One item that always seems to floor builders & even homeowners is that if we can’t verify how well insulation was installed, we mark it down as grade 3 (worse grading we can give). Why do we do that – well here is one example from my own house when I opened up an exterior wall…
Hmmm, I don’t see anything behind this…
Amazingly in this bay they only had insulation in the bottom 6″ & the top foot of this cavity – forget grade 3 here lets try non-existent. Well at least they made it easy for the Cable Installer to fish the cable through this cavity…
Ahh but that is existing… Well you might flash back to this LEED house under construction or for a more recent example of bad practices, here is a shot a took about a month ago while I was up in Minnesota of a new house under construction…
Sorry for the grainy shot but that is 1.5″ drain line you can see directly under the plastic sheathing with fiberglass insulation compressed behind it. Ahh regional industry standards at their best… Fortunately for many in Illinois and other areas where inspections are occurring you can almost always count on a Grade 2 or better install now.
