Attic Insulation Case Studies: Remediation & Insulation upgrade needed in Howell, MI
Challenge
The homeowner's son had actually been the one to go into the attic to look for a problem because water was coming through the bath fan vent inside of the bathroom and noticed a lot of discoloration on the roof sheathing. The homeowner went into the attic and noticed that the ducting for the two bath fans were improperly installed and hanging over a truss support causing condensation to get trapped in the vent. Mold growth was present on the roof sheathing and trusses and the attic air was stagnant. Moisture was dripping into the bathroom from the attic fan. The problems in the attic caused by lack of ventilation coming from the soffit vents because the fiberglass batt insulation had been installed all the way to the roof deck not allowing air flow to come through the soffit vents. As for the water dripping into the bathroom through the bath fan, that problem was caused by the ducting in the attic being installed over a support on the truss allowing moisture to backflow back down the ducting. When taking off the ducting we were able to pour the water into a five gallon bucket and the ducting contained three and a half gallons of water within. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he is a builder and knew that over time the mold in his attic would cause structural damage to his roof and that it would be costly if he didn't take action now. The homeowner's biggest concern with the problem was that his roof would become structurally compromised if the mold on the sheathing continued to grow and eat away at the sheathing.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company over two other companies because we identified issues in his attic that none of the other companies noticed or provided a solution for. We also provided a solution to add a better thermal boundary over his living room as he mentioned it was always uncomfortable. Our solution was to remediate the mold in his attic and correct the ventilation within the attic by providing baffles into the soffits to make sure that they were allowing adequate ventilation. We then would re-route the bath fan ducts and use insulated ducts connecting them to the gable wall vents and then air sealing around the vent to prevent the backflow of humid air from entering back into the attic. We would then cover two can lights with rockwool can light covers as they were not ICR rated posing a potential hazard. We would air seal and insulate the attic hatch cover and then install cellulose insulation over the existing cellulose fiberglass batt insulation over his living room to achieve R49. The only challenge we faced during the installation process was installing the can light covers over the recessed lighting on the vaulted ceiling as they were half way down the vault where the space was limited. We used MoldX2 products, Durovent Baffles, Zypfoam, weatherstripping, SilverGlo, Titeshell recessed light fixture covers, master flow ducting and TruSoft Cellulose Insulation. The homeowner now has a heathy, mold free attic and his living room is now providing a more retainable temperature and is comfortable to be in.
