Attic Problems On A New Construction Home In Edina

We recently inspected a new construction, custom built home in Edina.  We did a team inspection at this property, where Neil, Duane, and I all inspected the house at the same time.  We really went over this house with a fine tooth comb, but we didn’t come up with much that was wrong – it was a very well built home.  Towards the end of the inspection, we asked the buyer if they would mind us opening up the attic access panel, which had been sprayed shut.  The buyer was fine with that, as most buyers are.  What we found was quite surprising.

The builder had taken all of the necessary steps to seal all of the bypasses to the attic,  by doing something most builders never do.  Before blowing in loose-fill fiberglass insulation, he had a company spray foam the ‘lid’ to really make sure that any potential bypasses to the attic would be completely sealed.  This isn’t required, but it’s a great idea.  Unfortunately, the person doing the insulation had missed a few areas, and this allowed a ton of frost in to the attic!

The builder was very glad we found this, and quickly had the insulation company back out to re-insulate the areas that were missed.  This is a great example of why it’s so important to break the attic access seal, and why it’s so important to have even new construction homes inspected, no matter how good the builder is.

The best builders will encourage their buyers to have private home inspections performed, and they’ll welcome any feedback from home inspectors.  This will not only prove to the buyer what a good house they’re buying, but can also save the builder from major potential problems in the future.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Edina Home Inspections

RELATED POSTS

• Break Seal At The Attic Access Panel?  Yes.
• Photos of Attic Bypasses
• Frost in the Attic
• New Construction Inspections

Photos Of Attic Bypasses With Explanations

A few posts ago I included several photos of attic problems in my blog Reasons to Insulate, and said I would come back to them in a later post with explanations.   Here we go!

This photo shows a bypass to the attic space around a furnace flue.  The square piece of metal is not sealed to the drywall, and there is a fair amount of air leaking into the attic space from this gap.  I brushed the insulation away to show the gap for the photo.  The insulation has turned black because of the air leakage - as the warm air passes through the insulation, the fiberglass acts like a filter and collects the dust / dirt particles in the air.  Any time you see darkened insulation, you can bet there is air leakage occuring.  This is often confused with mold because it looks similar.


In this photo the gap around the plumbing vent is allowing air in to the attic.  Notice the dark insulation?  An easy fix would be to fill the gap with expanding foam.

This photo shows several holes that wires pass through to get to the attic.  These holes could easily be sealed up with expanding foam.  I didn't move any insulation to find these holes - this is exactly how the insulation looked when I climbed in to the attic, so there is obviously missing insulation here too.   The recommended insulation depth for loose fill fiberglass is 18", but the silver areas have no insulation at all.

This is another attic space in desperate need of more insulation.  Someone probably moved the insulation away to install a ceiling fan, but never bothered to put it back.

There is a major attic bypass around this furnace flue, and this is one of the most common bypasses that I find.  You can clearly see the walls on the floor below, and you can even see the basement ceiling from this opening!  To correct this bypass, the owner will need to install a large piece of wood, metal, drywall, or any other material that air won't pass through, and caulk all of the joints to make it airtight.  This wasn't obvious just by looking, but I always make a point of pulling the insulation away around furnace flues to look for bypasses.  The fiberglass batt on the right side of the photo was sitting on top of this opening.


Hopefully these photos have helped to illustrate exactly what attic bypasses are and how to correct some of the issues.


Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Minneapolis Home Inspections