Augusta, GA Homeowners Save on Utility Bills with Spray Foam Insulation

Augusta GA Spray Foam Insulation Company & Energy Efficient Roofing Contractors 

If your a homeowner in the Augusta, GA and surrounding CSRA area looking to lower utility bills, then you might want to read this blog post.  With the hot summers in Augusta, a poorly insulated or underinsulated home, will keep your air conditioner running all summer in the Georgia and South Carolina heat.  Many of our customers in the CSRA area, experience high power & utility bills in the summer, due to the A/C trying to keep the home cool.  Many of our customers have already tried fiberglass insulation as a solution to keep their home cool; but the Georgia heat, and the inefficient building envelope system fiberglass insulation incorportes fail to properly keep homes cool in the Augusta, GA and surrounding areas.  Historic Homes can really experience the "hot house" effect because of steep pitched roofs and large attics, and with lots of room for hot air in a fiberglass insulated building envelope system.  See our previous blog post for more on the building envelope definition, and the difference between the building envelope design fiberglass insulation used versus the building envelope system used with spray foam insulation. 

If you have fiberglass insulation now, you probably know what we are talking about, because its like a sauna when you go into the attic space of your home.  What makes Spray Foam Insulation 33% better then fiberglass is the balance in temperature between living space and attic space, balancing the overall home temperature, thus improving the overall efficiency of your HVAC system.  By spraying the rafters of the home with spray foam insulation, including gable walls, closing soffit vents, and eliminating non-conditioned space, our spray foam insulation systems can save homeowners in Augusta, GA 33% or more on utility cost.

One of the main reasons we wanted to point out the ,Augusta, GA, Richmond County, GA, Columbia County GA, Saluda County, SC, and Aiken County, SC (CSRA) area customers, is that they see some of the biggest energy savings of all our spray foam insulation customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia.  Being in the sandhills region, the sun can really beat down on a home, so spray foam insulation's unique building envelope design, with the insulation on the rafters versus the ceiling of the home, also helps to reduce the transfer of heat thru the home.  Energy Efficient Roofing Systems, uses of solar energy powered appliances, and other "green" building materials known to lower utility cost for homeowners in Georgia.  With a large market of Historic Homes in the Augusta, GA area, many historic homeowners are including spray foam insulation into budgeting cost for historic home renovation projects; as long term savings on energy bills will offset higher installation cost versus traditional fiberglass insulation.  Retro-Solutions Construction Company is proud to have installed spray foam insulation in a number of Historic Homes, in addition to retrofitting new homes with spray foam insulation in the Augusta, GA and surrounding CSRA area.  Spray foam insulation is at a all time low to have installed in your home, but with rising oil prices, cost are likely to inflate with increased gas cost. 

Retro-Solutions Construction Company is a licensed spray foam insulation contractor & roofing contractors in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.   We offer a variety of Energy Saving solutions for homeowners in the Augusta, GA and surrounding areas.  If your looking to lower utility cost in Augusta, GA then contact us today at 706-951-0158.  Below is a list of services we offer to the Augusta, GA and CSRA area:

• Open Cell Spray Foam Insulation
• Closed Cell Spray Foam Insulation
• Crawl Space Encapsulation with Spray Foam Insulation
• Wall Foam Insulation
• Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters
• Solar Panels
• Energy Efficient Roofing Systems - Tile Roofs, Slate Roofs, Standing Seam Metal Roofs
• Home Energy Monitoring
• Residential & Commercial Insulation Services
• Residential & Comercial Roofing Services
• other "Green" Building Products

Please read our other blog post for more information on our products and services.  Retro-Solutions Construction Company offers the best Spray Foam Insulation Services, and Energy Efficient Roofing Services in the Augusta and CSRA area, so call us today for Free Estimates on any of our services, or visit us on the web at:

http://www.csraroofingcontractors.com/ or call Dan at 706-951-0158

Areas Served:
Augusta GA, Thomson GA, Evans GA, Martinez GA, Appling GA, Grovetown GA, Harlem GA, Hephzibah GA, Blythe GA, Washington GA, North Augusta SC, Edgefield SC, Aiken SC, Johnston SC, Batesburg-Leesville SC, Greenville SC, Spartanburg SC, Columbia SC, Lexington SC, and most of South Carolina, North Carolina, and east of Atlanta Georgia.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company 706-951-0158

http://www.csraroofingcontractors.com/ Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits | Historic Home Renovations | Historic Home Roof Restorations

How to Get a Cooler Home & The "Building Envelope" Factor

How the Spray Foam Insulation Building Envelope Works

"The building envelope is the physical separator between the interior and the exterior environments of a building. Another emerging term is "Building Enclosure". It serves as the outer shell to help maintain the indoor environment (together with the mechanical conditioning systems) and facilitate its climate control. Building envelope design is a specialized area of architectural and [[engineering practice that draws from all areas of building science and indoor climate control."  Cited from, and more can be read at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Building_envelope&oldid=432330358

