Attic Access

Could not work on the fan but gave me valuable advise. Installation of the safety pole went quickly. I tested it and it is very secure. Gives me confidence that my wife or kids could get up and down safely.

Phil did quite a bit of work for me. He installed an attic ladder, attic insulation, an attic floor plus some minor electrical wiring/lighting in the attic in 2012. This was a difficult project because my ceilings are weirdly tall --- 12' almost. So he had to make some modifications to the standard Calvert attic ladder. That was all fine, but a few days ago, when I came home, I discovered the ladder had opened by itself and all of the folded 12 feet of it came crashing down. A couple of parts were broken and reason the latch failed needed to be looked at. I contacted Phil and he wanted to come as early as possible the next day - a Saturday. He was prompt and efficient in diagnosing the problem (probably the latch catch plate needed to be shimmed out a little). Calvert was no longer in business, so Phil had some ideas about how to fix the broken bits and re-attach the spring to the ladder hatch - making some parts himself. He proposed taking the entire hatch off and taking it back to his shop to make a strong and dependable repair. He came back with the repaired hatch and shims for the latch the next day. All was installed quickly and efficiently - and he asked for no additional money (beyond what I paid for the ladder originally in 2012).

Phillip is very innovative in his approach and is an excellent problem solver. He is very passionate about his work and always dependable. He will provide you with photographs of the work he is doing. You can be assured that you will know exactly what is going on. I really appreciated that. I have had Phillip do other projects on my home and he is extremely efficient and reasonable. I highly recommend him.

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My husband and I entered into this project wanting a few slabs of plywood installed in our attic space and more insulation for our home.  When we agreed to an initial bid with Phillip we truly had no idea just how wonderfully Phillip would transform our attic space.  We are delighted. Phillip is methodical, thoughtful, and determined to do what is right. He installed fire rated stairs to our attic space via our garage. He modified those stairs for the best fit in our space including building the frame and adding the needed supports. He insulated the entire attic space and constructed new walls with insulation in the attic around our vaulted ceiling. He even put batting over the top of the vaulted ceiling. He fully sealed our attic floor with flexible grout. Phillip removed the loose fill insulation and added batting to at least R38 or better in key places. He added electricity and lighting in the attic and at our request installed new LED lights for us in our hallway, front living room and kitchen. Phillip added extra air baffles that he designed to our soffit vents. Then he added three levels of decking for us! Phillip is very concerned about energy usage and while working up in our attic space he noticed that our current bathroom fans weren’t vented properly for best function.  So, he realigned our vents and installed higher powered fans that are way quieter than our old fans with ceiling hoods on the roof that he designed. Phillip fully documented the entire process with a detailed 284 page photo album pdf. I wish all contractors were so visible with their process. Without our asking, Phillip researched and found an Energy Trust Rebate and filled out all of the necessary paperwork for us to file. We are looking forward to working with Phillip again in the future. To anyone looking for this type of work, we highly recommend Phillip Norman of Attic Access. 

We have had Phil do many projects for us over several years.  His work is meticulous and very cost effective.  He does not cut corners, and is good at planning out the work and showing diagrams for major projects.

On this job it was an activity that we knew would take several weeks.  As the house was empty between renters leaving and selling, Phil was able to completely remove the insulation from the crawl space and replace it, a necessity after rodent issues.  That was the original commissioned work.  He also noted the novel idea for boarding up the insulation from underneath to help deter the rodents, which we also agreed to have him do.

During his insulation work he noted the issues of the rodents getting into the duct insulation, as well as poorly connected ducts, and even a fallen duct.  We added this work on.

Even though it took longer than we originally anticipated given the additional items to be done, Phil finished all the work in a timely fashion to meet our selling timeline, and not interfere with the start of realtors coming onsite.  And with one that he accidentally ran into, he even talked up the house and neighborhood on our behalf.  Thanks!

Post all this work the crawl space looked beautiful, and certainly turned a dismal space into a selling point.  Feel free to check out the photos Phil took during the process: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byj-qncyomXmN1lnLThUZkxvSHc/view?usp=sharing

Along with the crawl space work we asked him to replace two support boards on both sides of the garage door.  The garage door installer had used untreated wood, and left it exposed unpainted.  It was that way for more than a season and it had already started raining out.  Phil painted treated wood inside the garage ahead of time and replaced it to look outside as if it was a perfect match and fit, and original.

Lastly on this project we asked him to replace a failing ceiling light in one of the spare bedrooms.  He convinced us to replace it with a more energy efficient LED light that provided more lumens to the room than the original incandescent.  This was surely an additional benefit during house showings.

Overall this project went great.  Another testament to Phil's engineering skills and quality, at a very reasonable price.  We definitely recommend him!

This is a very overdue report.  Phil did great work on our house.  It's now easily accessible, thanks to the new ladder, and very useful now that we can store things up there.  Phil is a very meticulous and opinionated guy, as genuine and passionate as they come.  I suspect he may rub some the wrong way, but I very much appreciated it.  He simply cannot abide anything less than the best thing for your house, and he'll take on a lot of extra work (at little to no extra charge) in order to satisfy that requirement of his.  And the homeowner benefits.  Highly recommended, there's no reason not to make your attic a useful space!

