Sorry, Kid: The Truth about Insulation

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It’s hard not to bring your work home with you – especially when your work focuses on homes. That explains why the dinner-table conversation at my house tends to include insulation, basement encapsulation, and the potential of PACE and PowerSavers to transform Maine’s energy landscape.

It also explains why my seven-year-old knows so much about what’s behind our walls. A few minutes with an infrared camera confirmed her worst suspicions: her brother has more insulation than she does.

Let me explain. Like a fair number of Evergreen Home Performance customers, I’m tackling the energy efficiency of my 1856 farmhouse in stages. The first priority was making the barn-turned-playroom into livable space – a project that made the whole family happy and comfortable, and saved us a good chunk of change in heating costs. Basement encapsulation is likely to come next, and we’ll get to blowing insulation into the empty wall cavities eventually.

“Eventually” can’t come soon enough for the girl with the least-insulated bedroom, especially now that she’s learned the truth about home performance and year-round comfort. It happened like this, during last week’s sweltering weather:

Her: “Well, at least I’m happy I don’t have insulation in my walls NOW. That means my bedroom is cooler, right?”

Me: “Hmmm. Actually, insulation keeps you warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.”

Her: “What?! That is TOTALLY NOT FAIR! I bet all of my friends have insulation in THEIR walls!”

Once she settled down a bit, she managed a more reasonable response: “Mom, could you please get Evergreen to come do an insulation project so I’m not freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer?”

Will do, sweetie.

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This team of individuals was professional at all times. They set up barriers that kept the dust at a minimum. They conducted an air flow audit and cut the draft circulation from the outside in half by sealing cracks. They hauled out the old insulation and replaced it with blown in insulation with an R - 60 Value. They also did the rebate paperwork so that I could get my $1500.00 rebate from the state of Maine. I highly recommend Evergreen Home Performance!

Daniel B.

Rockland

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

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

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

Several years ago Brian Robinson evaluated the crawl space at my summer home on Islesboro where I knew moisture was becoming a problem. I had done quite a bit of work in the space many years prior with mixed results. When Brian offered some suggestions, they were ideas that incorporated work previously done, and would be a relatively low cost effort to improve the situation. He offered this advice over several phone conversations of some length, informally, and at no charge.

Cliff R.

Islesboro

The Evergreen crew who installed insulation in my attic were fantastic! They were very professional, worked exceedingly hard, and they did an excellent job. They were very pleasant and friendly to be around. They cleaned up beautifully after each work day, and left my home in great shape on when they walked out the door for the last time. I can't believe they were able to accomplish all that they did with heat soaring into the 80s and 90s. It was pretty unbearable up there! They have my highest praise and my gratitude.

Cynthia F.

South Portland

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

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

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

I have always been impressed by the high level of service, quality of work, and excellent follow-through provided by Evergreen Home Performance in the three projects that they completed at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm over the past several years.

Paul D.

Wells

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

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

I would recommend Evergreen wholeheartedly because of their professionalism, their follow through, and thoughtful project planning.

Jennifer A

Great job installing windows and insulation.

Bob S.

Rockland

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

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