In about 2011 we had Zerodraft do an insulation and air sealing job in our attic along with replacing two windows.
I would say the insulation job was very good. I have not crawled into the attic since but I can tell the house is more comfortable. As long as they did what they said they were going to do I would say, although expensive, the insulation job was good. They boxed in 6 recessed lights, air sealed all the gaps, cracks and electrical boxes, spray foamed the stairwell portions that protrude into the attic, installed baffles, and blew in a ton of cellulose insulation.
The windows that were replaced were in bad shape with bowed sills so I wanted the entire window to be removed and replaced instead of having a replacement window installed over the bowed sills. I was not home for any of the work, my wife was. We have a split level so they removed almost all of the siding on the section where the two windows were being replaced. They called this installing new construction windows. Since we were down to the bare sheathing and framing it is like installing windows on a newly constructed house. Great, I got 2011 new construction building practices on my 1978 split level house. At least that's what I thought.
Forward to 2016. While we knew Zerodraft was on the expensive side, our past insulation job and others who praise Zerodraft convinced us to have two more windows replaced as well as having our over the range microwave/hood vented up through the attic and out the side of the house. I had recently replaced all of the kitchen cabinets and put in the micro-hood. I didn't want to do the venting myself because I was short on time and I wanted a professional job done. I specifically asked the salesman if they would make a nice clean cut through the cabinets because I was concerned I could not achieve that myself. I was assured that the cut would absolutely be neat.
The cut through the cabinet was anything but neat. I had the original owner's manual with all the instructions and cutting template on the counter and made the installer aware. I also pointed out that this particular model required the blower fan to be reversed for roof venting and had him read that section of the manual. Well, guess what did not get used? The cutting template. There was no marking or measuring or drawing of any reference lines for the cut. The vent adapter is rectangular shaped and I got a jagged, oblong, ovular hole up to two inches larger than the size of the adapter. The upper hole, through the ceiling, had the 6" round pipe going up. To prevent the spray foam from coming back down a dam was made out of some sort of foam board. Again, another oblong random shaped piece. We have a very small kitchen, we intended to use as much of the upper cabinet space as possible. I am 6'3" so I can see into this cabinet and am reminded every day of the shoddy work that was done. I initially thought about boxing in the pipe after this job was done. Now I MUST do it in order to cover up the eyesore. And I have to box in more space to cover up the incredibly large hole. On the outside, the vent was installed through the side of the house. The bottom of the vent hangs over the last clapboard by about an inch at a depth of at least an inch. This was filled with caulk. I've used caulk plenty of times and I've actually read the label on more than one occasion to know it is advised not to fill a gap that large. So now I have a sagging mess on the side of the house that I'll have to fix. Originally, one of the managers said that they would come back and box in the cabinet for me. However, in the meantime my survey returned to their office where I stated that I would be sharing my negative experience on the internet, so I was told they are no longer willing to do free work for me. My survey did strongly suggest that I would never use Zerodraft again so they knew they couldn't keep me as a customer. I guess I'd rather do it myself, when time permits since I am capable, than risk another shoddy job.
Now onto the new windows. These were also being installed as new construction. I was home for the window install this time. I decided to go out and see the progress that was being made. I immediately had to ask where the weather proofing was. They told me they caulked the back of the nailing flange and there was nothing else on the truck. Remember, this is the year 2016 not 1978, weather proofing techniques in 2016 are a lot different than they were in 1978. In 2016 the goal is to seal out the water (as they did with the caulk) but to also make sure that if water does get in that it is directed back out the building so as not to damage the structure. This is in the building codes for many municipalities for good reason. This is not something I should have to ask for from a company that charges for top notch work and touts itself as being a leader. When I called the manager I was simply told that this is how he has been installing windows for 30 years. read more