We wanted to start with a good clear definition of the "Building Envelope" so that homeowners and business owners will know what we are referring to, when we talk about the building envelope.The building envelope is very vital to the overall efficiency of the way a home or business is heated and cooled.  The way homes and most commercial buildings create the building envelope is by using insulation and some kind of vapor barrier, to prevent moisture from developing inside the home.  The best example of this would be the typical R-13 Kraft Faced Fiberglass insulation that goes into most home in South Carolina.  Both fiberglass and Spray Foam Insulation create a buidling envelope system sustainable to control indoor temperatures, however their is a huge difference in the building envelope designs that each insulation system incorporates.  What we are going to try to educate you on in this blog post is how the building envelope is designed for fiberglass insulation vs. the design used for Spray Foam Insulation.  We are also going to show you how the Spray Foam Insulation building envelope design is far more superior design to that of traditional fiberglass insulation designs.  Then we will talk about how Spray Foam Insulation improves temperature balance in your home, with its unique building envelope design, and how this will improve overall comfortability in your home.



The biggest reasons why homeowners in North and South Carolina experience "Hot Homes" persay, even in very well fiberglass insulated home, is because of the building envelope design that is created when fiberglass insulation is properly installed.  Fiberglass insulation is typically installed in the ceiling rafters of the attic, walls, and floor joist of your home, with the vapor retardant side (paper side) facing the controlled enviroment.  This creates a building envelope, that is designed to trap cool or warm air inside the  home, and eliminate heating & cooling non-liveable space.  Proper attic ventilation, soffit vents, solar fans, electric fans, gable vents, ridge vents, and other venting methods are then used to release hot or cool air.  Venting also allows air to flow on the underside of the roof, preventing condensation and moisture in the attic area.  The main reason why fiberglass is installed differently from spray foam insulation is because if fiberglass insulation is attached to the rafters of a home, especially in extreme temperatures summer brings in the Carolina's, it does not eliminate air flow, thus creating conditions for condenstion, leading to moisture in the attic space..  Even in cathedral ceilings, cellulose injections, foam injections, and other newer methods of insulation are being used because of serious moisture issues many homeowners have seen with fiberglass insulation installed in cathedral ceilings.  In crawlspaces, fiberglass insulation is attached to floor rafters, taking the crawlspace out of the equation.  New fiberglass insulation systems will save homeowners a good amount on utilities,  however over time many figerglass insulation systems begin to lose R-value and fail to insulate, due to sagging sagging, and loss of depth of insulation.  Even if your not in the price range for spray foam insulation, fiberglass is definitely a good way to save short term on utility bills.  Now that we know how the fiberglass insulation building envelope works, lets compare it to the building envelope design using spray foam insulation in a home in South Carolina.

In every home, duct work is installed in either the attic or the basement, with the furnace and air handling units normally being located in the same spaces, and condesing units and compressors located outside of the home.  The most popular places for the ductwork systems and air handling units in homes in South Carolina is the crawlspace or the attic, or both in larger 2 or more story homes.  Your probably saying, duh, thats an obvious, but this is the main reason that Spray Foam Insulation's building envelope design can out save fiberglass by  33% or more in utility savings.  With the Spray Foam Insulation building envelope design, spray foam is then applied to the rafters of the roofing system, versus the ceiling joist of the home. During retrofit spray foam insulation projects, ceiling insulation is then removed to create more air flow into the attic from living space below or above.  With spray foam insulation being made in place, it can seal all gaps and cracks, enabling it to be applied to roof rafters, because there is no air left to create condensation, thus eliminating moisture possiblities in the attic. The gable walls and soffitts are then eliminated by creating a spray foam insulation wall that is in line with the existing wall below, eliminating any outside envrioment condtions coming thru the soffit vent. Both open cell spray foam insulation & closed cell spray foam insulation work the same way, adding the attic space into the building envelope desing.  During crawl space encapsulation, the walls of the crawlspace & floor of the crawlspace lined with 3 mil plastic, then sealed with closed cell spray foam insulation, adding the crawlspace into the building equation. 

The reason spray foam insulation building envelope design works so well, is that the ductwork and a/c system are brought into the equation, and the inefficiencies of your HVAC ductwork system, no ceiling insulation, and increased interior airflow; all work to balance the temperature of your home.  With ductwork being conditioned as well, trapped air in the ductwork system will not be as hot upon HVAC start up, thus shortening time for cool fresh air to reach the conditioned space. Spray Foam Insulation systems takes out venting, with windows, doors, and fans as the main sources of ventilation in the home. The overall improvement to temperature balance in the home, improves overall efficiency of your HVAC system, thus creating a cooler more comfortable homes in South Carolina during extreme heat of the summer.  The better your HVAC system is, usually results in better energy savings as well, as newer HVAC units can really blast the cool air in your home at incredible speeds in spray foam insulated homes. 

