Retrofit and Remodel in Greenville

Do you feel like changing the temperature on your thermostat is making withdrawals from your bank account?

Let me introduce you to retrofit your home.org with Smith Insulation. Our goal is to help cut your energy cost while increasing the air quality and comfort of your home. We can provide you with resources and guidelines on retrofitting your home or business with spray foam insulation. Let Smith Insulation help you become more energy conservative, "Let Us Save You Money".

Do Not Settle for R-Value all together, when you can go for total comfort and save energy all together.

Your home's exterior is called a "Building Envelope". According to the Department of Energy, you are losing up to 40% of your homes energy due to air infiltration and this is escaping the Building Envelope. The envelope of your home was designed to be a barrier that should protect you from the uncontrolled movement of heat, air and moisture. This same air that is infiltrating your home or business brings in it outdoor contaminants like dust, pollen, and mold. The comfort level of your home can't be measured by R-Value alone or the insulation alone. The comfort ability and its performance is measured by your buildings ability to control air movement, air quality, sound, moistures, and how efficient your building may be.

Retrofitting your home or business with spray foam insulation gives you a cost effective and lightweight air sealant insulation, which helps control the movement of air, moisture infiltration, and heat movement all at the same time. Our system will provide R-Value under extreme conditions, keeping your home from losing or gaining heat.

Spray foam controls sound issues. Sound pollution is carried through air leaks within the building envelope. Spray foam can expand by 120% sealing and preventing this sound from traveling by air infiltration. Spray foam doesn't just help you save money it also provides more benefits and reasons to retrofit your home or business and began to saving money today. Go green in comfort.

How Does Spray Foam Work

Buildings including your home or business will have air infiltration from cracks or gaps. These crevices will allow air to infiltrate the building. Mother Nature beyond our control will use these openings forcing air, heat, moisture to come inside. Remember US Department of Energy comment that we lose up to 40% of energy from these infiltrations.

When the air from the outside replaces the air in the building envelope, this is called a "natural air change". Homes built years ago can have more than three natural air changes an hour. When this happens your conditioned air inside is leaking out and being replaced by the ambient air up to seventy times within twenty four hour period. You know the power meter is running and your ac or heat unit seems to be on nonstop.

Spray foams expansion up to 120% stops air flow by sealing gaps and crevices. You now have created an air barrier doing more than just insulating and dramatically lowering energy consumption in your home. The Building Envelope will perform different and you should notice the difference not only with comfort but with energy conservative.

Our attics can reach temperatures up to 160 degrees and no matter what we do these spaces seem to become unbearable. These spaces will get hotter than ambient temperatures. Whirly birds, louvers, ridge vents, gable vents, soffit vents, electric or solar control heat extractor fans help a little but these temps still climb to unbelievable highs. With spray foam we have seen temps in the attic within 8 – 10 degrees of inside temperature. Your ac or heat unit's recovery is minimal when they do not have to combat high or lower environment temperatures.

Questions asked often – Some information you need to know about retrofitting your home or building.

Do we keep the insulation in the attic? This depends entirely on the spray foam application you choose. If you choose an unvented attic system this answer probably will be no. The unvented attic or closed assembly is the most popular spray foam application. If your heat and air system is in the attic along with all the duct work this system will be the greatest energy savings to you. Remember "lets save some money". Let me explain this application, foam is sprayed to the attic ceiling or roof deck. This makes the area a semi-conditioned space. It is crucial that all insulation is removed from the attic floor prior to the retrofit application using spray polyurethane foam insulation in the unvented attic assembly. Remember the thermal barrier is being changed; now the roof has become this barrier. For this system to work correctly there must not be any vapor barrier between the occupied area and the attic. Removal of the existing attic insulation is required by code. The removal of the insulation is required to ensure an airtight seal is created with the foam along the top plate of the exterior walls. The existing insulation can provide a safety risk since it is located directly on top of the sheetrock ceiling and does not allow the applicator to achieve a proper footing in the attic when installing the SPF insulation. The existing insulation has the ability to leach the odor created during the install of the SPF insulation. This leaching can cause the SPF install to linger indefinitely. The attic floor must be vacuumed prior to the spraying operation. One of the problems with attic floor insulations is rodents and other pests may occupy these attic spaces. If the remains of these pests are not removed from the attic floor the odors associated is unpleasant to discuss. Remember with a sealed system application should not have to contend with these odors in the future. We have seen how some of these pests can hide and you may want to consider pest control foggers to help extract these pests from the attic.

We are a certified applicator and highly recommend now one try any of these techniques discussed here.

Tax Credits Available

Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit for 2011

• Home improvement tax credit: 10% of cost of the home improvement, up to a maximum of $500.
• Expiration: December 31, 2016
• Eligibility: Must be on an existing home & your principal residence. New construction and rentals don’t qualify. The spray foam insulation has to be placed in service in 2011.

You can receive at most a home improvement tax credit of $500. If you've already received credits totaling $500 or more from 2005-2010, you aren't able to claim the credit in 2011.

Is Spray Foam Insulation Eligible For The 2011 Home Improvement Tax Credit?

• Spray foam insulation is covered so long as it meets IECC requirements.
• Installation cost is NOT covered.

Applying For the 2011 Tax Credit

• To claim the energy efficient products tax credit, you’ll need to claim the credit on your 2011 taxes in 2012. You will need to complete Form 5695 from the IRS, which should be sent in with your return. Additionally you will need to save the receipt received from your spray foam contractor and the Manufacturer’s Certification Statement.
• Visit dsireusa.org to find out if there are any state incentives for renewables and efficiency in your area.