Make it a Toll House
About us
Family owned and operated!
Big journey ahead!
We Started this Journey in 2018 with one thing in mind, BUILD EVERYTHING BETTER! As the old adage goes " If you can't build something nice don't build it at all" or something like that. When we go into a project our first thought is long term. Real estate, your health and the environment are all long term investments, so how do protect our greatest assets?
Insulate, Insulate, Insulate
You won't find any of that pink stuff lying around our job sites. Not when there are better options available. Mineral wool has up to 37% better r-value per inch, a 70% recycled product content, non combustible, water, mold, mildew resistant and at almost 3 times the density of fiberglass It's a no brainer.
Did you know framing accounts for 23% of your walls. With wood r-values coming in a a whopping 1 per inch, its easy to see how this can lead to to an under efficient wall system. A continuous insulation outside the wall can provide tremendous help. A CI can provide a uninterrupted thermal barrier, as well as, an air barrier and water barrier. although not adopted by most municipalities yet, most recent code updates require the use of a CI.
Speaking of codes, these are not like speed limit signs, these are the minimums. Have you ever put the bare minimum into anything and had extraordinary results? Energy codes have consistently risen higher and higher time after time. Another old adage "don"t insulate tomorrow what you can insulate today" is how I think it goes. At Toll House Properties we are going well above the minimum insulation. Those energy prices never seem to come down and given how hard we all work for our money, shouldn't we do everything to literally keep it from flying out the walls!
Breathe Easy: Air Quality Improves!
With all that insulation and air sealing you might be starting to wonder "where will the air come from that I breathe?" If we are lucky, living in Maine, between the 13 months of winter and the endless supply of black flies, we can enjoy about 6 days of open windows. Where does your air come from? In older homes and many new homes air supply is mainly limited to what is free to blow cracks and crevasse's. I don't know about you but when I start thinking about what contaminants maybe lurking in those walls, I get a little concerned. Mold, mildew, rodent feces, bugs, allergens, material pollutants, the list goes on. We have a solution though, air exchanger. In northern climates we use Heat Recovery Ventilation(HRV). HRV's not only allow us to control the rate at which air is exchanged but also temper the incoming air with the exhausted air, much the way a car radiator does. An increase in air quality and decrease in energy costs results in a significantly more comfortable living space.
Efficient Windows: Saving Energy, Money!
Efficient windows, is there really such a thing? As a good friend once told me, " windows are so inefficient they describe them with a u-factor instead of an r-value because virtually nobody knows what that means". Stop a hundred people on the street and most will have an idea of r-value (higher is better) same 100 people no idea on u-factor (lower is better). While almost the same inversely, one is far more understandable through relativity. (Although neither address much real world application). Fact is, windows are a huge weakness in the thermal conductivity of our homes. The best windows on the market achieve about an r-5, not great. Its not all bad though, bringing the outdoors seemingly inside is wonderful and when used appropriately the solar heat gain can be tremendous. Many people have heard of low E windows, and we have been lead to believe low E windows are just more efficient. While this certainly can be true, it really needs some context. Low E is a coating applied to different surfaces of the glass to block long wavelengths (heat) and allow short wavelengths (visible light). By changing the particles used and surface's applied to, window manufacturers can fine tune to meet various climate needs. You see where I'm going with this? Many windows are created as stock windows, designed to fill the need of the masses. If you have lived in Maine long, you may be aware, you are not part of the masses(probably why you live here). What we end up with, if not careful, is a window that deprives us of free heat. With so many heating days, as a Native Mainah Myself, I don't want to pass up on free anything, especially heat. In conclusion while spending a small fortune on the best windows available may never pay for itself using the correct and high quality window can have a exponential immediate return.
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