The temperature balances between fiberglass and spray foam insulation building envelope designs vary greatly. Its not so much that fiberglass insulation is a poor insulator, its just the extreme temperatures of the Southeast like NC, SC, GA, AL, and FL, have some really hot days for long periods, thus creating extreme heat in attic spaces.  Attic temperatures in homes in these states with fiberglass insulation systems can sometimes reach 180 degrees because venting is just not enough to let out the hot air fast enough. With the a/c being a sealed system with most cool air being lost in registers and returns your attic can get up to 180 degrees in some cases, thus meaning the duct work is also a 180 degrees. This means cool air is being heated for a period of time, before it reaches living space. If your HVAC usit is always cooling 180 degree metal ductwork before it gets into living space it means that the air coming out is not coming out as cold as it was designed too, thus making fiberglass insulation work against your overall efficiency of your HVAC system in extreme heat conditions. 

Spray Foam Insulation works with HVAC systems, leaving attic space and crawl space temperatures 10 degrees cooler or warmer than lliving conditions, improving efficiency of HVAC systems in South Carolina homes.  Spray foram Insulation and new HVAC systems work together they make a great energy savings combo.  We hope this has been an informative blog on how to improve a hot home in North Carolina & South Carolina.  If your in North or South Carolina and interested in having spray foam insulation or any other energy efficient "Green" insulation systems, give us a call today at 706-951-0158.  We look forward to providing homeowners with more energy saving home improvement information, and if your not in our coverage area please contact a spray foam insulation contractor today to start saving on utility bills.


Myrtle Beach Services & Construction Company
1357 Wycliffe Drive
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Phone: 706-951-0158
Website: http://www.scroofingcontractors.com

Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits | Air Barriers | Siliconized Roofing Systems | Mold Removal

Energy Saving Ideas for Hotels & Resort & How Hotels can Go Green

Ways Hotels & Resorts are Saving Money on Utility Expenses 

Since starting our Energy Saving Home Improvement blog, we have added a few of the commercial uses of Spray Foam Insulation, Solar Powered Hot Water Heaters, Energy Monitoring Systems, Energy Efficient Roofing and other "Green" Building Materials that save on energy consumption.  In this blog we want to directly target hotel and resort owners in North Carolina & South Carolina specifically however, any other hotel or resort in areas of climate with extreme weather conditions, like the heat in the southeast, should read this blog post as well.  What we are going to talk about are "Green" Building Solutions for existing hotel/resort owners.  Most hotel/resort owners pay huge electricity bills, which is often one of the highest operating expenses a hotel will occur each year.  For example, in order to offer quality hotel service, many hotels offer controllable temperature rooms as a ammenity for customers, and to attract more business.  As we all know, when a guest is using the A/C in the summer on your bill, there probably running it full blast.  In order to offset these cost, hotel owners will raise the A/C temperature to 84 or more degrees, to keep the unit from running when vacant.   What Retro-Solutions Construction Company of Myrtle Beach, SC, & other "Green" Building construction advocates, offer to hotel and resort owners, is retrofitted energy saving solutions that can lower utility cost extremely.  Though installation price can be a big initial investment, energy savings will offset these cost within a short period of time, depending on what products you are interested in using.  If your looking for long term cost savings solution for your hotel or business, please read on.

Retrofitted Foam Insulation Systems

The first "green" building product we are going to talk about is retrofitted foam insulation systems.  With increase competition in the foam industry in the past decade, prices for retrofitting foam insulation have fallen dramatically.  With more commercial real estate developers incorporating foam insulation into new buildings, many existing commercial real estate owners, like hotels and resorts, have started to show interest in using retrofit foam technology as a way to reduce operating cost in hotels.  Spray foam insulation & boarded foam insulation are the most popular, other solutions such as wall foam insulation, blow foam insulation, and other expanding foam products have saved hotel owners big on heating and cooling bills. The same benefits retrofitted foam insulation offers homeowners, is also transferred to commercial building owners as well.  Foam Insulation can be installed in wood, and metal studded walls with little or no aesthetic damage.  Hotels & Resorts are constantly remodelling and updating hotel rooms, foam insulation has started to be included into budgets, and paying off tremendously, with return on investment being less than 10 years in energy savings. Here are some of the advantages that hotel and resort owners are seeing from installing retrofitted foam insulation during remodelling projects:

• Energy Savings - 20% or more energy savings
• Soundproofing - foam insulated walls reduce sound & a great ammenity to offer customers.
• Pest Control - tight fitting foam seals reduce areas of entries for pest.
• Sustainable Living Conditions - improves air quality in hotel rooms.
• Comfortability - more comfortable temperatures for customers in hotel rooms.
• Enviroment Friendly - Let customers know your concerned about the planet.

