Hottel Energy Solutions Inc

I purchased a 1937 house that had zero insulation. The house has a very tall roof with knee walls at the bedroom level and an attic above. It also has two gables. This means there are 4 separate areas to the attic that are accessed through 3 hatches and the pull-down stairs. There are many places where it would be impossible to install the pink insulation because you simply can't reach. And the furnace is in the attic so the poor thing was having to work overtime to heat and cool the house. I spent several evenings on the internet looking at spray foam insulation. It has been used for years with cathedral ceilings and it is becoming quite popular for new houses. But it is just becoming popular as a retrofit for an old house. There were some installers who do regular insulation who had posted negative information about spray foam on their web sites. It took a while to find the truth. I think I watched 5 videos and visited dozens of sites. Spray foam serves as an insulation and it also seals up all the cracks and airflow. It is applied to the underside of the roof, not to the floor of the attic. This made it PERFECT for us - it gets into all the tight spaces and little cubby holes in our complicated attic, it blocks the ridge vents and stops the gale force winds you could feel every time you opened a plumbing hatch, it keeps our furnace 'inside the envelope' of our house instead of outside, and our attic now has usable storage because it won't be freezing in winter and boiling in summer. The next step was to get estimates. I hesitated to call Hottel Energy Services because they can be pricey, but the application process can be a bit tricky and they do have a good reputation for quality. I also got prices from two other local companies but neither turned out to be licensed which the state of Maryland requires. To my surprise, Hottel's estimate was the lowest. I then called to be sure that Hottel Energy Services is really a division of Hottel Heating. It is. I'm very pleased that we used Hottel. The crew of 3 guys just left my house. They were polite, told me a lot about what they were doing, gave me several great tips on another home improvement projects and were generally delightful. They even asked permission before using the restroom and asked if I needed them to protect the attic floor from foam dripping. (This was amusing because the attic floor is just a bunch of random plywood scraps thrown down in random places.) They taped plastic to my hardwood floors and went out of the way to move some heavy objects. I'm sensitive to smells so we discussed ahead of time that I might want to be out of the house for a few hours during the spraying. It smells exactly like wet paint. I had no fears about leaving my house with the team at work and I'm normally very reluctant to leave workers on their own. Two companies mentioned the need for adding a flame retardant paint to the foam when it is used near a furnace. Hottel included the paint in their price. The other company said it would add nearly another thousand dollars and suggested that I skirt around the rules by adding drywall over the foam. After seeing the whole process, I'm really glad I hired professionals. First there is the big truck. Second, they have the new foam that can be used during cold weather. Third, they had to go into every room of my house to run hoses and electricity in the windows to power their truck. Fourth, they had to tie directly into the power for my house to run the huge compressor on the truck. Fifth, they brought a ton of equipment such as strong fans to blow the fumes out, miles of extension cords, lights, etc, etc. Sixth, they took safety seriously and wore respirators the whole time, made sure to ground their compressor, etc. I'll have to let you know if the house feels warmer - they had the heat off and the windows open all day so it will take a while to heat back up. I'm quite sure that our heat bills will be lower. They were so high that it might only take 2-3 years for the insulation to pay for itself. We are also hoping that we can afford to heat 2 rooms that we have closed off and keep the whole house at a more comfortable temperature. The bedrooms have been warm but the basement felt like a refrigerator.

First, let me start off by saying I am harsh grader. A = Excellent, meaning things went *better* than I expected and the company went above and beyond. I would give a B for experience that simply went as expected, so a B is not a bad grade. And having spoken with Brad about a few nitpicks after the job was complete, I would have no problem using them again and believe that the company would do it's best to address any concerns one might have. I chose this company 1) because they were the first insulation company that I didn't feel like was just trying to sell me as much product as possible and 2) price. I had estimates from one company offering blown-in fiberglass and one other spray-foam company. Obviously their price was more than the blown-in fiberglass quote, but these guys came in about $1500 less than the other spray-foam company I contacted. I also felt like the other spray foam contractor was really just regurgitating marketing material that they got from the foam manufacturer. These guys were willing to discuss options with me about what would and would not work, and what would be the most effective way to use my budget, rather than just agreeing to foam anything I pointed at. They were also responsive to my email questions I sent them. The crew arrived on time (on time!!!) to do the work. I discussed a few issues with them before I left for work and they completed the job. Overall, I would use this company again. My only complaint being that did not clean up after themselves as well as I would have liked. To be fair, I did not pay to have the old fiberglass insulation removed, but in order to apply the foam, they had to peel back the existing insulation in some places and just left it in piles in the attic. There was also loose foam debris all over the portion of the attic with floor boards that could have easily been vacuumed up. As for quality, I can't really comment since you can't just look at spray foam and know if it's quality or not (at least I can't). But there is a lot of it, and it's everywhere, if that means anything, and hopefully I'll see some reduced utility bills in the near future. Update 5/2011 - Our attic was previously insulated with the typical fiberglass between the joists.  After spending the winter in the house with the new spray foam, I am happy to report that our heating bills are down by about 40% over last winter.  At this rate it should pay for itself in 5 or 6 years.