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

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

I never leave reviews, but had a great experience with Evergreen and wanted to spread the word! In short, we worked with them to insulate our roof this winter and have noticed surprising immediate results. The constant ice dams I have wrestled with are completely gone, and the home is noticeably more comfortable. It's a little too early to tell if our oil bill is going to reduce, but I imagine we will see an impact there as well.

Joel W.

Portland

Great company. Very professional and thorough. They take the time to explain everything and offer options to fit your budget. Wonderful experience from start to finish.

Bonnie Eustace

Professional, friendly and hard-working staff. The product/approach they use for insulation is top notch. We felt the difference immediately, both from added warmth and eliminating drafts. The team and management were easily available to answer our questions or coordinate meeting times. Highly recommended.

Kevin J.

Yarmouth

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

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

Very Satisfied with the work performed by Evergreen. Professional employees, high quality work done in a timely manner. My sales rep was Justin, and he was phenomenal During the initial walk around my house, he gave me great ideas for how to improve the efficiency of our home. We will consult with Evergreen for our future home projects.

Adam G.

Westbrook

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

We had a fantastic experience working with Evergreen to insulate our roof this winter. Everyone was extremely friendly throughout the process - the crew at our home worked hard, were approachable with questions, and the team leader even showed me around the project to point out specific areas they were working to improve.

Joel Wentz

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

In the final stages of selling our home, and with a closing date set, an inspection came across an unanticipated issue in our attic. We quickly called in contractors, but nobody was able to identify the source of the problem. Then we thought of Evergreen. Brian Robinson was on site the next morning and immediately identified the source (a faulty roofing job completed three years earlier which had effectively sealed up portions of the ridge vent and restricted air flow - not easily visible with a quick inspection).

Robin McIntosh

Camden

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

Our house still the most efficient home we’ve ever lived in. And we have you folks to thank for that! A special howdy to Brian Robinson please!

Bruce O’Donal and Eva Butler

My experience with Evergreen was excellent. From their thorough and thoughtful initial consultation to their detailed post-work visit, the team was professional, knowledgeable, and responsive. Their workmanship was top notch. Our home is now much warmer and more efficient. I highly recommend their services!

Douglas R.

Edgecomb

Evergreen listened and produced a thoughtful evaluation, proposal and comprehensive plan for our attic and basement. They exhibited excellent workmanship, teamwork, and came back as planned after the completion of the job to test the outcomes. Their overall performance as insulation and home improvement contractors is truly outstanding and we highly recommend them.

Susan S.

Saco

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