Insulation Insights #2: ID’ing Improper Installations

In our last post, we discussed how you must combat three fundamental problems  in order to achieve maximal insulaton protection: excessive air leakage, improper insulation installation, and inadequate insulation.

We already detailed excessive air leakage, so in this post we turn our attention to…

Problem II: Improperly installed insulation.

Sometimes, your builder simply botched the job.

Maybe he didn’t receive the proper training. Maybe he was rushing and not paying attention to what he should be doing. On occasion, he just blew off the task.

In some cases, we find insulation still in rolls in the attic, in the same packaging it was in when it was taken off the truck. People know that homeowners often don’t look in the attic, so they sometimes cut corners.

Then again, you could have the best insulation installer in the world, and still encounter problems.

The reasons are as wide-ranging as the number of tradesmen who collaborate on the construction of a home. If it’s not the electrician coming in with conduit or the HVAC guy installing ductwork, then it might be the cable guy, or the plumber creating voids, or holes, in the insulation without sealing it back up.

 The nooks and crannies where it happens most often are basements, crawlspaces and attics.

It doesn’t take many voids to severely reduce the insulations overall effectiveness, or `R-value. Another few holes can double the energy impact. It’s not life-threatening, but it creates a space where air moves freely in and out.

When EnergyMen performs whole house air sealing, we depressurize the entire space and, using infrared sensing technology, identify every spot where air is entering. This process reveals all those little places where someone has made a hole in your house – and which can add up to the equivalent of having a year-round open window.

EnergyMen then permanently seals those holes to prevent undesirable levels of air movement in and out of the home.