Solar Energy Powered Appliances - Solar Powered Water Heating

Another big cost that many hotel and resort owners incur are hot water heating cost, providing hot water for laundry services, hotel customer showers and needs, kithcens, pools, hot tubs, cleaning and many other uses.  Heating water uses a lot of energy, and is a big part of utility cost for hotel and resort owners in North Carolina and South Carolina.  With rising prices in gas and electricity, many hotel owners are looking to "Green" Building Products for solutions to lower hot water heating cost in their hotel or resort.  With the development of solar energy products, their has been a variety of development in solar energy powered hot water heaters, and solar energy powered pool heaters.  With great sunshine in the Carolina's hotel owners are seeing tremendous energy savings by installing hybrid Solar Energy Powered appliances like hot water heaters and pool heaters.  With most hotel building having flat roofing systems, solar panels for heaters can be installed out of the general view of the public.  Commercial buildings also generally have accessible conduits and ways to transfer any kind of wiring that is required for installation, that also helps improve overall installation cost of installing solar energy powered appliances to save on utility bills.  Here are some of the most popular Solar Powered Appliance product hotels and resorts are using to save on utility cost:

• Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters - saves $300 or more per unit
• Solar Energy Powered Pool Heaters - saves up to 80% on pool heating in some cases.
• Solar Energy Powered Fans
• Solar Powered Lighting
• many other solar energy solutions for hotels.

Energy Efficient Roofing Systems - Solar Integration

With many hotels and resorts experiencing the extreme heat conditions of the southeast, technology in energy efficient roofing systems can save hotel owners big on energy bills as well.  Roofing product manufacturer's are investing more and more money into research & development for commercial roofing systems that offer energy saving to building owners.  With a variety of products from spray foam, plastic, rubbers, and solar inegration into existing roofing materials, offering commercial building owners a variety of solutions for reducing energy cost.  With clear skies most of the year, sun can heat up buildings thru the roofing systems tremendously thru a process called convection.  Roofing product manufacturer's have developed ways to reduce energy loss thru convection in a number of different ways.  One of the most popular ways of reducing convection of heat into the building thru the roof is, the more frequent use of roofing products with whiter surfaces to improve reflectivity of heat coming from the sun.  With nearly every commercial roofing system being insulated in one form or another, improvements in roof insulation materials and coatings has also offered tremendous energy savings to hotel and resort owners in the Carolina's.  Here is a list of some of the most popular roofing systems being used today in re-roofs and new construction in hotels and resorts:

• Spray Foam Roofs - Spray Foam Insulated, variety of coatings, durability, huge energy savings.
• White TPO - white coatings offer reflectivity to the sun's heat reducing convection
• White PVC - better fitting systems similar to TPO, but offer a higher performance.
• Elastometric Coatings - Coatings are being used on existing systems to improve reflectivity.
• Solar Integrated Flat Roofing Systems - Solar cells integrated into TPO, PVC, and others. High Investment Cost, High Return on Savings.
• Other High Performance Roofing Systems that offer overall improved energy efficiency.

Becoming A More Enviromentally Friendly Hotel or Resort

As you can see, there are a variety of options for hotel and resort owners looking to improve energy efficiency in their hotels and buildings.  With not much new commercial construction going on in 2011, many hotel owners are looking at improving existing properties, versus building new.  The great thing about the "Green" Building Industry is that everyone is striving to reach the same goal, and that is reducing energy consumption, thus lowering utility & power cost to the consumer.  If your reducing energy consumption in any way as a business, your part of the "Green" building solution, to be more enviormentally friendly businesses. If you are a hotel owner in the North or South Carolina area, please call us at 706-951-0158 for more information, more contact information is listed below.  Thanks for reading our blog, and please comment to let us know what other "Green" builing materials you want to read about.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 706-951-0158 http://www.scroofingcontractors.com Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits |

Historic Home Renovation Ideas for Roof Restoration Projects

Historic Home Roof Restoration Ideas for Historic Home Renovation Projects

One of the most eye catching features of a lot of Historic Homes in the South Carolina area, and across the country, is the steep, detailed, and intricate roofing systems.  The steep pitched roof adds exterior beauty, as well as increased interior spaces.  Existing historic homes in most southern towns are generally large in square footage, and belonged to wealthy homeowners, who really put the money and time into building the homes.  The story that goes along with a historic home, is always interesting as well, so keeping with the same time era styles and building products is very important.  Many Historic Home Preservation Committee's are really strict on allowing changes, and its sometimes hard to find material matches that these Historic Home Preservation Committee's will approve.  This often adds more cost and burden to a historic homeowner trying to make home improvements, and often discourages potential historic homebuyers away from owning a Historic Home. 

