Batting install question

[Shadrock]

I paid to have some fiberglass batting installed in my shop. A crew came and installed the rolls and bats in a 1440 sqft shop in about 4 hours.

I did 2x6 walls so I could do R19 in the walls and I plan on blowing in more in the ceiling on top of the R30 bats.

They compacted all the insulation in the walls and didn't split the bats to go around any wires or pipes. Am I picky or is this common?

There will be a 20'x8' and a 10'x8' garage doors so I didn't see the point and spending 3 times the amount of batting for spray foam or netting the walls for blow in. But I guess I expected a little too much out of the batting install.

Shop by zboss86, on Flickr


Untitled by zboss86, on Flickr


Untitled by zboss86, on Flickr

Untitled by zboss86, on Flickr

 

[readhead]

That is some pretty poor work. Hope you haven't paid yet. I would ask the owner of the insulation company to come look at "his" work and ask how it will be corrected.

 

[Shadrock]

That is some pretty poor work. Hope you haven't paid yet. I would ask the owner of the insulation company to come look at "his" work and ask how it will be corrected.

They had one crew that blew in some insulation in the attics of my rental properties and they did a really good job. They were particular and added bats to my attic ladders. So I felt pretty comfortable using them on my shop.

I did speak to the owner and he didn't see any issues with the batting install. He said that's the way they've done it for 18-20 years and it hasn't ever failed an inspection. I told him if I knew that's the kind of work they did for the batting installs, I would have paid the extra for netting. I guess I was more disappointed that people don't take any pride in their work.

I had sheet rock scheduled to be done in the next couple of days. So I pulled the insulation, split it around the wires/pipes, and fluffed the bats to come to the outside edge.

 

[D45]

You should have just done this yourself, looks like a 16 year old kid did this

 

[vavet]

Is that a normal way to do a header over a window from framing perspective?

 

[Shadrock]

You should have just done this yourself, looks like a 16 year old kid did this

You're not lying... I just shook my head. They qouted it installed cheaper than I could even buy the stuff in bulk at Homedepot. Hindsight is 20/20, if I'd known, I'd told them not to staple it and I'd do it the way I wanted.


Below is where I pulled the bats out, split them to go around the wiring/plumbing, and fluffed the bats out to the edge to fill any voids. I honestly don't know much about insulation, just thought there shouldn't be any empty spaces between the studs. I figured I was just being ****. I face nailed the flanges, I've read some say to inset nail the flanges, some say to face nail the flanges. Pros and cons to both I suppose.

I need to straighten up some of the bats in the ceiling. I'm not going to get too carried away with it, I'll be blowing in some additional fiberglass on top after the sheet rock is installed.

Untitled by zboss86, on Flickr


Untitled by zboss86, on Flickr

 

[Shadrock]

Is that a normal way to do a header over a window from framing perspective?

No doubt it's different. He said he did it on small openings, like doors and windows, so it could be insulated better. Kinda ironic huh...

 

[gungatim]

wow what a piss poor job. aren't you supposed to layer the kraft paper OVER the studs and staple?

 

[Shadrock]

wow what a piss poor job. aren't you supposed to layer the kraft paper OVER the studs and staple?

I've read/heard different opinions on the staple placement.

*Some people say it makes a better vapor barrier to face nail the flanges to the stud and it allows the insulation expand fully.
*Some sheet rock installers say it causes the screws to pop out.
*Some people prefer to glue the rock to the stud, so the flanges would need to be nailed on the inside.

The insulation manufacturer(Corning) instructions states that it can be done either way. My gripe was that my insulation "professional" inset nailed the insulation 2-3" inside the stud which created large voids and compressed the insulation.

 

[tyme2par4]

Is it common? Yes. Is it correct? Absolutely not.

Why would you need netting to do blown in? If you're sheet rocking, can't you just leave the top 6" open for them to blow down? Then close it up afterwards?

 

[Shadrock]

Is it common? Yes. Is it correct? Absolutely not.

Why would you need netting to do blown in? If you're sheet rocking, can't you just leave the top 6" open for them to blow down? Then close it up afterwards?

I'm guessing it's b/c the walls have dividers in it, the netting would allow them to see any voids. I thought about attempting to blow the walls myself, but everything I read said the improvement store blowers don't have enough power to pack the insulation in like the professional blowers.

 

[bobbyjean]

wow, you did a great fix up on it...i had similar issues on my ceiling....couldnt buy the insulation for what the guys charged to buy and install-a buddy came over and said this Fluff not Stuff-loses r-value when compacted-i spent a day and fixed it like you did-my labor is free...to me

 

[lakeroadster]

Nice job reworking their mess.

The optimist in me says you got the product cheaper from them so it was a win-win for you.

The pessimist says the people that installed your insulation are complete and utter idiots.

Thanks for posting this.. makes me feel better knowing this stuff happens to other folks too.

 

[mm08822]

I used to work for OCF and flanges could go either way. Installers liked them in the bay as it took too much time to unfold them to get to the face of the stud. Either way is fine but in your initial install they pushed the craft paper in too far and stapled it. After the sheetrock is up, the fiberglas would have recovered and tore the vapor barrier making many areas lacking vb.

Slitting the wool over the pipes is also good as it too will recover there as well and could pop the sheetrock away from the studs around that bay.

I remember a few production runs where the wool was so dense that they had to recall a lot of it b/c entire houses were having sheetrock pop on the walls! Oops....

You did a nice job fixing the first guy's hack work while saving the craft paper. The ceiling looks like a different crew did most of it!

Only real problem flanging over stud faces is that is makes it hard to see studs when installing sheetrock. And messes up glueing for sure, if you glue.

For your next garage(!), use unfaced (friction fit) r19 and r30 and cover with vapor barrier. Easier to cut the wool accurately and the poly goes up in large sheets that helps further reduce air infiltration. Poly is stapled to the face of studs/rafters and can still see them for nailing/screwing to.

Sometimes you're better off doing it yourself, but nobody has a crystal ball (except for Taryl!)

 

[Falcon67]

> They qouted it installed cheaper than I could even buy the stuff in bulk at Homedepot.

So you still save $ even with having to do some rework. I don't like it either, but it's still cheaper than if you'd DIY. I'd just fix it to your standard - most of our
s normal standard - and go on.

 

[thdewey]

Yes this was a **** job. But on the issue of stapling the flange on the inside of the stud is normal.
Why? It's ONLY done that way to make the drywall look better with a smoother finish.
Stapling on the stud face is acceptable if you are using another type of finished surface, like OSB, metal etc. Maybe, you just don't care about looks and want a better overall insulation job with less compression at the studs.

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

Unfortunately that's how most bats are installed however it is not the correct way


Fiberglass bats lose their R-value when you compress them. You should never squish a fiberglass bat to make it fit it needs to stay light and fluffy


At least they did most of the crappy work, and you did a nice transformation

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