There were some delays because of external issues.  He kept us informed and we worked the schedule as needed to complete the job.

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Phillip was very conscientious and meticulous.  Because our ceiling height was not standard he modified the ladder so
it was easier and safer to lower and retract than the factory design.  He sealed the ladder and installed two handrails.  The ladder is very functional and safe.  It was a pleasure working with him.

The way my attic was constructed required Phil to do "his magic" to make everthing fit... The results were wonderful.

Mr. Norman replaced unsafe attic folding stairs and relocated their placement.  He also installed a safety pole at the top of the stairs and repaired the ceiling around the entry area.  He was very thorough in analyzing what needed to be done and prompt in submitting a description of the work to be done with a bid.  Mr. Norman does very exacting work with outstanding finishing.  We feel that the stairs are now an asset to our property.

Phil has stepped up to deliver many things that save energy and create useful storage space in our home, beyond our imagining and beyond our expectations. It began in 2010 with correct advice and referral, as ground of the crawl spaces was drained and sealed by Cleanspace methods. Next came a remarkable transformation by Phil, of the attic, in 2011. This dark jungle of trusses over a sea of deep cellulose insulation became accessible, brightly lighted and free of some large energy bleeds. Leaky attic floor can lights were fixed with a first batch of conversion LED disk lights. Through Phil's enthusiastic leadership we are happy early adopters of beautiful and inexpensive Sylvan 70732 lights from Lowe's, and that is the subject of this review. We like the view that LED lighting will persist as simple bright plates set mostly upon ceilings, replacing short-lived light bulbs and all of their awkward and expensive fixtures. We believe these lights will serve without maintenance for as long as we own our home, for many years.
Adding to the LED lights in the attic floor and in our kitchen, in July 2014, Phil fixed all our remaining indoor can lights and most of our surface-mount bulb fixtures. What fun to save a lot of electricity and at the same time to double cheerful brightness. Phil claims electricity savings will pay for the new lights in about four years, and that matters a lot. The maintenance-free brightness matters even more, especially that of a small number of fixtures in the garage, now brightly lit.  By this review we want to promote Phil's work in lighting as a good example to all other contractors and to sponsors of weatherization. 
Don't you agree that light set upon a ceiling surface is prettier than one recessed darkly and wastefully in a can?

Phil showed up ready to work and spent 3 hours over the course of two trips (two different days).  He explained what was wrong and what needed to be done.  He showed examples as well.  He cut insulation to better fit.  He pulled insulation down and repacked it so that it was all touching the ceiling surface of the crawl space (maximum insulating effect).  He also added some insulation where there were deficiencies.  Overall it looks much better, and will insulate much better.

If you've read any of the previous reviews, you already know that Phil is an exceptional contractor. I would say his overriding characteristic is a passionate commitment to quality, energy-saving home weatherization. I had started out wanting only to seal and insulate my attic but after discussions with Phil at a local Better Living show I also ended up with much more useful attic access and storage.
The ladder was installed with great attention to fit and location and it was modified so that the angle was shallower for easier access. He removed a large portion of the old loose fill insulation while installing the raised-deck framing and sealing and then replaced it all back and increased the insulation with fiberglass batting. When installing the roof vent Phil realized that there was no safe way to get onto our upper roof. He modified a spare ladder he had and left it for us so that other contractors would have a safe approach for roof access (I'm not the roof climbing type, myself). 
I've learned quite a bit from him and certainly enjoy reading his blogs on topics from insulation to flexible grout, to lighting (just Google his name). I recommend Phil highly.

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Mr. Norman replaced our unsafe, worn-out folding attic stairs with upgraded, safer, sturdier, durable stairs. He was creative in his analysis of the installation. His finishing work is very neat and he was very easy to work with.

Our 1925 house had a variety of old and inefficient ceiling lights/fixtures. When I began discussing their replacement with Phil he became very enthusiastic. Even though Phil had done an amazing job with our attic several years ago, I had no idea how much he knew about lighting. Phil has extensive knowledge of state of the art lighting. He has read the literature exhaustively and conducted his own demanding tests. Phil has a blog on which he discusses lighting and especially LED lighting, highlighting its economic and environmental benefits. Every light required a custom installation since all the junction boxes were either too small or too recessed for the lights. He did a fantastic job of custom fitting each light and in the case of one doing a great patch job on the ceiling where he had to cut in a new junction box. I have never had a contractor who was so passionate about the benefits these lights offer and who was willing to work for such reasonable rates. Phil sees the installation of the lights as a public service and to get the word out prices his work accordingly. For example, four of the lights were in the $35-38 price range. Phil installed each fixture for about $27. If I had used another contractor, just about any electrician would have charged my about $90 hour plus the cost of the light. The total price of $400 included the 5 lights and the installation.

