Troubled Houses - The Home Owner's Resourcesm - Energy Savers
We see many interesting adverse conditions during our inspections, partly because of the unlimited number of ways people can mess up a house, but also because we do a thorough inspection to reveal these adverse conditions. We hope these stories help home owners avoid these costly conditions by learning about causes, preventions, and remedies. A home purchase can create opportunities for the new owner to improve the home, possibly increasing its value, durability, efficiency, comfort, and usefulness.
NOTICE TO BUYERS & SELLERS: This site does NOT encourage or discourage the purchase of any individual house, or style, age, location, or condition of house. Conditions shown and/or described in the following articles may have been remedied at the house where these conditions were found. These conditions typically can be remedied by qualified contractors. The presence of these conditions in any house is comparable to any other real estate consideration such as price, size, or location. Consult a qualified home inspector before purchasing any house, and consult a qualified real estate agent for more information on how to handle a real estate transaction where adverse conditions are reported in a home inspection. This site does not describe any house by address or knowingly show a readily identifiable exterior image. Further, no home actively listed for sale on the Twin Cities MLS will be described on these pages at the time the article is posted.
THANK YOU for visiting HankeyandBrown.com. Learn more about our services, which now include IR Thermography, radon testing, and carbon monoxide tests. All photos copyright Roger Hankey, ASHI Certified® Inspector. All rights reserved. Licenses to use these copyrighted images can be arranged by contacting rhankey@hankeyandbrown.com
"Troubled Houses - The Home Owner's Resource" is a SERVICE MARK of Hankey & Brown Inspection Service Inc.
Energy Saver Topics
Snow Melt Patterns are clues in Energy Efficiency Studies. Option: View as a quiz.
Unfinished basement Issues Vermiculite Insulation
Also see our Attic Bypass page and our Ice Dams page Protect your insulation
Read the label - Insulation with instructions (ignored)
Unfinished Basement Issues
Unfinished basements in modern homes often have exposed plastic sheeting vapor barriers. This plastic sheeting is vulnerable to several types of damage. This photo shows the sun (UV light) damage to the plastic at the south facing window sills. This plastic was also loose, torn, and had mold growth on the insulation side of the plastic. The mold growth is caused by condensation (moisture - dew) which forms on the plastic in summer when the air conditioned basement is colder than the dewpoint of warm humid outdoor air. The warm humid air reaches the plastic sheeting after is passes through the exterior vinyl siding, gaps and seams in the wall sheathing, and the fiberglass insulation. The best prevention is to start out with a vapor RETARDER such as MemBrain or equivalent "Smart Vapor Retarders" that permit some moisture transfer, AND to cover the wall with gypsum drywall ASAP to prevent damage to the vapor retarder. In cases like the one shown above, the moldy damaged materials must be removed and replaced and any other moldy surfaces cleaned before the wall is re-insulated. It is also important to have the heating and cooling system return air ducts sealed and the basement not overcooled (kept at temperatures ABOVE the exterior air dewpoint). Click here to learn more about us.
Snow Melt Pattern Reveals Missing Ceiling insulation 
This roof was fully snow covered at the start of the inspection of this 9 year old house. The thin layer of snow fell very early on the morning of this late October inspection. The snow melt pattern was not viewed until the inspector returned to his car for equipment over an hour into the inspection. Notice the snow remains on the colder portions of the roof.
Recognizing the snow melt pattern as abnormal, the inspection sequence was changed and the attic was immediately examined. NO ATTIC ACCESS was found for the room in the lower front. The rest of the attic had normal levels of insulation. Ceiling temperatures were taken at various locations in the house using an infrared thermometer. The temperature of the front room ceiling was significantly cooler than all the other rooms. The listing REALTOR was present and stated that she had always felt cooler in this room. We concluded that since there was no attic access for this room that the ceiling was not insulated. Notice that heat is escaping into the garage roof at left and melting snow on the garage roof. There was no attic access in the garage.
A few days later the REALTOR called to say that the builder had an access installed from the garage, and that our conclusion was correct, the ceiling in this room had been uninsulated for 9 years. The builder had the insulation sub-contractor come back and install the missing insulation. In order to do so, they installed an access in the garage to insulate the first floor ceilings. Imagine how much heat energy was wasted during the prior 8 or 9 winters!
