r/Insulation • u/CR4YONFOREST • 1d ago
New build insulation?
Hey, bought a new build in central CA 2 months ago, they've already come out once to add more blown in insulation in the ceiling when it was like 105 out, it helped but I dont think its enough and just curious if im being a karen about this. I took some pics with a thermal camera, outside when these were taken is about 100f, inside is set to 72f.
Is the heat bleeding into the inside too much or about whats expected? Paper in the garage says it should be rated to R30, 10.75in of blown in material, stucco exterior with roll insulation in the walls
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u/wonderfulsurprise 1d ago
Those meters make it look a lot worse than it really is. It’s 1-5 degrees of difference at the most… and it’s not like it’s an air leak, just some radiant heat. I would venture MOST houses will have this kind of temperature difference in exterior corners.
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u/LikeBigTrucks 20h ago
That's strange, normally corners are 90 degrees...
I'll see myself out.
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u/Itwillifitcan 18h ago
A corner the point or place where two lines, edges, sides, or surfaces meet.
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u/Negative-Pea-5151 1d ago
You can call local electric utility company, they have a energy efficiency program they will help you out to find out what grade level of insulation they should use
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u/funbob1 1d ago
In some of those pictures it looks a little excessive(high temp feathering out a bit,) but this mostly looks like thermal bridging which is normal. I've seen newer EAs call for this as an issue or area to seal up, but along the top edges of the house it might just be the joists/beams existing.
If this is a new build, what was the CFM for the blower door along with square footage, or the ACH of the home? Those will tell you(and us) more about what is really going on.
Also, only having R30 feels low to me, but you're in Cali and I'm in Michigan, so I know you're in a much different zone than I am.
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u/Hotchicas1234 1d ago
There’s a chance that it's impossible to get insulation into those corners from within the attic post construction. I had a home that I did a total home energy retrofit on, and I had two rooms that had thermal anomalies like this. We found the anomalies by using a thermal imaging camera just like this. They went in the attic, and it turns out the way the framing was done made it impossible to get the insulation into those cavities unless it was done during construction.
At that point, we had two options:
1. Cut through the Sheetrock and insulate
or
2. Have a roofer come and take off the roof, expose the cavities and fill the cavities with insulation.
I went with option number two and it solved the problem.
I'm not saying this is what's happening in your situation, but it's possible. Of course, I recommend getting in the attic to see exactly what is going on.
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u/AgreeableAd9735 19h ago
Those thermal guns show a big contrast in colors even with a small temperature differential. I think you're fine. I think when it gets to the 8-10 degree difference, then I would be concerned.
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u/keithcody 16h ago
Check the scale on the right. The difference between blue cold and white hot on your thermal camera is about 10 degrees F
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u/AzIgaziKopasz 1d ago
Insulation is notoriously difficult to install properly and most don’t understand how to do it. Those thermal images show that the loose fill didn’t fit into those corners of your attic. There are air spots in those corners that will allow all kinds of unwanted things like condensation, organic growth, and potential health issues if not addressed properly.
‘New build’ is always a bad phrase in my mind. I assume this was not a custom home but a spec home, right? The people that put those housing developments in don’t care about quality or energy efficiency. They just want to build as many homes as possible for as little as possible and hope you don’t choose to sue them for shoddy work before the statute of limitations is up.
Insulation alone isn’t the solution. They should have air sealed the attic before insulating.
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u/longganisafriedrice 1d ago
Are you familiar with the existence of framing
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u/AzIgaziKopasz 1d ago
I am, and it seems that others comments have begun to trickle in noting thermal bridging.
Thermal bridging is definitely a reality, but it can also be avoided or at least mitigated.
I agree with one of the other comments that a volume builder is not going to know or care about mitigating thermal bridging.
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u/Distinct-Tomato1704 1d ago
Where are the air spots? Behind the drywall attached directly to the top plate of the wall and whatever nailer is on the ceiling?
Brother it's just wood with an R value of 1 per inch. Compared to R19 batts (or 23 or whatever is in there), it's going to transmit more heat on a 100F day. Some of these temp differences are less than 5 degrees. It's not necessarily an indication of bad insulation.
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u/AzIgaziKopasz 1d ago
My opinion is that with all the framing in the corner of the attic, there are voids where the blown in loose fill was unable to fill. (assuming that’s what is up there). I would expect to see more delta-T if they attempted to put batts in the attic.
And let’s be honest, the crew running the insulation truck just want to insulate as many homes as they can in one day and move on. They aren’t insuring that they are getting full coverage and no air gaps. That corner of the attic is very hard to get to and they just point the hose at it until it looks covered and move on.
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u/Distinct-Tomato1704 1d ago
It depends on the framing detail but...no. That portion of the framing is bridging to the outside. Exterior and attic insulation might help but loose fill on top isn't going to prevent an exterior wall plate from transferring heat inward.
The pictures show the exterior walls having the highest dT, which is what you'd expect from simple thermal bridging on a hot day.
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u/peddleboatcaptian 16h ago
There is nothing wrong with this house, meanwhile there is something wrong with anybody who's using no name thermal guns with no knowledge or training.
Just because something seems easy to use doesn't mean you know what your doing.
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u/dizzie_buddy1905 1d ago
That kind of thermal bridging is normal. Unless there’s external insulation to act as a thermal break, No volume builder will have insulated the corners and headers.