Phil Norman did plaster repair for me a number of years ago, and did a wonderful job.  He has also recently gave me some of his flexible grout, a product he makes himself, to use for crack repairs in my lathe and plaster walls.  The grout is great!  It is easy to use, but I won't be able to say how it holds up long-term for a while yet.  But I am very optimistic.  Phil is a joy to work with.

Phil did a very good, thorough job.  He optimized the attic for efficiency and usability.

It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the quality was stellar

Phil did for our crawl space what he did for our attic.  Clean and simple design and installation, improved access to crawlspace as well as rerouting the ducts. 
He replaced the old original air ductwork with flex-pipe, allowing for better access to the crawlspace itself as well as vastly improving the ability to move around once in the crawlspace by rerouting the ducts to the periphery of the space whenever feasible...Streamlined!
 
Phil did what another paid contractor failed to do...he provided meticulous, thoughtful installation of subfloor insulation and installed it in way to guarantee contact with the floor above.  This serves two main functions: allows the stated R-value of the insulation to be realized to the greatest extent possible and excludes rodents from finding ideal habitat for nest building.  This was done by ensuring SNUG contact with the subflooring above it.  
If only others would follow Phil's excellent example the world would be a better place indeed.
Look for details of his work soon on his website/blog. 

Our ranch style home was built in 1969, had minimal
insulation, hazardous vermiculite content, and minimal head room. We wanted all
the old material removed and new insulation installed.
I looked on Angies List for a provider. Phil Norman Attic
Access stood out to me due to customer reviews. I called Phil and he came out
the following evening. He looked in our attic and saw minimal insulating bats
with vermiculite sprinkled throughout. He said he would need to take samples of
the vermiculite for the asbestos content before he could give me a bid. The lab
fee would be $75.00. I agreed, and he took six samples in different areas, and
sent them to the lab for testing.
About a week later I received an e-mail from Phil with a
copy of the lab report. The vermiculite tested less than 1% asbestos content.
That was a level at which he could do the work. He gave me a bid of $5225. We
agreed on the price and Phil went to work about a month later.
 The attic access was
in the garage through a 2x2 foot opening. Phil covered the garage areas with
plastic. It took about a week to carefully remove all the old bat insulation,
vermiculite, and diligently vacuum the entire attic.
Phil talked to us about the attic not breathing properly,
and he would suggest enlarging the fascia vents. We agreed and Phil did the
work.
Phil also talked about the benefits of LED lighting in our
home. He demonstrated one, and we decided to have five new fixtures installed.
He did sheetrock patching and matched the ceiling brocade perfectly.
Phil changed out an old bath exhaust fan with a high quality
quiet fan.
Phil air sealed all wall headers and floor pits. He
installed CFL lighting in the attic with convenient switches. He built and
installed soffit baffles. Previously there were none, restricting attic
ventilation.
He then carefully placed new John Mansville and Owens Corning
insulation bats between the joists, then covering them, three layers deep!
Phil then built a raised plywood flooring of approximately
800 sf. where there was adequate headroom. This is nice for attic access and
additional storage area.
Our attic looks beautiful, well lighted, and clean air to
breathe. We have been enjoying the comfort inside our home ever since. Our
energy bill has decreased substantially.
I would recommend Phil Norman if you want the job done
right. It was a big job and took five weeks from start to finish, as Phil works
by himself. The final bill was $6403 as there was additional work we wanted
done as I indicated in this report.
We trusted Phil in our home when we were gone. Phil handled
all the paperwork necessary for us to get the maximum Energy Trust of Oregon
rebate. I would recommend Phil Norman to anyone who wants a great job.
 

We had a squirrel and rat problem in our attic/crawl space,
and we hired Phil to clean up the mess, find and plug the entrance holes (after
a professional exterminator had completely failed), and redo all the
insulation.  Phil proposed to install a
drop-down ladder for easier access, put in plywood flooring and LED lighting to
make the space useable, replace a noisy and inefficient bathroom fan, and redo
all the tangled wiring.  We are delighted
with the result, even though it turned out to be a bigger project than we
originally planned. 
Phil is a fastidious perfectionist, for whom sloppy
workmanship is not just unprofessional but downright immoral.  His flooring is the sturdiest (and certainly
the most level) in our old house.  He is
constantly reconsidering the best way to do the job, and is unsatisfied with
anything short of an A+ performance.  He
cleans up meticulously at the end of every day. 
He is man of scrupulous integrity (he found an 1888 silver
dollar on one of the rafters, apparently left by a superstitious builder; we
told him to keep it, but he absolutely refused).  He insists on sticking to his original bid,
even when the job has taken far longer than anyone anticipated. 
He loves to explain what he is doing, and I have learned a lot
from him.  He has taught me clever
methods for repairing damaged sheet-rock, tricks for installing electrical
boxes when there is no accessible stud for an anchor, wiring LED lighting, and
leveling an uneven floor.
Phil was a pleasure to work with.  My only regret is that I feel we exploited
him.

The lighting was added to a larger attic project (ladder, insulation, decking...)
The lighting went up quickly and was finished properly and I have had no problems at all with it.