Portland, Maine-based Upright Frameworks is one of the region’s most successful home performance contractors. A jump-start from the federal stimulus package in 2009 helped the company get on its feet; now, a steady stream of referrals keeps the weatherizing work coming, along with major remodeling and new construction jobs.
Doing competent, effective work on the weatherizing end helps the company build a strong reputation that pays off in the form of referrals and repeat customers for larger jobs, says company founder Josh Wojcik. This month, JLC stopped by an Upright Frameworks weatherizing job in Durham, Maine to see the action on site.
The job was a classic home performance repair: the existing roof had been constructed without an effective air barrier between the occupied second floor and the roof above. Warm, moist air escaping into the unvented roof from below had made the house expensive to heat — and was also damaging the roof. The low-pitched, almost flat roof structure made access to the space difficult. But in any case, the Advantech roof sheathing, although only about ten years old, was covered in mildew and showing signs of moisture damage. So the customer elected to remove the roof sheathing and replace it — which provided easier access for the crew to carefully air-seal the second floor ceiling, and to install a combination of dense-blown and loose-fill cellulose in the roof. At the same time, the crew would install gable end vents and ridge vents.
With the roof off, Upright Frameworks weatherizing tech Scott Phillips took advantage of the situation to air-seal the brick chimney chase from above (see slideshow). It was tricky work at close quarters, but as Phillips said: “We don’t normally get the opportunity for it to be this easy.”
If you’re in doubt about the importance of this particular air leak, consider this: at one point, when Phillips’ driver bit fell out of his DeWalt cordless driver, the bit fell through the chimney chase all the way to the floor of the basement, thirty feet below. Until it was sealed up with metal flashing and high-temperature caulk, the air leak at the chimney opening represented a superhighway for air from every floor of the house to rise into the attic unimpeded.
