eldrenkamp’s Recent Comments

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  insulation quality control

  The only way you can really know how effective your insulation work was (whether it's a D-I-Y project or a professional installation) is to have your house tested with a blower door and an infrared camera afterwards.

  The blower door tests for air leaks (responsible for almost half of a typical older home's thermal losses); the infrared camera tests for insulation voids--i.e., places the cellulose did not reach.

  I've been participating in quality-control tests of recent insulation jobs in my community, and the results have been depressing. Five out of six houses we test, on average, have some serious deficiencies in their insulation work.

  Professional insulation crews, simply put, have no idea how good a job they're doing--and it's all because they do not do the quality control testing afterwards. To repeat: You can have no idea whether you have a good insulation job if you do not hire an auditor WITH A BLOWER DOOR AND AN INFRARED CAMERA to test the job afterwards. Your utility can help you set this up, and may even have a program to subsidize it. Market rate for such audits can be about $400 (not cheap, but nonetheless a worthwhile investment in most cases); utility subsidies, when available, can cut this cost in half or more.

  If professional crews have no idea how good a job they're doing, imagine the position of a do-it-yourselfer. Go ahead and do it yourself, but be doubly sure to get an audit--with the right equipment--afterwards. Then make sure you or your insulation company fixes any problems that show up during the audit.On Umbra on insulation, again posted 2 years, 9 months ago 5 Responses