Serious Attic issues...? NO..!!.......be careful!

[DangeloInspections]

Hello all. It has come to my attention recently that there is a company or companies that are inspecting Villager's attics and telling the homeowner that there are serious issues.

I do not want to get too specific because I do not want to get entangled in any legal issues....but I am just warning folks to be careful of scams and "professionals" who make crazy claims of serious issues that they will take care of for you for a few thousand dollars.

Their claims are ridiculous and are designed to scare you into signing a contract to change your insulation and attic ventilation, etc.......telling you if you do not you could die from attic mold issues and you will never be able to sell your home unless things get fixed.

We do over 700 Home Inspections a year in The Villages and in the 10 years we have done business here we have NEVER seen any evidence of what they are claiming. If what they are claiming is true, you would see tons of homes in The Villages having these issues, etc. We do not.

I am not trying to hurt anyone here and I have no agenda here. I just do not like seeing good folks being scammed. Please be leery of this kind of business....

I am just trying to help without embroiling myself in any controversy.

Respectfully, Frank D'Angelo, ACI

[VApeople]

Hi Frank, thanks for the posting. Even before we bought our new house in 2016, everyone told us to contact you for our yearly inspection. We were very pleased with the service you provided, and we hope you and your family are all doing well.

Bob and Suzanne Jewett

[npwalters]

Thanks for the heads up. Good information.

[DangeloInspections]

Thank you Bob and Suzanne for the kind words. We do at times find problems in the attics, like missing or displaced insulation, a broken truss, a damaged section on A/C ductwork, bath vent ductwork not hooked up, etc...these are all easily fixed.......but we never find some of the outlandish scare tactic things some good folks have been told lately just to get some of their money.

[Kenswing]

Thanks for the heads up, Frank.. :coolsmiley:

[EdFNJ]

So the nasty attic has now taken the place of "you need a new roof wink-wink and we can convince your insurance company to pay" game?

[Velvet]

And...Frank (the OP) knows what he is talking about, from my experience.

[Pairadocs]

So the nasty attic has now taken the place of "you need a new roof wink-wink and we can convince your insurance company to pay" game?

Yep, 'wink wink', all free, we'll handle it all and guarantee if you have any problems with your insurance, hey don't worry, we'll take care of everything for you. Yep, all you pay is the deductible, and you're neighbors in all Florida neighborhoods will pay big time, you remember that big storm we had a couple months back right, well, we found some "creasing and some loose shingles, and .........

[Skunky1]

Remember, a free inspection is an excuse to get on top of your roof or into your home. Most often the free inspection will cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Beware of the solicitors in the villages. Sometimes they wear a name badge with their picture on it around their neck to make themselves look official.

[Gunny2403]

Hello all. It has come to my attention recently that there is a company or companies that are inspecting Villager's attics and telling the homeowner that there are serious issues.

I do not want to get too specific because I do not want to get entangled in any legal issues....but I am just warning folks to be careful of scams and "professionals" who make crazy claims of serious issues that they will take care of for you for a few thousand dollars.

Their claims are ridiculous and are designed to scare you into signing a contract to change your insulation and attic ventilation, etc.......telling you if you do not you could die from attic mold issues and you will never be able to sell your home unless things get fixed.

We do over 700 Home Inspections a year in The Villages and in the 10 years we have done business here we have NEVER seen any evidence of what they are claiming. If what they are claiming is true, you would see tons of homes in The Villages having these issues, etc. We do not.

I am not trying to hurt anyone here and I have no agenda here. I just do not like seeing good folks being scammed. Please be leery of this kind of business....

I am just trying to help without embroiling myself in any controversy.

Respectfully, Frank D'Angelo, ACI
Frank. I have not personally seen or experienced what your offering here, but I can imagine it has occurred. Having said that, I used to conduct seminars on attic ventilation and insulation for the Remodeling Industry. I was trained by Owens Corning regarding attic insulation do’s and don’ts and I worked for the Company that invented Ridge Vent. I also was a panelist for Utilities as they tried to educate consumers regarding the topic of proper attic insulation and ventilation. These two items go together and a balanced system is needed to avoid the possibility of mold and to minimize heating and cooling needs. The Villages are full of examples of poorly ventilated roof systems but I do not know if they rise to level of alarm that some may sound. When selling my home in Pittsburgh I had an inspector make claims about “ black mold “ in my attic. I had none, just dirt. When he recognized I knew more about the issue than he did he changed his report.

I find that many inspectors are simply justifying high charges by offering multi paged reports that make inaccurate claims.

If they can afford it, the seller should get an independent inspection.

[Skunky1]

The solicitors at your door are no different than the Robo calls you get on your phone.

[EileenK]

Thats a reason The Villages should be a gated community. Allowing everyone access is risky to residents.

[Kgcetm]

We have a problem with cracks in the covered lanai and garage ceilings (dry wall tape). We have been told that the builder did not put any or sufficient insulation in those spaces to prevent the cracking. I'm told I need to add insulation prior to repairing the tape/cracks and if I don't, I will experience the same problem again.

Any comment on this issue, Frank?

[DAVES]

Hello all. It has come to my attention recently that there is a company or companies that are inspecting Villager's attics and telling the homeowner that there are serious issues.

I do not want to get too specific because I do not want to get entangled in any legal issues....but I am just warning folks to be careful of scams and "professionals" who make crazy claims of serious issues that they will take care of for you for a few thousand dollars.

Their claims are ridiculous and are designed to scare you into signing a contract to change your insulation and attic ventilation, etc.......telling you if you do not you could die from attic mold issues and you will never be able to sell your home unless things get fixed.