One of the major cost in a lot of Historic Home Renovation projects is the roofing system, because of no A/C in the time frame the home was built, roofing systems such as tile, metal, and tin were used to help lower temperatures inside the home, during the hot summer months North Carolina and South Carolina are all accustomed to dealing with.  It has been proven now that thes historic roofing systems reduce utility bills for homeowners, by 10-20% in modern times.  Although added energy savings for historic homeowners, they're often left out of cheaper roofing alternatives then traditional homeowners, and left dealing with the headache of shopping for a roof tile, or metal roofing material, that is often hard to find in this part of the country; that the historic preservation committee board will approve for both style and color.  Another concern even after historic homeowners have been approved on building materials, its often hard to find a contractor that is experienced enough to perform the intricate cuts and details historic home roofing systems often have.  The good news is tho, with new technology, and more competition for building materials entering the historic home construction market. More and more historic homeowners are finding the historic home renovation project a little less challenging.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company of Myrtle Beach, SC is one of these companies experienced in historic home renovations, and offering historic home renovation solutions to Historic Homeowners in North and South Carolina.  Thru experiencing some of the challenges and suprises that often pop up during Historic Home Renovation projects, we have learned a few things that have helped historic homeowners save money on historic home renovation cost.  In this section we are going to talk about the Roof Restoration in particular, as it is one of the most important phases of any Historic Home Renovation projects, because a bad roof can destroy everything else that has been preserved inside the home.  The roof is also one of the more expensive phases of Historic Homeowners as well, and if your on a construction loan, most banks are going to require a satifactory roofing system, before releasing money for other phases of restoration.  With limited experienced roofers able to re-create the styles and techniques of earlier time eras, this can create problems for the construction project schedule, so its important to be able to find a roofing contractor that can help you right away.  When planning a Historic Roof Resoration project, its a good idea to keep these ideas in mind when picking a roofing contractor for your Historic Home Renovation project.  Here are some tips for picking a roofing contractor for a Historic Home Renovation Project.

1. Experience with Historic Home Renovation - Although there are many roofing contractors with roofing experience, it doesn't always mean that they have done historic roof renovation projects. An experienced historic roof restoration contract is going to be able to tell you problem areas, as well as available roofing materials that are going to pass Historic Home Preservation Committees often strict guidelines in materials used. Having roofing material options is always going to give a Historic homeowner a way to save money on renovation cost.  An experienced roofing contractor is also going to be able to check and inspect for structural damage, and offer affordable solutions for any structural roof repairs that may need to be made.
2. References - Although this may also fall under the category of roofing experience, its often good to still get references, so that you can physically go view other Historic Home Roof Restoration the roofing contractor has done.  Details are extremely important on Historic Roof Restorations, and you want to make sure your roofing contractor has the abilities to perform the work that the roofing company has proposed to do.
3. Trust  your Roofing Contractor - Once you have found an experienced roofing contractor that has been successful in other historic home renovation projects, its good to let the roofing contractor take control of the roofing portion of the project.  Not only is an experienced roofing contractor going to offer more material options, but there also going to get a better price on the roofing materials then the average historic homeowners.  Suppliers are more likely to give a price break to a roofing contractor who is going to be back the next week to purchase, then to the homeowner who may not need another roof for 30-100 years.  A roofing contractor is also going to know about technological improvements to underlayments and flashing techniques that can save on roofing cost and/or improve overall efficiency of your roofing systems.
4. Time Management - In addition to finding an experienced roofing contractor, your going to need a roofing contractor that is going to be able to meet your time schedule for construction.  Its important to have a roofing contractor experienced to know other trades are following, so a good question to ask your roofing contractor is how long will it take to complete, and also how long will it take go be dried in, so that you can coordinate with other construction trades that are dependent upon a dried-in roof to begin their phases of construction.
5. Helpfulness - Another quality you want to look for that is sometimes unmeasurable in price, is how helpful is your roofing contractor going to be, in helping gain historic preservation committee approval on roofing materials.  A roofing contractor experienced with historic home preservation will usually be able to streamline the approval process, and make it a lot less of a hassle for the historic homeowner. 

