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The Devil Is in the Details

Rob Yagid , senior editor

12 users recommend

Thermal bridge, anyone?? This is a dormer with a boat load of studs and barely any insulation

Sloppy batt insulation on the bottom...

...and on the top

I wonder what will happen when warm, conditioned air enters this duct, which is placed against an uninsulated portion of exterior wall? Not too sure what the massive hole in the floor is all about...

Channeling air where you don't want it to go.

Thermal bridge, anyone?? This is a dormer with a boat load of studs and barely any insulation

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The really scary part is that all of these photos were taken in a single room. Who knows what the rest of the house looked like. Since drywall was being hung while I was on site, lots of details were being covered up.

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Explosive Furnace Installation

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Official Rules: Scary Building Blunders Contest

Comments (4)

Joe_Bob writes: Sadly, I have seen more 'fake' installations of vent baffles than I have correct ones. More often than not, the baffle stops somewhere short of the ridge or soffit vents it should be connecting.

The absolute worst case I ever saw was where the baffles were open to the soffit vent but stopped about a foot short of the right vent. The baffles had been covered with batt insulation that had an attached plastic vapor retarder. Of course, the insulation also totally blocked the the ridge vent. The homeowner noticed something was wrong when they were in the attic and saw water dripping from the seams in the plastic. When the insulation was pulled down you could literally wring water out of the batts.
Posted: 12:33 am on October 19th

Joe_Bob writes: AFM, building inspectors are charged with enforcing the building code. If the code doesn't address it, the inspector has no standing to do anything.

If one is unfamiliar with the details of construction codes it can be surprising to learn what isn't in there. To generalize, codes are about minimum standards of health and safety. Sometimes higher quality is a happy side effect of the code, but that's not really its focus. Taking the example of these photos, if the jurisdiction in question doesn't have an energy conservation code with provisions that would address the sloppy install a building inspector would have no right to comment on it.
Posted: 12:01 am on October 19th

bmunsell writes: I think that the really scary part is that, from what I've seen over 30+ years, the insulation would be just considered a little sloppy and the dormer framing would be about standard. No excuses, but does the typical framer really think about the effect that wood has on the insulation capacity of a wall and does the typical fiberglass bat installer, who may be getting paid by the piece, really think about the actual performance of the insulation system they are installing? For that matter, how many building inspectors really think all the way through the performance of an insulation system from beginning to end?

The frustating part is that the appraiser, who has control over the project end price/value at some point, probably won't care about the insulation capacity of a wall or even how well the insulation system will perform.

However, I think its getting better slowly. It's a good thing we have our current energy standards and that good builders recieve some bonus for paying attention. In the end I don't think punishment and government intrusion will go as far as education for builders, appraisers and consumers will go.

I've gone to using a system with closed cell foam in the walls with exterior foam over the wall sheeting and closed cell foam in a ventilated cold roof , with a lot of attention to detail, because I want an insulation system with redundancies built in. I want it to work, no matter what. But, I've only arrived at this system through experience and education, mostly education.
Posted: 1:02 pm on October 18th

AFM writes: Why do we have building inspectors? No doubt, it's to stop this kind of sloppy work. This quality of build also reflects poorly on the general contractor. There should be a system where the gc and subs risk their license when their performance is poor. Maybe then these types of problems will decrease.
Posted: 9:09 am on October 18th

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