Attic Insulation Case Studies: Remediation & Insulation in Farmington Hills, MI
Challenge
The homeowner had his roof replaced on October 18th 2021 and then had continuous soffit vents installed under his eaves shortly after and nothing wrong was brought to his attention. He then had his bathroom fan removed and replaced and the installer noticed that he had mold growth all over his attic roof sheathing. The homeowner had also mentioned that his upstairs was always cold in the winter and hot during the summer. Mold growth and dark staining was present on 100% of the roof sheathing in the attic. The roof nails had moisture dripping off the tips. The upstairs temperature was always between 5 and 10 degrees warmer and colder than downstairs depending on the season. The problems were caused by the fiberglass batt insulation blocking all of the intake soffit vents without any baffles being installed. A lack of insulation on the attic floor was also causing heat from inside the attic to radiate down to the conditioned space during the summer and warm air from inside the home to radiate up to the attic during the winter. The attic contained on layer of R19 fiberglass batt insulation. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he just spent all this money to have his new roof shingles installed and new ventilation installed under the eaves to still have the same problem he started with and not be flagged as a concern or corrected by either of the companies. His wife also could not stand the temperature difference upstairs and was always uncomfortable sleeping in their bedroom. The homeowner's biggest concern with the problem was that his attic was full of mold and that all the money he spent to have his roof re-shingled would be a complete waste if the mold was going to eat away at his roof deck and it would need to be replaced again.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we were able to build trust with our solution that would fix the problems that he was experiencing with making sure that would fix problems that he was experiencing with making sure the mold growth would not return after correcting the ventilation. We also supplied a solution that would save him money on his energy costs while also providing a more comfortable upstairs year round. Our solution was to remove all of the fiberglass batt insulation on the floor in order to expose the leaks in the attic floor so they could be sealed (top plates, bond plates, wire penetrations, pipe penetrations ect.). We then removed the mold from the attic sheathing and trusses to give the homeowners a heathy clean attic. We installed baffles into the soffits to make sure that they would be breathing properly recessed light. We air sealed and insulated the hatch cover and then insulated the attic floor with cellulose insulation to R60. Building the insulation dam around the whole house attic fan was a bit challenging as it had been made out of cardboard at first and the insulation was installed making it difficult to build the new out of foam board insulation. We used Mold X2 products to remediate the mold, DuroVent baffles, SilverGlo foam board, Weather-stripping, TiteShell Recessed Light Fixture Cover, ZypFoam and TruSoft Cellulose. The homeowner now has a heathy clean attic that is breathing properly and is breathing properly and is no longer uncomfortable during the winter or summer months. The temperature upstairs in now the same as itis downstairs and his HVAC is coming on much less often.
