Last Wednesday as you may recall I showed you this picture from a house that had already passed the pre-drywall inspection which any rater or inspector out there could tell you should have failed. This leads to a few questions, just how did it pass, why did it happen, what was the fix & more even more importantly how can one prevent that from happening?
The Scenario: I got called in to remove a shower surround & replace it with a curbless walk-in shower for a house under construction. I spent about 45 minutes carefully cutting back the drywall & getting the unit it ready to be pulled out in one piece so we could send it to the local Habitat Restore. The alarm bells started going off as soon as we started trying to pull it out as it would hardly budge & when it did I could hear a tearing sound. Well scratch plan A – time break out the reciprocating saw.
No, it wasn’t a pretty site and because the area behind the shower wasn’t fully insulated it allowed the wood to move allowing the insulation to pull away from the studs.
An interesting shot of how you can see that the adhesion had been lost – ahh the joys of using open cell
To top it all off they also didn’t do behind the other one… So much for that ENERGY STAR label…
How did it happen: Well quite easily it turns out as the Site Foreman let the plumber connect the shower but left it free so that the insulation crew could spray behind it… Apparently the insulation crew has been able to do that before & as it passes… Well this time, the normal insulation crew was elsewhere, so they sub’d it out. Well the new crew simply screwed it to the wall & went to work spraying. As they knew it had to pass code & they couldn’t do it proper they simply covered over the openings as no one would ever know or see it…
The $1500 fix: Well pulling the big rig off of other jobs would be to expensive, the insulation contractor had to grab some froth packs & spray behind the existing bath (“no worries its all sealed & insulated”) & of course the one that was completely opened up. Not only did this cost the insulation contractor at least $1500 on the call back but the project ground to a halt while we waited for it to get repaired. Not only that but when they showed up everyone had to vacate while the spraying was going on.
This is the picture of the open section where they fixed the missing insulation, voids & pulled away insulation…
How to Prevent: While it would be nice if we all lived in a perfect world, we don’t & quiet honestly I have no issues paying the plumber a service call for setting the tub after the insulation is in & most inspectors are good with that. Not only is this better on all the trade contractors, but also for the job being done.
As mentioned in a prior article, for houses with crawl spaces or basements it can easily be worth bringing the insulation contractor in twice – once to spray the rim joists & hard to reach areas (like the shower area) & then after all the trades people are done. The one thing as a rater I flat out will tell everyone, don’t cover anything without taking a picture first. This also can be a life saver when you have a building inspector wanting verification.
Rater to Blame also? You know, I happen to know both the rater & the contractor & both do the best they can to make sure everything is done right. While I personally would not accept this work without a picture verifying that the insulation was behind the tubs / shower surrounds I can see how they both just assumed it was like all the other times… Personally I don’t see how the insulation contractor can get a perfect job behind the tub, but the numbers from prior houses, don’t lie so…