We do over 700 Home Inspections a year in The Villages and in the 10 years we have done business here we have NEVER seen any evidence of what they are claiming. If what they are claiming is true, you would see tons of homes in The Villages having these issues, etc. We do not.

I am not trying to hurt anyone here and I have no agenda here. I just do not like seeing good folks being scammed. Please be leery of this kind of business....

I am just trying to help without embroiling myself in any controversy.

Respectfully, Frank D'Angelo, ACI

We call them gypsies perhaps not politically correct. They are everywhere. People selling stuff like meat, fish, home repair, car repair and a new one for me plants.

One of the best I met years ago in business. This guy would take out an ad in conjunction with a friend. Buy xy 1234 stereo for $400. It was worth ???? like $50.
He would send his,"sales people," out with their trunk full of these cheap stereos.
The pitch to people. The guy would show the printed ad. Say they fell off the truck and they could buy them for ONLY $200. The guy had a warehouse full of these things and he would turn over shocking numbers of these things.

[merrymini]

Thats a reason The Villages should be a gated community. Allowing everyone access is risky to residents.

Do you want to pay the additional monthly fees needed to take care of the roadways?

[Fourpar]

Thank you, Frank!
In my 20+ years as a RE Broker, I've seen/heard of a lot of scams. This is yet another to be wary of.

[DangeloInspections]

Frank. I have not personally seen or experienced what your offering here, but I can imagine it has occurred. Having said that, I used to conduct seminars on attic ventilation and insulation for the Remodeling Industry. I was trained by Owens Corning regarding attic insulation do’s and don’ts and I worked for the Company that invented Ridge Vent. I also was a panelist for Utilities as they tried to educate consumers regarding the topic of proper attic insulation and ventilation. These two items go together and a balanced system is needed to avoid the possibility of mold and to minimize heating and cooling needs. The Villages are full of examples of poorly ventilated roof systems but I do not know if they rise to level of alarm that some may sound. When selling my home in Pittsburgh I had an inspector make claims about “ black mold “ in my attic. I had none, just dirt. When he recognized I knew more about the issue than he did he changed his report.

I find that many inspectors are simply justifying high charges by offering multi paged reports that make inaccurate claims.

If they can afford it, the seller should get an independent inspection.

Gunny, thanks for sharing. Yes, Attic insulation and ventilation is a very interesting subject that seems to be evolving the last few years. I have sat in hours of great seminars on the subject being taught by some well respected engineers. Great debates on passive or active ventilation, the newer completely closed and foamed attics, open and closed cell foam, radiant barriers, etc., etc.

With all this research, I suspect the new houses 20 years from now may be much different in this subject than the homes today. I'm sure if we met we would have a great conversation.

In this specific case, these "Professionals" are making outlandish scary claims to innocent homeowners to get their money. Quite extreme. Buyer beware.

Thanks! Frank D.

[DangeloInspections]

We have a problem with cracks in the covered lanai and garage ceilings (dry wall tape). We have been told that the builder did not put any or sufficient insulation in those spaces to prevent the cracking. I'm told I need to add insulation prior to repairing the tape/cracks and if I don't, I will experience the same problem again.

Any comment on this issue, Frank?

Well, this is a different subject, and there have been scores of posts on it for many years here. In fact years ago there was an attempt of a class action suit that did not go anywhere because everything done was up to code.

So...this is a bit of a complex subject. Understand that "Code" does not address every issue in any home. "Code" is the minimum required, and there often is a difference between building to code and best building practices.

On the subject of lanai and garage drywall cracking along the seams, this can be caused by many reasons.
1) The type of drywall compound and drywall tape used and the amount of it.
2) The skill of the installer.
3) MAYBE the temperature extremes between the attic and the outside- NOT PROVEN.
4) The type of paint used.

So....what could prevent this from happening? Perhaps many things, Strapping across the bottom chord of the trusses, Trusses being 16" o.c. instead of 24" o.c., Insulation above these areas...(although typically insulation is NOT installed above unconditioned areas). Using durabond 90 instead of drywall mud, etc, etc....

NONE of these ideas are required, AND NONE of these ideas are proven to stop this cracking from happening. Some of these ideas MIGHT lessen the chance to drywall cracking occurring, but they are NOT required by code and are not guaranteed to lessen the possibility of this occurring.

To answer your question specifically, insulation is typically not installed above unconditioned space. There is no guarantee that if you add insulation to these areas you will stop the drywall from cracking. It MIGHT, but there are so many other variables that there are no quick and easy answers here.

So...if I were building a home here knowing that this is a potential issue, I might do many things different, like strapping, like gluing and screwing the drywall, like using a different drywall mud and tape, like maybe not even using drywall in the lanai and perhaps using a vinyl headboard product, like perhaps adding some insulation there just because it is cheap, etc., etc......BUT......ALL of those ideas are perhaps overkill, and NONE are guaranteed to prevent the drywall from cracking, and NO builder would EVER build to that extreme....ANYWHERE.

It is a bit of a rabbit hole that I'd rather not go down.

Hope that helps!

Frank D.

[Jolson]

Thank you for letting everyone know about these scammers! We are scheduled with you for our year inspection toward the end of this month. Thanks!!

[greg.turay]

Frank did our inspection and I found him to be accurate complete and trustworthy. He has numerous referrals and references. If you feel scammed by someone, get the second opinion from Frank.

[Debfrommaine]

Thank you for letting everyone know about these scammers! We are scheduled with you for our year inspection toward the end of this month. Thanks!!

Me too!!