The toughest part of adding insulation at the Cortez house in Des Allemands? Prying ourselves out of their quaint, little shop out front. Wagon Wheel Ceramics and Gifts, a ceramics and craft shop that Mike and his wife Mary have been running for 35 years, is filled with beautiful statuettes – both finished and unfinished – as well as pots of paint and cans of paintbrushes. It’s just the sort of place that invites a visitor to sit down and stay awhile.
But that wasn’t what we were there for, so we only sat and talked ceramics a little while. (Hey! We’re only human, and one of the things we love about our work is getting to know our customers.) We were there because Mike and Mary, both long-time natives of the area, were finally ready to add insulation to their sixty-year-old house.
“In the winter,” Michael confided in a charming bayou accent, “when it’s chilly, really chilly so that you need a jacket out, the heater in our house was cutting on about every twenty minutes. I walked down to my daughter’s house, just down the street, and the air conditioner was on! I said, ‘How can that be?’”
Mike had heard about the different types of insulation available, but he didn’t know which to choose. At a recent home and garden show, however, he spoke with Corey at the Sunlight Contractors’ booth, and Corey explained the benefits of spray foam insulation. Mike was sold.
“They weren’t in a hurry,” Michael recalls. “They presented a good deal to me and never pushed me on anything. I had an insulation company come out a couple of years ago, said they wouldn’t do anything until I cleaned everything out of the house. Corey’s team said, ‘We’ll move the stuff that’s in the way and cover everything up. We’ll take care of everything.’ They even cleaned up after themselves when they were done.”
Though Mike had considered have insulation installed years before, Mary had suggested that by the time the insulation pays for itself, they wouldn’t save anything. That was back when utility bills were around $30 per month. Of course, utilities are much higher now and the cost of insulation has gone down, so it takes no time for the insulation to pay for itself.
Mike’s insulation was just installed a few weeks ago, so it may be early to tell how much he’ll be saving, and we’re hoping for everyone’s sake that the biting cold of winter will quit nipping at our Southern heels before Mike really feels the benefit though we’re sure he’ll receive just as much benefit in our scorching Louisiana July. But if you want to call on Mike and Mary to see what they think about their insulation, stop on by Wagon Wheel Ceramics and Gifts. If you’re anything like us, you’ll want to stay and visit awhile.