While inspecting a house in the Westpark subdivision of Buckeye I noticed that the master bedroom was the hottest room in the house. At first i tought it was the large glass block windows on the east and north side of the tub letting in the hot morning Arizona sun. The real culprit wasn't thr design of the home though. When I climbed into the attic the answer revealed itself. At first I thought to myself they insulated it well. I continued down the catwalk towards the back of the house. When I got to the end of the catwalk I could see why the insulation was so thick. A strong Arizona wind storm had blown through the gable vent and completely cleaned the insulation off of the master bedroom ceiling.
Two remedies to avoid are putting plywood over the insulation and closing off the gable vent. Blown in fiberglass insulation performs best when it has air pockets between it. Plywood would condense the insulation from about 10 inches to about 4 inches. This would lower the efficiency of the insulation. The gable vent allows the hot air in the attic to escape. Without the vent, moisture and heat can build up in the attic and cause higher cooling bills.
This was most likely caused by several wind storms, not just one. Redistributing the insulation evenly in the attic once or twice a year is probably the most cost effective way to deal with it.
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