Cheating on our Insulation

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Old 08-31-2019, 08:04 AM
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Frank inspected our home and found that some insulation was needed in the attic. Contacted Warranty Dept and corrected within a week! Frank D and sons are the best!!!!
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Old 08-31-2019, 08:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Martian View Post
There are not 2,000 new restaurants per month, and only a small number (percentage) of people are affected by each restaurant.
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Old 08-31-2019, 03:15 PM
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"Very easy to identify who that contractor was via the warranty department."
Very good suggestion and I will follow up on it. And by the way, I was in the garage and up on the ladder especially when he was blowing 'other' areas, I feel certain that he did add insulation in low areas as I watched his blowing tube. I inspected with an LED flash light after everything settled and the insulation appears much higher. I do believe his comments.
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Old 08-31-2019, 04:11 PM
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To add some clarification here.....The Villages typically uses blown in fiberglas on all flat ceiling surfaces, and Batt insulation in vertical or peaked areas. This does vary.

A few areas in The Villages did experiment with foam icynene insulation in some Villas a few years ago. They no longer do that.

The R- value differs a bit with the different manufacturers, but the white blown in fiberglas has an APPROXIMATE R value of 2.5-3.0 per inch.....not 1 per inch. If it were 1 per inch, to have an R-38 you would have 38 inches of insulation....an absurd amount. To have the now standard R-38 you will see insulation levels at about 13-14 inches.

The Villages used to blow up to an R-30. Then they started blowing an R-30 AND using the roof sheathing with a Radiant barrier to achieve an energy rating. Folks complained about cell phone reception with the Radiant barriers........so NOW they use regular OSB roof sheathing and blow 13-14 inches of white fiberglas insulation giving you an R-38. All the new batt insulation they now use is also an R-38, and is marked accordingly.

Lastly, The Villages does not insulate above unconditioned space, so the Lanai's and the garages are not insulated. When someone pays an aftermarket insulation company to insulate above their lanai, those installers need to walk back there to do it. the better installers when backing out of the attic should always blow over their footprints, so it looks like they were never there. This is what one may see when they think they are blowing in other areas.

Hope this helps.

Frank D.
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Old 08-31-2019, 04:31 PM
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Originally Posted by DangeloInspections View Post
Thank you JoMar...! Yes, that is correct...typically most everything detailed in the report is taken care of by the Warranty department within 2 weeks or so.

As to Martian's question..it is hard to say...but it is a common finding, I would say perhaps up to 25% of the homes. Thankfully, the latest studies from engineers say that there is not a huge difference in real energy savings between say an R-30 and an R-38. Of course, we still always document this when found because the paperwork says that the contract was for an R-38, so if there are any areas where we find less it will go in the report.

As I earlier said, the other common finding is if you have areas of Batt insulation that is displaced....the insulation is there, but if it is not placed and secured properly you could have voids in your insulation envelope. This also needs to be found and corrected.

Please do not get me wrong....The Villages builds a good home, and the Warranty department does a better job than many other builders and developments do......but think about it.... would we be as busy as we are doing Warranty inspections for folks if everyday we told them, "Hey, we did not find any issues.....just give me my check". We would be out of business in no time.

The reality is just the opposite. We do find issues. Everyday. Most of them are not serious, but still costly to have to repair yourselves....and sometimes we DO find more serious issues. Costly issues.

The reasons for this are complex. There are a few thousand homes being built every year...most of them within 2 months or so. Good skilled tradespeople are harder to find and keep. Everyone seems to be looking to hire more people.

If the average home needs like 20 inspections during the different phases of the home being built, and you take say 2000 homes times 20 inspections, that's 40,000 inspections your county has to do each year....just on new homes....not even counting remodeling, additions, etc. I'll just leave it at that.

Bottom line is that most all of our customers are surprised at what we do find and get corrected in their new home, and feel it is well worth the peace of mind it affords.

Hope this helps!

Frank D'Angelo, ACI
Frank,

In your opinion does insulating a Garage Door make sense.
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Old 08-31-2019, 05:06 PM
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Great question.....usually yes, especially if your garage door faces south, but anything other than north I would say yes. Now understand, in doing this you are NOT insulating the garage...we actually often do not recommend that. BUT...if your garage door is hot to the touch, you can usually lower the temperature of your garage by 10-15 degrees if you insulate the garage DOORS.

What you are doing is stopping the radiant heat build up in the garage. In Florida your garage will always get hot...especially with driving in hot engines, etc. But...it is a good thing to cut that RADIANT heat build up from the garage doors.

Sadly, The Villages seems to make it a bit difficult to order your garage doors already insulated. They use the usual builder grade garage door, when an insulated one from the factory does not cost much more.

Hope that helps!

Frank
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Old 08-31-2019, 05:54 PM
Bjeanj Bjeanj is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kerry Azz View Post
You’re 100% right the inspectors here are sub-par at best and most could care less it’s evident in every house if you know what your looking for. they’d never last up north!
I tend to take issue when someone paints almost anything with such a broad brush. Questions generated include:
Does this person know every inspector operating in TV?
What qualifications does this person have to evaluate inspectors?
What qualifications does this person have to evaluate the end product?
Has this person personally inspected “every house” to find deficiencies?

I personally don’t know anything about the quality of construction or inspectors here. So I don’t comment on this topic.
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