In the first week
- The draughts stop. This is the air sealing rather than the insulation, and it
is immediate. The cold that used to move across the floor in the evening is the first thing people
mention.
- The furnace cycles differently. Longer gaps between runs. Some people find it
eerie for a few days.
- The upstairs stops being a different climate. The temperature difference
between the thermostat and the far bedroom narrows noticeably.
Over the first season
- The bill. One month is not evidence — weather varies more than your
envelope does. A full heating season compared against degree-days is evidence.
- Ice dams stop forming at the eaves, where blocked soffits and a leaky ceiling
were causing them.
- Frost stops appearing on the underside of the roof sheathing, which you will
only know if you go up and look. Worth doing once in January.
- The house gets quieter, particularly under a rain or hail storm.
What does not change
- A room with three exterior walls and large windows is still the coldest room.
Insulating the ceiling above it helps; it does not make it identical to a room in the middle of
the house.
- Humidity problems get more visible, not less. A tighter house holds the
moisture you generate. If you had condensation on windows before, you may see more of it, and the
answer is ventilation and source control, not less insulation. We will say so before the work
rather than after.
- An oversized furnace is still oversized — more so, in fact, once the
load drops.
What we will not promise
A percentage saving. It depends on your fuel, your thermostat, the rest of your envelope and the
winter. Anyone who quotes you a number without measuring your house is reading it off a brochure, and
that number is the first thing that will be argued about if the bill does not move.
What we will promise is a measured depth, photographs of it, markers left in the attic so it can
be checked, and a straight answer about what we think each measure is doing.
