Good illustration of stack effect!

Thank you!

I got 16inches of insulation or so and need to replace a bathroom fan. Should i dig my way out to it or just walk on top?

Great video! Concise and well-explained 👏👏👏

Can this be installed without getting into the attic because I don't have easy access to my attic?

I wish I had that much space!😂 Try this in a 3 pitch roof!! I'm suffering up there man!😂

We need to install an attic ladder, and I’m concerned this might cause us to fail the blower door test for our spec home build. What do you recommend for sealing the attic ladder to prevent air leakage from the attic and ensure we pass the test?

Great video. What would your approach be if a cape cod does not have soffit vents? We do have ridge vents in the peak of the roof and gable vents up in the peak area as well. We currently have super old batting insulation within that knee wall scrawl space that are stapled to the roof rafter areas--of which most of them are falling down and not working properly which is why are are looking to update it. We have had 2 different energy companies come out to our house and give us their opinions on what to do and it was typically a combination of spray foam the corner of the house all the way up until it reached the kneewall/slope area before it goes into the actual sloped area, spray in packed cellulose in the sloped area, and spray in cellulose in the devils triangle peak area. Combining all of this with some foil/foam stuff to seal in the cellulose. Both companies said by doing this we wouldn’t need to insulate the lower flat attic since this would now be “conditioned” space nor would be have to spray foam any of the air gaps from lets say canned lights, etc. I kind of see the logic here, but I feel you would want to also seal off any air gaps between the 1st and the 2nd floor since we already have return vents upstairs in our HVAC system. They also said that since this would now be conditioned space, that that area of the attic wouldn't be too much hotter than our actual bedroom on the other side of the kneewall--which I find hard to believe.... Secondly-I always thought that attic need ventilation but according to these two companies, they said we didn’t need ventilation since they would be making it conditioned space. If we were to completely seal that attic space, that means no air would be going through the slope area and out of the ridge vent-which I thought was the reason for having such things. Apologies for the long comment!! Your video has been so helpful in actually explaining things so I wanted to get your opinion on my situation.....thanks!

I love those magnetic plastic covers! They seal better than most standard metal filter doors too 👍🏼

what in the world is that suppose to be!!

The purpose of a baffle is to allow insulation to cover the edges of the wall asembly at full height but keep it out of the eaves. If you put in blown insulation you really want this installed. Something like 5 or 6 feet lengths is all that's needed. Air? Going to flow with or without it.

I'm finding your videos to be really helpful. Thanks for taking the time to do them!

Get to the point

Love the foam board sandwich on the attic hatch. That’s exactly how I like doing them too 👍🏼

The old fan is pure nostalgia to me sure it’s loud and obnoxious but it reminds me of better times.

after watching your great video, I have started thinking of sealing the knee wall with spray foam to keep it seperate from other areas as conditioned space. That will seal of soffit vents there but hopefully it will be fine. Not sure about what to do about attic space tough. Currently I have blown in, and worrying about blocking soffit vents there if we blown more. Do you think it should be fine because i have gable and ridge vents? or what is the best way to increase r value there, it seems no one wants to go there and they only suggest blown in from attic access point. Thanks a lot

Put a flow hood over the cat door!

Thanks for the informative video. I am sure there are several similar issues in my own home that need correcting. Would you be willing to post a cost breakdown and explanation for some of the projects you've done and what homeowners like myself can expect to spend from the types of services you perform? How much did John spend for the work you did for him? Thanks again.

My 1995 house had all these issues. Also, it barely has soffit vents, and the ones it had were blocked and difficult to access, and had not gable vents at all. What I did was install a gable vent at one end and an attic fan at the other to get cross flow ventilation. I did that, spray foam on all the penetrations I could reach, and a radiant barrier. It's helped my AC bill by about 20% this summer.

How did you manage to fix it?

