Complete Home Solutions Q&A

There are many ways to get rid of mold, but the best way is to prevent mold from having the chance to grow. To do this, you need to fix your home's moisture problem. Mold needs the right combination of moisture, temperature and a food source to grow. Stopping anyone, or all, of these, will cause mold to go dormant and prevent it from spreading. To get your mold problem fixed, you'll need to know exactly how, where and why your problem showed up in the first place. For more information, contact your reliable home comfort experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

Each job and each project is unique to the size of the home as well as the necessary work needed to be performed. On average, our jobs take a couple of hours but some larger homes have taken several days.

Each home and each project is unique to their own circumstances and the amount of work required. However, Complete Home Solutions offers various product packages and financing options for your potential project. 

Air sealing is the first, and most important, step to creating a more comfortable and energy efficient home. Heated air is buoyant and rises to the top of your home where it finds many ways to leak out into your attic and is lost. Stopping this air movement is key. Air sealing is what stops this air movement, allowing you to keep and enjoy your conditioned air longer. Air sealing involves finding any gaps, holes at wire penetrations, ducts and pipe openings and the tops of walls and sealing them to stop this air leakage. The average attic floor is full of those kinds of holes, gaps, and seams that leak out and waste your conditioned air. For more information on how to air seal your attic, contact your reliable home comfort experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

There are many ways to insulate your crawl space ceiling, and in doing this you are separating your crawl space from your living space (ask us why that's important). One way to insulate is to use closed cell spray foam insulation. This is applied by spraying the foam in between the joists directly on the crawl ceiling (which should only be done by a licensed contractor). Once the application is complete, the spray foam hardens, resulting in a high R-value. This is a higher R-value per inch than fiberglass insulation (which we will explain momentarily). Along with being a great insulator, closed-cell spray foam also acts as a great water barrier (preventing moisture from seeping into your floor joists). 

Another way to insulate is to use fiberglass batt insulation. This is applied by rolling out the insulation, fitting it between your floor joists, and securing it in place. When combined with air sealing strategies, fiberglass can be a good alternative to spray foam.

Another technique for insulating your crawl space, which slightly varies from the last two methods, is to use the Cleanspace Encapsulation technique. This is different in that it actually brings your crawl space into your home's building envelope (rather than separating the two spaces). This is typically done by insulating the walls of your crawl space and installing a vapor barrier on the floor. 

For more information, contact your reliable home comfort experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

Insulating a finished wall can be tricky. You want to do the least amount of damage while providing the highest possible insulation R-value. A way this can be done is with the "drill and fill" method. To do this, we first start by drilling a 3" hole into each joist bay of the wall. Next, we dense pack blown cellulose insulation into the hole, which is then plugged and ready for spackle and paint. For more information, contact your reliable home comfort experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

You can insulate walls in many ways. You can use the standard fiberglass batt insulation. In this method, the insulation is rolled out and placed in between the studs of the walls. This method only really works if you are planning on finishing the wall. You can also use closed cell spray foam. Spray foam is a two-part foam that is sprayed onto exterior walls. This method provides a higher R-value per inch and has the added value of air sealing. For more information, contact your reliable home comfort experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

There are a lot of home remedies and commercial items out there that can treat and kill mold. Mold-X Cleaner is an effective tool for the cleaning and treatment of mold-contaminated building surfaces. However, this only neutralizes mold at the time of application. The only way to completely treat mold is to prevent mold from growing in the first place. Mold grows when you have mold spores (seeds of mold), high moisture and humidity, organic material and temperatures ranging from 32 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Crawl space and basements perfectly match this description, making them a breeding ground for mold. Our homes are built out of organic material: we can't fix that. We like our temperature and we can't get rid of mold spores (they are everywhere). That leaves one thing that can be fixed: moisture. Here lies the secret to mold prevention. To get your mold problem fixed, you'll need to know exactly how and why the problem showed up in the first place. For more information, contact your reliable home comport experts at Complete Home Solutions for a FREE estimate today. 

Adding more insulation itself won't necessarily affect your overall energy usage. Pairing proper air sealing and the recommended levels of insulation won't only seal off your home but create a thermal barrier surrounding your home as well. This combination will lead to a massive reduction in energy usage. 

A blower door test is a diagnostic tool that is designed to measure the air leakage of your home. The blower door depressurizes your house to exactly 50 pascals which then allows you to figure out how 'tight' your home is. This can help pinpoint the leaks and potential problem areas throughout your home. 

Insulation is rated in terms of thermal resistance, called R-value, whihc indicates the resistance to heat flow. The higher the R-value, the greater the insulating effectiveness. The R-value of thermal insulation depends on the type of material, its thickness, and its density. In calculating the R-value of a multi-layered installation, the R-values of teh individual layers are added. 

Cellulose is a type of blown in insualtion made up of recycled newspaper that not only creates a thermal barrier, but it reduces air infiltration as well as noise pollution throughout your home. 

Mold X Cleaner effectively eliminates and prevents mold.  Mold X works as it dries by crushing the mold spores at the roots and leaving behind an invisible antimicrobial barrier to help prevent future mold growth.  After treatment, your area is now ready for a permanent repair to keep humidity low.  (Of course, if the relative humidity goes up again in the future, new mold can grow.)

Mold X Neutralizer is fogged in your affected area as an effective treatment to neutralize (kill) mold on contaminated surfaces.  Fogging gets mold x into all the nooks and crannies of your crawl space to reach most mold locations.  While it’s still visible, mold is dead and unable to produce spores.  Your area is now ready for a permanent repair to keep humidity low.  (Of course, if the relative humidity goes up again in the future, new mold can grow.)

The answer to this question depends on:

- how much insulation is needed

- the accessibility of the insulation location

- the space available for the insulation

- local availability and price of insulation, and 

- other considerations unique to each purchaser

Unfortunately, your cold floors are due to the fact that your basement or crawlspace is leaking cold outside air up into your home. Proper air sealing in the rim and band joists can seal off basements and crawlspaces which means no more cold air making it into your home and freezing your floors. 

Issues related to temperature differences between rooms can often be pinpointed to problems with air sealing, ductwork, and your HVAC system. Unsealed ducts allow conditioned air to escape from the ducts before making it to the desired location. Meaning rooms located furthest from your HVAC system might be suffering the most. Proper air sealing can return your home to a proper balance pertaining to temperature and comfort.

Air sealing will seal off the majority if not all of the holes in your attic and crawlspace. These holes allow air to move in and out of your home. Which means that the air you're paying to cool off in the summer is leaking out of your home and the air you want to heat up in the winter is escaping your home. 

Depsite popular belief new windows and replacing your old windows won't solve many problems relating to the tightness of your home and air leaking in and out of your home. The attic is the number one place where air leaks out of your house with the basement/crawlspaces being the second biggest problem area. Instead of replacing your windows and still suffering from an uncomfortable home, air sealing both your attic and basemnt/crawlspace will see substantial results regarding the comfort of your home compared to replacing your windows. 

Crawlspaces can be a home to dirt, mold, mildew, moisture, and even bugs. However, an untreated crawlspace allows all that dirty air to move up and into your home through open cavities and rim joists which can lead to potential respiratory issues in the future.