These are just a few tips we have used to help make Historic Home Preservation easier for Retro-Solutions Construction Company customers in North Carolina & South Carolina.  These few tips can also be applied to other trades as well.  With the many details in woodworking and metalworking on historic homes, its good to have a contractor in any trade experienced with more historic building techniques, because details really stick out in historic homes.  Craftsmanship is one of the most notable achievements from builders in historic times, so you also want to preserve this craftsmanship, in addition to the colors and building material styles as well.  There's a reason that home is still standing after 100 years, and that reason being the craftsmanship of early American builders.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company is here to help with all your Historic Home Restoration projects and we also offer Energy Saving Home Improvements for the historic homeowners as well.  We have tile matching, metal matching, slate matching, and cedar matching available for Historic Roof renovations that match time and style for most historic homes in North and South Carolina.  If your looking for a quality Historic Home Renovation in the Carolinas please give us a call at 706-951-0158.  Also be sure to check out our other blog post and website, http://www.scroofingcontractors.com/  for more information on Historic Home Renovations, as well as Energy Saving Home Improvements like spray foam insulation, solar energy, & other Energy Star & "Green" building materials that save on utility bills.  Stay tuned to our blogs for more post on historic home renovation projects.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 706-951-0158 http://www.scroofingcontractors.com Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits |

Conway SC Historic Renovations Benefitting from Spray Foam Insulation

Historic Home Renovations in the Carolina's

Conway, SC is a historic River Town located right outside of Myrtle Beach, SC. A perfect city in the Carolina's for an example of how Retro-Solutions Energy Saving Home Improvements can save Historic Homeowners in North Carolina & South Carolina money on power bills. If you don't know where Conway, South Carolina is, it is a Historic River town located right outside of the popular tourist destination of Myrtle Beach, SC.  Conway SC is in the same county as Myrtle Beach, Horry County, and offers a more historic look into coastal living in Colonial times. There are more Historic Homes in Conway, then Myrtle Beach, as most of Myrtle Beach was farming land, developed into what it is today, but ultimately newer homes, as farms take a tremendous amount of land space, not offering much space for development during colonial times. Therefore, if your into Historic Homes, or Historic Home Renovation, Conway is a better choice to look in Horry County.  Conway is also about 10 degrees hotter in the summer on average than Myrtle Beach, SC, giving it the perfect environment for maximum benefit from energy saving products.

So what makes Conway,SC a different experience from Myrtle Beach, SC is the Historic Homes & thriving Historic Downtown of Conway, SC.  Retro-Solutions Construction Co. of Horry County, is proud to announce that 3 homeowners in the Conway, SC area are now saving money on utility bills, in historic homes, due to Spray Foam Insulation & Energy Efficient Roofing.  At Retro-Solutions Construction Co. we know the value of having homeowners preserve & revitalize the architecture & history of the past by renovating historic homes.  That's why we are proud to announce the 3 homeowners taking advantage of "green" building materials, that are becoming increasingly popular in Historic Home Renovations across the country, to reduce utility bills.  Anyone that is or knows a historic homeowner anywhere in the United States, and the number one complaint about their historic home is the high energy bills, with power bills being #1 on the list.  Retro-Solutions Construction is here to let Historic Homeowners all across North & South Carolina that there is help for utility bills in older homes. Our Spray Foam Insulation Services, Wall Foam Insulation, Crawl Space Encapsulation, Standing Seam Metal Roofing, Tile Roofing, Tin Roofing, Solar Energy Products, & other "green" building products all pass requirements for historic homeowners committees.

The main reason that Historic Homes cost so much to heat & cool, taking out the larger floor plans, is due to poor insulation.  Exterior Walls are impossible to insulate with traditional fiberglass insulation, without incurring major renovation cost.  In the past their wasn't an affordable option to insulate exterior walls.  Even though foam insulation has been around since the late 1950's, early 1960's, It was mostly regulated to industrial construction & commercial construction due to high cost of material.  The development of foam technology, and more chemical manufacturers of foam products targeting specific markets like Historic Home Renovation Projects, has increased competition & lowered cost to homeowners tremendously.  Although new construction is increasingly going to SPF products, we can't discount homeowners 3-5 years into a new home purchase, just looking to improve overall comfort ability of their home. Historic Homeowners in South Carolina, because of the beautiful weather, and heat in the summers, experience both ends of the spectrum.  Where as a new homeowner will see 33% savings on utility bills, Historic Homeowners in South Carolina can see over 60% in really poor insulated historic homes.  The major advantage, taking out energy savings, that foam insulation has over traditional fiberglass is that it offers historic homeowner new building technology, with spray foam insulation unique "building envelope" system.  That new HVAC system you got last year will operate at a much more energy efficient level.

