evergreen did a great job fixing a rather major insulation problem in my house, which they helped identify with a great audit. When the work began, they were thorough, upbeat, and -- dare I say it -- efficient. I strongly recommend them.

Michael Williams

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