TCI Home Services Case Studies: Insulation Upgrade & Remediation, Brighton
Challenge
The Homeowner went up into his attic and noticed mold growth on his roof deck and his attic insulation was extremely dirty. Mold was present all over the roof deck and the attic had hot/humid air that was not being vented out properly. The soffits were blocked with previously blown in insulation and the attic floor had not been air sealed allowing conditioned air from the home to lead into the attic. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he was concerned about the structural integrity and life of his roof. He also wanted to save more on his heating and cooling bills. The homeowner's biggest concern was that the mold in his attic was unhealthy to have in his home and that it would ruin his life expectancy of his roof.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we were very thorough with the inspection and was able to explain to him clearly what needed to be done to resolve the problem. He also noted he just wanted to get everything updated at his home so he wouldn't leave his kids any expenses that needed to be put out to sell the home one day. Our solution was to clean the roof deck and trusses free of mold and install the proper amount of baffles into the soffits. We would then completely remove the Blown in Fiberglass and batt insulation that was on the attic floor and air seal the attic floor. Once the attic floor had been air sealed we would then blow in all new Cellulose to R-60. We did experience some challenges with getting the mold removed from the roof deck as it was embedded deep into the wood. Removing the insulation also posed a challenge due to insulation being blown on top of the batt insulation made it more time consuming to switch techniques for removal. We used a combination of products. To remove the mold we used HEPA vacuums and then treated the attic with RMR-86 and RMR-141. We then installed DuroVent baffles to all bays that had soffits in them. For insulation we used ZypFoam for air sealing the attic floor and then blew in 17 inches of TruSoft Stabilized Cellulose for an R-60 value, 4 inches SilverGlo foam board for insulating the hatch cover to R-20 and weather stripping to create an airtight seal around the hatch. The homeowner now has a mold free attic and an energy efficient attic floor in Michigan with R-60 insulation, reducing the cost of his heating and cooling bills.
