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This is an early 1980's home that was probably built on speculation at a low cost, but the property is beautiful, and the 3,200sf of space on the main floors plus full unfinished basement was plenty of space for the owners' family. The existing insulation and envelope air sealing were poor, with only one inch of rigid foam insulation above the family room cathedral ceiling! The project called for a reconfiguration of the kitchen and family room to create a modern open floor plan with improved access to the rear deck and screened porch. The thermal envelope is being dramatically upgraded. In this picture, you can see that the exterior walls have been wrapped with three inches of 2lb, closed cell foam to create an air-tight, R-30+ exterior wall assembly with almost no thermal bridging (heat loss through the framing). The basement walls will be insulated to R-20 and the attic rafters to R-49, which will allow for the new forced-air geothermal heating system to be installed completely within the conditioned thermal envelope. Finally, new Energy Star rated windows will complete the conversion of this home from an energy inefficient and uncomfortable home to the exact opposite.
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