Attic with adverse conditions and minimal insulation
This house, built in 1924 was inspected for a potential home buyer in the summer of 2010. This story and a half house was typical for its age in that it had multiple types of attic insulation and overall was poorly insulated. The readily visible insulation in the upper attic was blown cellulose (ground newspaper with a fire retardant). This insulation barely covered the ceiling joists. The insulation, shown hear near the hatch, is clearly cellulose, but notice the occasional shiny granules of another material. The photo at right shows another type of insulation below the cellulose.
The shiny coarse granular insulation beneath the cellulose is VERMICULITE. It was later confirmed to be the most common brand of vermiculite, Zonolite. Zonolite vermiculite was produced from an ore originating from a mine in Libby, MT. The vermiculite from this mine has been found to be contaminated with trace amounts of asbestos. The photo below shows the attic space beyond the knee wall (over the kitchen). IMPORTANT NEW INFORMATION: Compensation may be available for homeowners who have Zonolite vermiculite insulation in their home. Click here for more information.
The photo above shows the empty bag of insulation, a thin layer of vermiculite spilled out onto the ceiling, an electrical cable at the left, and some exposed foam plastic insulation placed between the rafters and the gable end studs. Shown below is a closeup of the Zonolite bag, and a closeup of the cable with was damaged by squirrels.
While the trace amounts of asbestos typically pose no significant concern to the occupants of the home, so long as the vermiculite is not disturbed, the insulation would be disturbed by any attempt to improve the insulation of this very poorly insulated house. While the vermiculite contains a small amount of asbestos, typically less than 1%, the TYPE of asbestos is the MOST DANGEROUS form. Do NOT disturb the insulation and do NOT have it tested for ASBESTOS. See The Zonolite Trust information link above the photos. Most qualified insulation contractors will not permit their crews to work around vermiculite due to the potential of asbestos exposure. Therefore, our report recommended that the attics in this house be cleared of all insulation by a qualified asbestos abatement firm prior to re-insulation by a qualified insulation contractor. Lastly, we recommended that prior to the re-insulation, a qualified electrician repair the squirrel damaged cable and any other damage to the wiring that is revealed by clearing the attic.
Protect your insulation! Keep people out of the attic!
The obvious path through this attic insulation is clearly done by a person who did not understand the consequences of trampling this loose fiberglass. The insulation has been compressed from about 15" deep to about 3" deep, reducing its insulation value to a small fraction of its initial value. Whether the path was made by the cable or satellite TV installer, an electrician or other intruder, the damage is done and can best corrected by a qualified insulation firm. We recommend home owners post a sign just inside their attic hatch which reads something like this: "STOP - Do not enter this attic unless you have arranged with an insulation firm to restore the insulation to its original condition immediately after you leave the attic." We further recommend that homeowners not permit anyone to enter the attic without a written agreement to restore the attic insulation as a part of whatever work is to be done in the attic. We have created these warning signs and an agreement binding contractors to pay for correcting any insulation they damage. The signs and agreement are available. Simply email us at hankeybrown@comcast.net and we will send you a pdf of each. Also see our townhomes page.
Read the label! Exposed paper faced insulation increases potential for flame spread.
Occasionally we see kraft paper faced fiberglass insulation installed with the facing exposed. This insulation has a long history and can be used effectively in several applications.
Photo 1.
All paper faced insulation is printed with labeling (about every two feet) that instructs the installer to apply the insulation with the paper facing on the warm side of the wall (in heating climates) and to not leave the flammable paper facing exposed or place on a heat source.
Photo 2.
The insulation shown in the photo 1 above has little thermal value since it is placed in an interior partition wall. (The same ambient indoor air temperature is present on both sides of the wall.) This insulation may offer some minimal benefit in reducing sound transmission through the wall, but would not need the facing for this purpose. (Unfaced fiberglass is typically used for sound abatement.)
This paper faced insulation is placed in floor joist cavities to reduce heat loss from infloor hydronic heating tubes to the space below the insulation. The exposure of this large area of paper on a ceiling increases the potential for flame spread across the ceiling in the event of ignition of the paper. Installation of a fire rated ceiling, such as gypsum wallboard was recommended.
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