Well sealed envelope coupled with Insulation before Home Sale, Howell MI
Challenge
The homeowner had called us out because he had a home inspection done for a home sale and mold was found in the attic. He had also explained that it was hot upstairs during the summer and cold during the winter months. The symptoms of the problem were his roofing nails were all rusted showing signs of high humidity in the attic. He also had condensation forming on the tips of the nails during the inspection during the winter. The problems were caused by not having enough insulation on the attic floor and the attic floor not being air-sealed to stop the heat from the conditioned home from leaking into the attic. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he wants to sell his home but was not able to do so with the mold that was found in the attic during the home inspection. The homeowner's biggest concerns with the problems in the attic had been remediated properly.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we were able to provide him with a solution that would fix both his poorly insulated attic and be able to remove the mold within his attic so he could put his home up for sale. Our solution was to remove all the old contaminated loose fiberglass insulation from the attic floor and then air seal all the top plates, and wire penetrations. We also wanted to make sure that we covered all of the recessed lighting with TiteShell can light covers and air seal them. We then thoroughly cleaned the attic sheathing and trussed off the mold growth and then reinsulated his attic to a respectable R49. The only real challenge faced during the installation process was the mold was taking longer to get rid of than expected. It took us longer to remove because of how deep the mold had penetrated the roof deck. We used a combination of products to achieve our end result. We used Mold X2, Durovent baffles, TiteShell can light covers, 4" insulated ducting, SilverGlo, and TruSoft Cellulose Insulation. The homeowner now has a healthy clean attic and is properly ventilated and insulated to R49. The homeowner can now put his home up for sale and not be concerned about not being able to sell his home due to the growth of mold in his attic. He can also up-sale the listing of his home as it is now energy-efficient.
