Ask the Virginia Beach Home Inspector

Previously I had a topic about missing insulation on attic kneewalls and how that allowed heat to radiate into your home from the hot attic. So staying with insulation as the point of interest I thought I would discuss something that I see on almost every home inspection in Virginia Beach, almost every.  

Pull down stairs or scuttle holes into the attic are rarely insulated. When I go into an attic and see that the homeowner has taken the steps to insulate the attic to R-38 everywhere except the entrance to the attic it is a shame knowing how much heat loss they are having through that small area.

I am certainly no math whiz but there are those who do these type of calculations, and have done the math. When you have 99% of the attic insulated properly and have that small 1% uninsulated it can drop the total insulation value by approximately 25%.  

The amount of heat flow through this small area due to conduction is a lot higher than the insulated parts of the attic. This is not even taking into consideration heat loss due to air leaks. So make sure your attic access is insulated whenever you it penetrates an insulated ceiling. If not you will be losing big by not thinking small.

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Every now and then during home inspections in Virginia Beach I will come across the following conditions pictured here.

What you see are attic kneewalls and skylight chases where there was no insulation installed or it has fallen out of its intended location. So know you have an attic where temperatures can be well over 120 F. So now you have an uninsulated wall that is heating up due to all the hot air in your attic and radiating heat into your conditioned house. Now your air conditioning system is working harder to try and keep the house cooler.

It does not matter what the R-Value of the insulation is if it is not properly installed and protected. Loose, hanging, or missing insulation will not perform anywhere near the stated R-Value of the product being used.

Ideally what you want to see is the kneewall insulated and covered with an air barrier like drywall or rigid foam board. This will prevent the insulation from falling and the keep the hot attic air off the interior wall where it can radiate the heat into the house.

When you decide to hire your Virginia  Beach home inspector make sure they do more that poke their head through the scuttle hole to inspect your attic.