A Couple Smaller Spray Foam Jobs in Zion That Helped a Lot

We met this homeowner at a home show over near Zion, IL 60099, and honestly at first it sounded like a pretty small issue.

Nothing major. Just one area of the house that never seemed to stay comfortable no matter what they did with the thermostat. We see this a lot around Zion and even over toward Waukegan and Beach Park where some of these homes have decent insulation in one area and almost none in another.

You could tell pretty quick the attic was part of the problem.

The first job was up in the attic

For the first project, we applied spray foam to the ceiling of the attic to help stabilize the temperature in the living area underneath it.

The second we got up there, you could feel it. It was one of those hotter attic days where the air just sits heavy and stale. Kind of like opening an oven that never fully cooled off.

Not great.

The homeowner mentioned that certain rooms underneath the attic were always harder to keep comfortable, especially during the colder months and in the middle of summer. That’s usually how it goes. A lot of people assume their HVAC system is failing when really the home is just leaking air everywhere.

Spray foam helped tighten that area up quite a bit.

Honestly, the difference surprised them

And not in a dramatic sales pitch kind of way either.

About a week after the project, the homeowner called and said the area underneath the attic already felt noticeably more stable temperature-wise. Less fluctuation. Less of that constant running from the HVAC system.

That part mattered.

Sometimes these smaller projects end up making a bigger daily difference than people expect because they affect spaces you walk through every single day.

Then we got another call later

About a year and a half later, the same homeowner reached back out to us.

This time it was the basement.

They said during winter the basement just stayed cold no matter what. Floors above it felt cooler too, especially near the edges of the house. We originally thought there might be a larger draft issue somewhere else, but after looking around a bit, the rim joists were the real issue.

That was it.

Rim joists are kind of one of those things

A lot of homeowners don’t even know what rim joists are until we show them.

But they matter more than people realize, especially in Northern Illinois winters where cold air finds every little opening it can. The gaps around rim joists are kind of like tiny open windows hidden around the perimeter of the basement.

So, we applied spray foam insulation along the rim joists to help seal those areas up and keep the basement warmer during winter.

Smaller job again.

But useful.

One thing we noticed during the second project

The homeowner still remembered exactly where the comfort improved after the attic work from the first project. He pointed right at the area underneath the attic and said it was finally usable year-round now.

You don’t always hear homeowners describe insulation projects that way, but honestly that’s the goal.

Just making parts of the home feel normal again.

The basement project only took part of the day, but even while we were wrapping up, you could already feel less cool air moving around the edges.

Sometimes it’s the smaller fixes

Not every insulation project has to be a full attic removal or complete home retrofit.

Sometimes it’s just solving one annoying comfort issue at a time. A hotter upstairs room. A cold basement. Drafty floors during winter. Those little things add up over time and affect how a house feels every day.

And weirdly enough, those are usually the jobs homeowners remember the most afterward.

We were happy to help this Zion homeowner on both projects and improve a couple areas of the home that had been bothering them for years. If your home has rooms that never seem comfortable no matter the season, call us or visit our website for a FREE evaluation!