“You need new windows.”
Replacement windows and weatherstripping are rarely where the return is. On one house we cut measured air leakage by 55% without touching a single window.
Home performance
Energy audits, air sealing and insulation.
Drafty rooms, a hot second floor, a damp attic and high bills usually trace back to air leaking through the attic and the basement. We seal those leaks, then insulate, and we test the house with a blower door before and after.
- 30 to 40%
- Typical air leakage reduction we expect on a whole-house job
- 55%
- Leakage cut on one tested house, with no replacement windows
- 3×
- Insulation value in deep upgrades, alongside roughly half the air leakage
- 2,000+
- Energy retrofits completed, by Jesse’s count
What we do
Efficient without tearing the house apart.
Your house doesn’t have to look like a space-age bubble to be efficient. In a typical New Jersey single-family home you can get significant leakage reductions by working in the attic, kneewalls, crawlspace and basement. You don’t need to take walls down or replace the windows.
01
Energy audits & blower door testing
We measure how leaky your house is before and after the work, so you see the results in numbers.
02
Attic & rim joist air sealing
These are the leaks we can reach up high and down low, where sealing pays off most. We always do this before insulating.
03
Attic & wall insulation
Thick layers of blown cellulose over a sealed attic floor, and dense-packed walls where it makes sense.
04
Duct sealing
Leaky attic ducts waste conditioned air. Sealing them can fix cold rooms and improve indoor air quality.
05
Crawlspaces & basements
Rim joists, foundation walls and tight crawlspaces. We have retrofitted one with less than a foot of clearance.
06
Heating, cooling & hot water
When equipment is due, The Big Chill sizes the replacement for the tighter house you have now.
Around 80 sheets of foam board on one basement: reportedly the biggest shell upgrade at the time in New Jersey’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program.
Why seal first
Insulation doesn’t stop air.
Insulation works far worse when air moves through it, so we seal before we insulate.
- Sealing the attic protects against condensation problems like mold and rot on the roof sheathing, which can save you from a premature roof replacement.
- Sealed ducts and a tight attic make cold rooms warmer and hot rooms cooler.
- A tighter house needs less heating and cooling, so your next system can be smaller and cheaper to run.
Advice from people who don’t pay your utility bills
Common advice that doesn’t hold up.
“Open an upstairs window. Hot air rises.”
Every bit of air you push out gets replaced by hot air pulled in somewhere else. In summer, an air-conditioned house leaks downward.
The neighbor with the truck“The upstairs is hot. You need a bigger AC.”
Usually it’s too little supply air, leaky attic ducts, or a starved return. Fix those (and the attic) and a smaller unit often does better.
On big central returnsResults
What clients noticed.
Notes from home performance clients, as published on our original site.
“Jesse and his crew had the daunting job of air sealing and insulating the attic of our ranch home. They did great work even though it was in the July heat. … Subjectively my wife and I can feel the difference, on a 90 degree day the window A/C’s can actually maintain a constant 75 degrees in the house. … For the comfort alone it is money well spent.”
“Thanks again for all the fantastic work you and your crew did. My house is so much more comfortable from your efforts and we really appreciate everything, including how generous you were helping me understand a little bit of your very complicated business.”
“Just wanted to let you know we got our rebate check today exactly 2 months as you promised. We see a big improvement in our home with it staying warmer and in warmer weather house seemed cooler.”
Incentives
Rebates and programs
Tay River spent years as an authorized contractor in New Jersey’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program. Incentive programs change often, so ask us what’s available for your house right now.
Start a project
Find out where your house leaks.
An assessment is a conversation and a blower door test. You’ll get the numbers, a plain explanation of them, and a recommendation that starts with the work that does the most for the least money.