insulation: Best Practice - Window And Door Insulation - 10/12/11 05:23 AM
How often have we complained about cold air near and around windows and doors? It could be that upon installation, the Best Practice - window and door insulation was not employed.
On a new construction, pre-drywall inspection I ran across something that I really like to see. Proper insulation around the windows and doors!
This is how insulation around windows and doors has been done for a long time.
If properly done, it is, in a word, OK.
However, there is a trick to it.
Fiberglass insulation is intended to provide a thermal barrier by trapping air.
If it is crammed … (19 comments)
|
insulation: Be Careful When The Builder Says Your Insulation Is "Green Certified" - 09/09/11 07:18 AM
One thing people tell me when I do one-year and two-year warranty inspections is that the builder said the house was "green certified," or whatever phrase is used.
Be careful when the builder says your insulation is "green certified."
First of all, who knows what criteria is being claimed.
Second of all, unless you are provided some written example of such "certification," you got nothin'!!
THEY CAN SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT. WITHOUT SOME RECOGNIZED CERT, YOU HAVE JUST ANOTHER HOUSE.
When I ask clients if there is paper work on the window quality, insulation R-values for floors, walls and unfinished attic, … (22 comments)
|
insulation: "Added Insulation In The Attic" - 05/04/11 05:13 AM
I was impressed today to read feature information about a house that was totally correct. The feature sheet was provided by the Flipper, and in part read, "Added Insulation In The Attic."
What impressed me was that it is totally true. Insulation was indeed added.
Yep, added indeed!
Yep, added indeed!
Yep, added indeed!
Yep, added … (21 comments)
|
insulation: When Builders Say Green, Find Out What They Mean - 05/02/11 05:21 AM
On new construction inspections, I have learned a couple of things. First, everyone wants to say their product is green, although I am not sure why. And second, when they do, when builders say green, find out what they mean.
My clients on a recent new construction said that the builder told them it was a "green house." I asked which standard was used to determine that and if he was going to give them a certificate. They knew nothing of that.
So I asked, "Why do you think it is green?"
"Well, the appliances are Energy Star, we think he … (74 comments)
|
insulation: Why Heat Goes Whoosh From The House - 02/11/11 09:02 AM
It's elementary physics, my dear Watson, elementary.
Heat seeks cold. Everyone thinks that heat rises. Well, it does! If it's seeking cold. If the cold is down, heat sinks!
As a Boy Scout, along the C&O canal, near the Antietam Battlefield, there is a large cave. It goes way in and eventually way down. It is full of bats! I have been all through it. Inside we could always tell which way the opening was, even way inside, because we could feel the July heat from that direction! As a 14 year old I marveled at that, not understanding the physics … (21 comments)
|
insulation: Which Way Is Up? An Insulation Lesson. - 10/30/10 08:36 AM
Often I go into attics and see that people have put in extra insulation. They usually make two mistakes - they use the wrong kind of insulation and install it wrong, OR it is put in the wrong direction.
The purpose of insulation is to provide a thermal barrier. The amount of insulation gives it a resistance value, commonly called the R-value. The more R-value, the better the thermal resistance.
Heat seeks cold. Heat can go up or DOWN to seek this cold. So in an attic space, the insulation is there to keep the heat out of the house in … (37 comments)
|
insulation: I Am Sick And Tired Of Hearing About The Code - 07/11/10 07:38 AM
On a recent pre-drywall inspection I noticed that the insulation surrounding the garage was nicely stapled to the studs, but in the rest of the house no staples were used.
In a blog two years ago I said that one problem I was seeing in new construction was un-stapled insulation. Until the advent of thermal image cameras we did not know just how much insulation can slip inside walls. It does! And a thermal camera reveals how much! It must be stapled!
On my report I recommended that the insulation throughout the house be properly stapled to the studs.
The … (37 comments)
|
insulation: Every Little Place Should Be Insulated Space - 03/08/10 04:52 AM
Insulation, to be effective, has to cover every square inch of exterior-to-interior space.
Heat seeks cold. And insulation traps air. If insulation is not trapping air in a space where heat can move toward cold, it will do just that.
On pre-drywall inspections, which are best done AFTER the insulation has been installed, I always look at how the carefully the insulation has been applied. Behind the bath tubs, does it extend all the way to the floor? Under fireplaces and bay windows, does it completely fill the cavity and does the paper backing touch the sub floor above? Are exterior … (9 comments)
|
insulation: Icynene Insulation Follow Up - 01/04/10 08:36 AM
There was so much interest in my previous post! I received as many contacts off line as on.
I had many questions regarding the insulation, but two in particular:
Does icynene allow wood to breathe? Does foam insulation in walls and ceilings/attics encase too much moisture inside houses. To find the answers I contacted a couple of the scientists/engineers at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs (LBL). This is one of the main testing organizations which help provide ASHRAE standards (not codes). The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers is what helps determine product, installation, building technique, architectural, etc. standards … (15 comments)
|
insulation: End of the Day Call - 09/02/09 09:42 AM
I was 520 pm yesterday. I was finishing up my last inspection for the day. The mobile phone rang.
A lady was having moisture issues with the HVAC system ducts, dripping on the ceiling between the first and second levels. It was causing mold development in many spots in the ceiling and general staining all over. "I just found your website and want you to do a thermal image examination of this problem. I have had two HVAC companies over and they can't tell what the problem is."
"Sure, I can help you. When would you like this inspection, morning, afternoon … (21 comments)
|
insulation: Do You See What I See? - 07/01/09 05:54 AM
The Flashing, Flashing, Flashing post has already brought in business. Another person in the same neighborhood, impressed by my Superman ability to see non-existent flashing (cough!), invited me over to investigate this same flashing problem on their house. While there I also did an IR examination.
It seems that in addition to water stains, the bedroom also is hot and cold. Looking around with an infrared camera, it isn't hard to see why.
This is blown up larger than normal, and grainy, but you can still see what is happening. Part of the room has a pentagon shape, with … (33 comments)
|
insulation: What I'm Seeing Now (6) - New Home Inspection, 4 of 6 - 10/28/08 05:18 AM
They say to never say never. Well, in this fourth of six posts regarding new construction I am going over one more thing regarding insulation. What I'm Seeing Now is something that you should never trust - that everything that should be insulated, is insulated.
For example:
1. Corners. Some carpentry employs a framing technique called "California Corners." They may be called something else in other places, but that is what I have learned to call them. In such corners the two corner studs are perpendicular, but there is a small space, about 3.5 inches square, between them that will need … (2 comments)
|
|
|
|
;)
;)
;)
