Mold, Ventilation & Lacking Insulation in Brighton, MI
Challenge
The homeowner had just moved in and had a home inspection done before he purchased the home and Mold was found in the attic during the inspection. The home inspection also stated that the insulation should be upgraded as the attic floor contained only R19 fiberglass batt insulation and 4" of blown fiberglass insulation for an R value of only R30. The symptoms of the problem were dark stains on the trusses and roof sheathing inside the attic. The upstairs temperature was noticeably warmer than the main floor. When using a thermal camera, the attic floor was 8-10 degrees warmer than the inside temperature settings of the home and the whole house attic fan louver temperature was right around 100 degrees. The problems were caused by a lack of ventilation through the soffit vents as they had been completely blocked by the insulation that had been insulated without baffles to make sure they were still breathing properly. The upstairs temperature was warmer than the main floor level because the attic floor lacked insulation to effectively retain the temperature in the home. The homeowner chose to have the problem fixed because he had just moved into the home and could already tell that his upstairs was uncomfortably warmer than the rest of the home. He also explained that he did not want to have his family members living under the roof knowing that he had a very bad mold problem that could cause health issues. The homeowner's biggest concern was that it would cost even more money down the road when the roof becomes structurally compromised and would need to be replaced before even reaching the expected life expectancy and could potentially leak water to the conditioned space below causing even more damage.
Solution
The homeowner chose our company because we built a solid report with the customer during the inspection and we were able to get him into the attic to let him see with his own eyes where the problems were coming from and how we would be able to solve the issues with our solutions provided. Our solution was to remove all of the dirty/contaminated insulation from the attic floor to start with a clean surface and then remediate the mold in his attic. We would then install baffles into the eaves between the rafters to make sure that airflow was not being restricted coming into the attic through the soffit vents. We then would air seal the penetrations in the attic floor (Top plate, Bond plates, Wire and Pipe penetrations ect.). We would seal the gap around the metal chimney stack with metal flashing and install a rockwool sleeve around the chimney stack for fire safety. The whole house fan would be covered with a whole house fan cover box made out of foam board insulation with a radiant barrier on either side. The gable vents needed to be covered as the attic relies on High and Low ventilation and would cause cross ventilation. The recessed lighting would be covered with rockwool can light covers and air sealed to the attic floor and then lastly we would install cellulose insulation to an R60 value. Some of the challenges that we faced during the installation process was the heat in the attic and the height of the attic was short. We used MoldX2 products, SilverGlo, Weather stripping, Fire Caulk, Metal Flashing, Rock wool chimney sleeve, OSB, ZypFoam, Titeshell Recessed Light Fixture Covers and TruSoft Cellulose. The homeowner now has a healthy, clean attic and the upstairs temperature is consistent with the temperature on the main floor.