As a Spray Foam Insulation provider in the North Carolina & South Carolina area, keeping up with new technologies & continuing education on energy saving products, and new energy saving technology; we can save historic homeowners money on utility bills.  The fun thing about our industry incorporating Historic Home Renovation into our business model, is that many of the roofing materials used in Historic Homes in North Carolina & South Carolina are now proven to save on Energy Consumption.  Examples being metal roofing & tile roofing, with both having Energy Star rating products, proven to lower energy bills by up to 20% in homes in the Carolina's. All of our products are approved by Historic Home preservation committee's & boards because insulation is not atheistic & we have roof tile matching capabilities to match the time era, colors, & styles of most homes in the North Carolina & South Carolina areas. Solar Energy is also being incorporated into Historic Home Renovations, as solar panel technology is developing, smaller panels can store as much energy as larger panels 10 years ago.  The development of solar energy powered appliances is also another unique way Historic Homeowners are saving money on utility bills as well.  Most of our customers who are renovating a Historic Home are unaware of all of the utility saving, "green" building materials available for Historic Home Renovations. So call us today or contact us thru our website for more information on how to save money on heating and cooling your Historic Home in North Carolina or South Carolina.  We guarantee we can save you 33%  or more on Energy Savings.

Call: 706-951-0158 (Dan) or 843-424-7180 (Glenn)
Website: Retro-Solutions Construction Company Website

Retro-Solutions Construction Company Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 706-951-0158 http://www.scroofingcontractors.com Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits |

Excellent "Green" Building Forum - Treehugger.com

Informative International "Green" Building Product Forum Website

Quick blog post about a website I stumbled across while I was doing my own product research on spray foam insulation.  As Energy Saving Specialist, we like to see what other hot climates like South Carolina and North Carolina are doing to save homeowners on utility bills.  Retro-Solutions strives to be at the top of the curve when it comes to Energy Saving Home Improvement Products, and product knowledge in the fields of roofing, insulation, moisture control, solar energy, and more.  Trade Shows, Social Networking, Sales People, and informative blogs like Treehugger.com's is how professional Energy Saving Home Improvement esperts stay informed on breaking news in the "Green" Building Product Industry.  If your reading this blog, and not in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia, then you probably already know how hard it is to get good informative product information on "Green" Building Products fairly new to the market.  The main point of our blog, and Treehugger.com's blog is to promote the "Green" Building industry.  Retro-Solutions Construction is trying to sell a service, but we hope our information on green building products can reach people around the globe. 

Although some "Green" Building Products are still relatively high in cost, compared to traditional home improvement products, rising energy prices, and a slumping housing market; homeowners are investing more into their homes as long term investments again.  Our client base see's better benefits from spray foam insulation, wall foam insulation, & crawl space encapsulations, then where the author of this blog is from; so he was able to use a cheaper "green" alternative to spray foam insulation and still double r-value to traditional fiberglass insulation.  Humidity is the big factor in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida; and foam insulation is the only "green" building product to offer the air barrier to prevent moisutre build up in attics & crawl spaces. Mountain climates in our coverage areas do have a wider variety of options to choose from, so please read this blog for some great information on "green" building products. 

This is the site we decided to try a blog with, and our blog has been very successful in promoting "green" energy products.  If you ever decide to get spray foam insulation, or any other foam insulation product, you will understand why our blog, and Treehugger.com's blog promotes "green" building alternatives for the homeowner.  Another great thing about this blog, is that there is a lot of discussion about the use of "green" building products in Historic Home Renovation projects.  We hope that our blog post get more informative as we get better at writing blogs, but if your still on the fence about "green" building products, we recommend you keep reading a little more.  I believe TreeHugger.com is the most informative free website on the internet when it comes to reviews on green building products. So make sure to check them out.

http://www.treehugger.com

Stay Tuned for more blog post.

Retro-Solutions Construction Company Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 706-951-0158 http://www.scroofingcontractors.com Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits |

Historic Home Renovations with Spray Foam Insulation Reduce Utilities by Half

Spray Foam Insulation with Historic Home Renovations

First off, Historic Homeowners I have the utmost respect for your interest in either Spray Foam Insulation, Wall Foam Insulation, Crawl Space Encapsulations, Solar Energy, "Green" Roofing, or any other Energy Saving Home Improvement. We know the kind of power bills, historic homeowners, can see in the Cold of Winter and the Heat of Summer.  For most customers in our service area its the heat, and the air conditioning running all the time, in their beautiful Southern Historic Homes. We feel your pain on an almost daily basis, with most of our Foam Insulation Service Customer Base being historic homeowners, excluding commercial spray foam applications.  Well this blog is here to let you know there is help for your power bill in a Historic Home.  As a fan of construction, history, architecture, and floor plans of historic homes, however we also know that most in the South Carolina, and North Carolina areas are big and open, with little or no insulation left in the walls at all. Most of our Historic Home Renovation Customers are also in homes with steep pitched roofs, and lots of attic space; which is great for storage, but killer on your utility bills. In the peak of summer's heat when we walk into many Historic Home Attics, its like walking into a sauna, and sometimes over 140 degrees in the attic space.  This heat packed in your attic is keeping your A/C running all the time, because the heat in coming into the house, even with traditional fiberglass insulation.  Another thing we often notice in Historic Home Renovations we do, is they have big crawl spaces, basements, and lots of moisture.  This is condensation from the hot air under your home rising to meet the cool air falling inside the home, creating condensation. For Energy Saving Home Improvement contractors, this is an obvious sign of energy loss wherever we have mixing temperatures of over 20 degrees or more.  If your a historic home owner reading this, and all of what I have said is true of your home, then please read further.