Peoples eyes glaze over when I try to explain air sealing and the large financial benefits of doing it. When I show them my electric bill and the energy use graph of my home compared to the top 20% of the most energy efficient homes in the area, they are sold. They start asking what did you do to see a reduction like that? BTW I started getting serious with Air Sealing, the last week of February of this year. This summer my home (Built 1960 just under 1700 sqft) used anywhere from 10% less in May, to 32% and up to 36% less energy than the most energy efficient homes as shown by the electric company on my June-August bills. What is really hitting home with me is, I just finished up my Rim Joist and cantilever / bump out, this weekend, and that will be on my Sept bill. The attic is the last area to hit. I haven't done much up there as of yet. Over the years I foam sealed about 1/3 of the wire holes, all the pipe intrusions and put on an insulated Attic Stair cover. I only have 5.5-6.0 inches of old fiberglass batt insulation up there now. Once air sealed It will be getting all new insulation rated at R-60. I'm looking forward to seeing how much my heating bills drop this winter. Something to think about, if you keep saying to yourself, you'll get around to it some day. I thought about the original owners of my house. These people probably spent in 2024 dollars, between $400 and $500 dollars a year on excessive energy bills over the time they lived here. They did nothing, to very little, to improve the energy efficiency of this house. I probably spent around $250-$300 a year more than I should have in the first ten years I lived here.

Have you drilled right through the soffit panel?

Теперь устройство дышит

I love these videos

Do a video on re-engineering rafters that block walking so I can open it up and walk around easily. Like put up pony braces and cross supports at the top so I can eliminate that maze of X's everywhere.

What did you do to get those results?

Thank you for this video. I have a question, i just built my home and have these exact same ones. However I am noticing air flowing back in and not much flowing out. What could this be? A kink in the line? The damper being stuck?

Possibly change variable speed on your motor. Back through mastic your elbows. '90s and takeoffs. I couldn't see but being an older house the ductwork is probably in the joist space and the floors. You could always pitch a total new duct system. But being an elderly family probably on a fixed income you could always do an aroseal . Ive even just taken the sheet metal casing off the bottom mastic painted everything I could see after a quick abatement process with diluted bleach and whatever abatement chemical may be necessary. Wait to dry before mastic. A lot of these older systems leak air in every nook and cranny you could possibly find. Not to mention that old s***** duct tape isn't really good for anything. We just didn't have anything better at the time.

That appeared to be 2 feet of fiberglass insulation backed with foil as a radient barrier. It even had vent chutes installed the entire length up. That's absolutely perfect. The only problem was that some fell off in ONE section, which could have been fixed in ten minutes almost for free. Why would that need full removal and replacement? Also, I noticed the chutes removed prior to foam installation, how does that breathe now?

Do you work in Virginia or can you refer a company that does this same type of work?

I’d love a video on your internal wetting system

👌👌👌

Very nice

Great video. Very informative. Able to share the estimated cost of a project like this?

This is one of the last air sealing projects in my house and was shocked at what I found. Started working on my rim joist this week, which goes back twenty inches, due to the overhang in front of the house. Who ever owned the house before or the builder decided that stuffing R-13 paper backed fiberglass insulation in the space was a good solution for air leakage in the area. I started on it yesterday afternoon by pulling out all the disintegrating insulation and cleaning out the bays. I planned this morning to use a 24" great stuff spray foam gun on the back at the seams to seal it up, before using inch and half foam blocks and Mineral wool insulation. I didn't notice it yesterday afternoon because the sun was on the other side of the house at the time, but this morning I couldn't believe what I was looking at, Daylight coming though the back of my rim joists. Every single bay three out of the four sides on the back panel had daylight coming through the seams. I couldn't understand why the marble windowsills above the overhang were always ice cold in the winter, I do now. I think my heating bills this winter are going to drop a lot, once I'm done with this project.

“And the foyer will be much more comfortable this winter” for all the people who can’t hear. It’s insulating/stopped the heat from leaking out of your house in case this isn’t clear either.

What?

Did we just make an insulation trap door?

We need a 3in gap below the floor for termite inspections in NC

I know exactly how much air leaks out of my basement. Nothing I don't have a basement😂

I can’t hear you. “And the foyer will be much….”

I changed my motor to blow into the house. The outside exhaust was letting in to much heat or could. I packed it with insulation and sealed it off. Made a huge difference!

Looks like a mobile home

Also where were they feeling the uncomfortable temperature at the 1st or 2nd floor ?

What is the silver pipe?

Had a double wide house. Everytime the furnace heating came on cool air from the basement would come heavily up the stairwell from the basement didn t make sense.

If interested, watch the related video to see several leakage places up close!

What about when it’s time to replace the fan assembly? Cut the foam away with a razor knife?

Check out the related vid to see the hole up close.

Question- how do the work effect the heating and air conditioning costs? Clearly the air sealing was great and the original windows weren’t leaking that badly, but what about the u value dollars saved because of the new Windows. I suspect not that much. Please enlighten me on these questions. Respectfully