At iFixBasements, energy savings means fixing where a house loses heat: bare foundation walls, a barely sealed rim joist, basic windows, and a crawl space often open to the outside. I offer five products for it, from sealing the rim joist to replacing the windows.
I personally inspect and design the fix; a licensed & insured certified dealer crew installs it. The estimate is free, and no-money-down financing is available.
Energy savings can go in at any phase of my three-phase approach to basement finishing. See all three phases.
Walk through your house on a cold morning and the coldest spots are usually the floors above the basement and the rooms over the crawl space. That isn’t your imagination. In heating season, warm air rises and leaves near the top of the house, which pulls cold air in at the bottom to replace it. The easiest ways in are exactly the places nobody finished: bare concrete, the rim joist, the old windows, and the vents. A house fights that all winter, and so does the heating system.
Where a house loses heat below grade
- Foundation walls. Bare concrete or block is cold all winter, and that cold radiates into the space and up into the floors above.
- The rim joist. It’s the band of framing that sits on top of the foundation wall, with gaps and seams all the way around the house. It’s one of the leakiest spots in a home.
- Basement windows. Builders tend to put the simplest window in the basement: single pane, with sashes that don’t seal.
- Crawl space walls and vents. An open, uninsulated crawl space sends cold and damp air straight up through the floor.
- Humidity. Warm, humid air that reaches cool surfaces condenses, which is how an energy problem turns into a moisture problem.
If a couple of those sound like your house, the products below are worth a look.
Five products built for below grade
Each one stands on its own, and each has its own page:
- Rim joist insulation → The band of framing on top of your foundation wall, air-sealed and insulated so cold air stops sliding in around the edge of the house.
- Basement insulation package → Insulated wall panels with a bright white finish, the rim joist, and window options, all designed together.
- Crawl space insulation package → Foam board on the foundation walls, sealed vents, a vapor barrier, and dehumidification, so the crawl space is insulated and dry.
- New basement windows → Double-pane vinyl replacement windows, hopper or slider, that open and close the way basement windows should.
- Basement storm windows → A clear interior panel that keeps the daylight and stops the winter draft, and never covers a window someone might need to escape through.
Moisture comes first
Insulation and wet conditions don’t mix. If water is getting into your basement, waterproofing comes first. In a crawl space, the insulation package is built around crawl space encapsulation, which handles the moisture half of the job. I tell you plainly what has to happen first, and I won’t sell you insulation to cover a leak.
How I handle it
- I look at the whole space. Walls, rim joist, windows, vents, and any sign of moisture.
- I explain why it’s happening. Where the house is losing heat and why, in plain English.
- I ask what you want fixed. Then we price every line together, and you can take out anything you’d rather do yourself or hand to another trusted contractor.
- A dealer crew installs it. I personally inspect and design the fix, then a licensed & insured certified dealer crew installs it.
My name and my reputation are on every job, so I’m not walking away after a proposal; I’m involved in making sure it’s done right.
Why homeowners call me
I’ve been doing this long enough to have over 100 five-star Google reviews from people in exactly this situation, and I share a lot of real basement footage — the good, the bad, and the genuinely gross — with about 10,000 followers on Instagram (@ifixbasements) so you can see what these spaces actually look like, not just stock photos.
Where I work
I estimate jobs throughout New York — all five NYC boroughs, Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk), Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, Sullivan, Greene, and Columbia Counties — plus northern and central New Jersey (down through Mercer and Monmouth Counties) and Wayne and Pike Counties in Pennsylvania. See the service-area map →
Straight Answers
Frequently asked questions
Where does a house lose the most heat through the basement or crawl space?
Usually in a few places at once: uninsulated foundation walls, the rim joist (the band of framing that sits on top of the foundation wall), leaky basement windows, and open crawl space vents. I look at all of them on the same visit so you can see how they add up.
Do I need to fix moisture before I insulate?
Yes. Insulation on a wall or in a crawl space that’s taking on water just hides the problem and gets ruined by it. If there’s a leak, standing water, or a humidity problem, I’ll tell you plainly and we deal with that first.
Can I do just one of these, like the rim joist or the windows?
Yes. Each product on this page stands on its own. Some homeowners only need the rim joist sealed, or the windows replaced. You decide how much of it to do, and I’ll tell you what I’d do first.
What drives the cost of an energy savings project?
Which parts of the basement or crawl space you include, the size of the space, the condition of the walls and framing, and the number of windows. I inspect, explain what I find and why, ask what you want fixed, and price every line with you so you can take out anything you’d rather do yourself. The estimate is free, and no-money-down financing is available.
Who installs it?
I personally inspect and design the fix, then a licensed & insured certified dealer crew installs it.