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In This Issue:
What’s the Panther Got That I Don’t Have?Not all insulation is the same. So what’s the Panther got that the others don’t have? Plenty!
Steve CurtisWhat About Attic Storage Areas?We occasionally entertain requests from our AttiCat® dealers about how to handle their homeowners desire for built-in attic storage areas prior to insulating the attic. We just did this in my own personal house and thought we would share what we did. Rule #1: If you will be adding much weight by adding a storage area, it is always best to consult with a structural engineer. The previous homeowner of our home had already done this, had a set of blueprints for a “pop-top” remodel addition, and had already “beefed-up” the ceiling/attic floor joists. I was also fortunate that one of our consultant/trainers, Steve Zablocki has experienced just about everything possible in remodel construction, and has even built complete houses from the ground up. So Steve knew just what to do, with my next crazy idea. The area to which we planned to add insulation was approximately 300 square feet of attic above our kitchen area. This area has always been a challenge comfort wise, with it being too cold in winter & too hot in summer. There is only one 6” heating/cooling branch duct run terminated with a 4 x 10 floor register. The run is in the far end of a basement ceiling. Basement is finished with no access to the heating/cooling ductwork. There were already 2 x 8 ceiling joists (or bottom cords — we call them in Colorado) with 7 1/2” of R-19 batt insulation in the spaces between the joists. The existing insulation had been installed properly with the vapor barrier installed against the ceiling. We had previously “decked” about half of the area and had been storing lightweight items on top of the decking in the attic. We have a nice “pull-down” ladder for access to this attic area. First, we relocated all of the items being stored in this area to the adjacent area above our garage which had been correctly, structurally decked for storage as well. We removed all existing decking from above the kitchen area. We have seven (7) non-insulation certified can lights, and chose to fabricate and install 14 x 14 x 24” tall ductboard Heat Shields over each of the can lights. We cut and installed 2 x 4 horizontal supports 26” above the top of the bottom cords on every roof truss which were spaced on 24” centers. We used an air compressor and nail gun with 16d nails to affix these horizontal supports. On the “tall” side of the kitchen attic (side away from the eves), we installed 26” tall 2 x 4 vertical supports, nailing them to the vertical uprights of the truss system. A 26” tall dam wall was built using 3/4” OSB and screwed to the outer edge of the storage area. We cut in two (2) new soffit vents on the north-side soffit eaves, and doubled up on the raft-R-mates to maintain adequate ventilation above our finished insulation and storage area. We pre-cut ?” OSB “shelves” to be screwed down on each joist space area running “long-ways” on top of the horizontal supports. Using our AttiCat® machine and 16 bags of AttiCat® blown-in insulation, we insulated each “bay area”, covering the can light heat shields and ending up with about 34” of total insulation depth. What’s that about R-100? Rrrrrrr. Tool Time Tim Allen would be proud! Then we installed and screwed down the pre-cut ?” OSB shelving sections in each joist-space bay area and re-stored many more items than we had stored in the space before using a RubberMaid™ tub system. We put out rodent control and set up a bed for the next time Patti’s ticked at me and I need a place to sleep! About a week later we added a Solar Attic Ventilator above this area of the attic. We also added a second Solar Attic Ventilator above the bedroom area of our home, two new Lo-Sone Bathroom Exhaust Ventilation Systems in the upstairs bathrooms, and insulated the entire rest of the house to R-70 with about 26” of AttiCat® Blown-In insulation. Installed Insulation in Attic Platform Being Installed On Top of Insulation Installed Platform Attic Storage! Gary & Patti Southern, and Steve ZablockiSelling Your CompanyWhether you’re selling an HVAC product or an AttiCat insulation upgrade, it’s very important to explain how and why your Company and your Co-workers make a significant difference in the quality of the work that is done. In many cases this will be the only way you can differentiate your offering from a competitor’sÉand the key to earning the sale. If I were to ask you to tell me the top 5 reasons why I should choose your company over another can you tell me without hesitation? You must be able to do just that, with confidence and pride. All the better if you have these reasons written down and can show it and / or leave it with the customers. And better still if you have some photos or scanned images to professionally illustrate your bragging points. Here are examples of what I mean:
You get the idea. None of this is new and many of your best competitors will do this too. So to one-up even your best competitors you’ll need to work a little harder to illustrate what makes your co-workers, your job design, the materials you use, your preparation, your clean-up, your guarantees… all those things all important and better done than others’ will do. Why You Should Choose Our Company to Re-Insulate Your Attic
Close more sales by creating a list of these value-adding items and show your customers why you’re better… why you are the best! Tom Piscitelli |
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Dealer of the MonthOur AttiCat® dealer of the month is Home Comfort Heating & Cooling, Inc. in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Owner Dan Schacke and his team at Home Comfort have been on fire through the month of September averaging two to three AttiCat® installs per week. On top of that, they have been installing three to four Solar Attic Fans per week! Many installs they have done have been on homes built in the 1950’s-60’s. The average size of home they are servicing is 1,000 square feet per attic.
Dan and Home Comfort have been utilizing various avenues to get AttiCat® up and running. One fantastic story Dan shared was of a customer that had previously (last year) purchased a zone control system from Home Comfort to fight the hot and cold spots they were having on their second floor. Since then, Dan returned to the home and the zone control system was brought up. The client was still not comfortable upstairs, so Dan suggested they add insulation to their attic. Home Comfort, now being an AttiCat® dealer, could provide this service to their client. The home owner added insulation to the attic. They also installed two Solar Fans because one of the Powered Fans they had installed eight months ago had already failed. After completing the insulation and solar fan installation, Dan then proposed and sold the client a new high efficiency furnace & air conditioning system. But wait, there may be more as Dan said the client is now interested in replacing all of their thermostats in the home as well and it all started with AttiCat® and the trust that Home Comfort had built with their client.
More leads are coming from James, a Sales Rep, who has been digging through their dealer database getting leads from past customers. He said as fall begins and with the tax credit, the response rate has been terrific and he hopes to continue to sell more AttiCat® jobs through this approach. Dan has also taken advantage of the great opportunity in the Personal Use Program (PUP) and has seen great results. He has done his own house and two of his service techs’ homes as well. Dan is a true believer of PUP, and says "If you have it (AttiCat®) in your own home, you are going to be able to relate to it and talk to customers about it with confidence!"
Their installations have been going very smoothly and they are happy with the success now and anticipating the success to come. As far installation tips go, Home Comfort head installer, Oscar, says he prefers wearing a respirator rather than the basic filter mask. The installers did mention that never have they seen the same attic yet; every attic is unique.
The key to Home Comfort’s success is that they have been following training and offering the AttiCat® service at every home. Since the beginning, Home Comfort has been patient and persistent and it has really paid off. With all of their service techs and owner, Dan, offering AttiCat® on every job, they are starting to see the results and will continue to have more sales as some customers have told them they would like to jump on board in Spring, 2010. Congratulations to Home Comfort Heating & Cooling for their outstanding use of the AttiCat® system and for being our Dealer of the Month! Taylor Siebert
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© Copyright 2009 Specialty Comfort Enterprises. Specialty Comfort Enterprises, LLC |
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