The reason why we wanted to write a blog to the Historic Homeowner, is to let them know that owning a Historic Home, can be a lot cheaper with Spray Foam Insulation.  Another reason we wanted to specifically target the Historic Homeowner, is that most buy Historic Homes with the ideas of renovating that Historic Home.  The advantages that Spray Foam Insulation, Wall Foam Insulation, and Crawl Space Encapsulation, is that with the  Large attic spaces and Big Basements, installation is usually fast and easy, and Energy Savings and benefits are being realized within 24 hours. The first thing customers notice after installation of Spray Foam Insulation is that the temperature in the home is a more comfortable level, and that their HVAC systems are running almost  half of the time they were before installation.  Then the next thing they notice is the power bill being cut almost nearly in half after having our foam insulation systems put in their homes.

Why Should Homeowners Choose Spray Foam Insulation over Traditions Fiberglass?

1. The Main Reason - is the Higher Energy & Utility Savings Foam Insulation Systems provide over traditional fiberglass insulation
2. Retrofitted Installation - All of our foam insulation systems can be retrofitted into historic homes, with little or no changes made to the Structural Elements of the home. Sure you can install fiberglass in your Attic space or crawl space for a little less, but What about the walls? Wall Foam Insulation is the only insulation system on the market that can be retrofitted into walls without damage to siding or drywall/plaster. Traditional Fiberglass Insulation isn't going to take care of the moisture in the crawl space basement area either. Foam Insulation are the top retrofitted insulation systems on the market.
3. Going "Green" - Spray Foam Insulation, Wall Foam Insulation, & Crawl Space Encapsulation are all "Green" building products, and friendly to the environment.
4. "Energy Star" Rated - Retrofitted Wall Foam Insulation Systems & Spray Foam Insulation are Energy Star Rated Products, meaning overall improved efficiency of your Historic Home.
5. Tax Credits - The government is offering up to $500 tax credit on Foam Insulation Systems & other "Energy Star" Rated Products & "Green" Building Products.
6. Improved Overall Comfort Levels of Living Space - Spray Foam Insulation offers a unique "building envelop" system that can not be created with fiberglass insulation, balancing temperatures better inside the home.
7. Add Real Estate Value - Insulation is a growing concern of potential home buyers & offering potential home buyers energy savings, it improves the overall saleability of your  home. We know Historic Home Renovation Hobbyist, who are just addicted to renovating Historic Homes, and have seen higher turnover ratio's on homes with Spray Foam Insulation vs. homes with Traditional Fiberglass Insulation.
8. Lifetime Product - All Foam Insulation Systems are lifetime products, with so little R-Value reduction, that after 50 years Spray Foam still doubles new traditional fiberglass insulation in energy savings.  Never deal with the sag of fiberglass, and re-installation cost of fiberglass; its one and done with foam insulation.
9. Product that Pays You Back - Payback in Historic Homes on Spray Foam Insulation vary from 3-5 years, so in 5 years or less, foam insulation is paying you back in utility savings, taking you into the next historic home renovation project you intend on accomplishing.

If you want more information on any of the products we have described in this blog, please read thru our other blog post for more detailed information.  If you are in the North Carolina or South Carolina area, and interested in adding Spray Foam Insulation, Wall Foam Insulation, or Crawl Space Encapsulation Service to your next Historic Home Renovation list, then give us a call today at 706-951-0158 for a free consultation.  We have a portfolio of historic homes which we have installed spray foam insulation, and if you need references, many of our customers have sold our potential customers on spray foam insulation for us their so pleased with the overall experience and expertise of Retro-Solutions Construction.  Make sure to check out our website for more contact information and other Historic Home Renovation services we offer. Stay tuned to our blog for more information on Energy Saving Home Improvements for the Historic Homeowner.

http://www.scroofingcontractors.com

Free Estimates of All of our Services thru Email on the Website

Retro-Solutions Construction Company Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 706-951-0158 http://www.scroofingcontractors.com Energy Efficient Roofing Systems | Spray Foam Insulation | Wall Foam Insulation | Crawl Space Encapsulations | Solar Energy Powered Hot Water Heaters | Solar Energy | Energy Monitoring | Standing Seam Metal Roofs | Tile Roofs | Slate Roofs | Historic Home Retrofits | Historic Home Renovations |