Be ever vigilant
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Not really a question, but a comment on the sad state of building. I have reached the drywall stage in my build. I have spent countless hours airsealing, caulking, taping, ensuring insulation was properly done, etc. I have 2×8 walls with 2×4 staggered studs, 2.5″ of closed cell foam and the remainder filled with open cell foam. Drywallers entered the picture and I went by the job site after they were done for the day Saturday. My insulation is destroyed. They took huge handfuls of foam out of every bay in every wall. If I had not come by until Monday afternoon, they would have completed the job, cleaned up and I would have never seen the damage they had done. Tomorrow they will be faced with an irate owner, a huge job of removing their drywall, and a bill for re-insulating. So disappointing and such a waste of time, money, attention to detail, etc. Ugh.
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Replies
Kevin,
Have you figured out why?
Is it possible that the insulation was in the way preventing them from installing the drywall?
Walta
The insulation was perfectly trimmed flush with the studs. There was no need to remove any. I had even scraped the studs themselves until clean. I have no idea why other than perhaps they wanted a place to put their hands as they lifted the pieces into place. Beats me.
Wow--worse than I thought after taking down some drywall. Looked like dogs were digging holes everywhere. Good thing that closed cell is so hard and they had to stop at that depth. My R-30-something walls were all R-15. New crew will be taking down all the drywall, insulation will be resprayed and we will try again. I wonder how often this happens and just gets covered up?
My guess is rodents or maybe kids.
Kevin,
I don’t mean any disrespect, but what you are telling us seems so far fetched I just don’t understand it. Are you saying that the drywall crew clawed the foam out of the stud cavities? What about the cavities not yet covered by drywall; is that how you found the damage?
Can anyone think of a possible reason for this? Am I even understanding this correctly?
Let us know what the explanation is.
Aaron--we are as baffled as you are. The basement area is perfect, master bedroom and office are fine. Those crews did well. The guys in the kitchen, great room and dining room sucked. They didn't claw it all out, but one certain guy seems to have gone nuts and just randomly dug out stud bays before hanging sheetrock. The cavities not yet covered in drywall are fine(other than the occasional dent from a hand or wayward corner of sheetrock punching a hole). The beer in the dumpster may be a clue as to why. I am sure the offending parties were fired this morning. The only explanation I can come up with is that they were drunk and if any piece of the foam was in the way, they scooped out a huge area. Open cell foam compresses easily--they didn't need to do a thing with it. I will try and get some pics.
Truly a sad story. Good thing that you caught this.
I think pics are important. The pattern may help us figure out the "why." And that is important since if they gouged often and a lot, that took effort so hard to imagine that it was just malicious rather than for a reason?
Peter
Agree. Some of that foam seems to have bulges in it, and those with experience hanging wallboard know that even the smallest thing, such as a screw sticking out, will cause a 'pop' in the board when screwing it down. Larger items, such as a bubble of foam, will cause bigger pops. Removing a piece of foam insulation usually results in a chunk coming out. Shaving it or rasping it would be the right thing to do, but that should have been done by the insulators. I can understand the frustration on the wall boarders if this was the case. If the other areas of the house are fine, perhaps a different team of insulators did those areas with problems. Take a straight edge and run it between studs to see if there is any interference from the foam. Obviously, you can see some bays were shaved and others weren't.
I'm surprised the contractor even agreed remediate the damage.
Around my parts, if I caught something like this, the contractor would generally blame me for it, and if I don't let it slide they'll just abandon the job because they'd lose money.
As you stated, and I couldn't agree more: Be be ever vigilant.
> Be be ever vigilant.
Perhaps even to the point of installing a video camera.
I hate to agree with Jon R on this, but I'd consider installing an "outdoor" video camera to view the site, and another "indoor" camera once the framing is up. Sad state of affairs.
Check the laws around privacy for your area before going ahead. You couldn't do it without posting the presence of the cameras in Canada.
Some construction contracts also have provisions around customer inspection of the work which this would breach.
Jamie--Luckily my builder does a lot of homes, so subs aren't prone to walking if they want a steady stream of business. The owner of the drywall business came out, shook his head, fired the rogue temporary worker, and paid for the insulation to be redone. There was a crew there that afternoon to remove all the drywall for inspection and re-insulation. The insulator, who has been doing this for 30 years, said he has never seen anything like that. I attached a couple pics, and then the third pic shows how the perpatrator artfully filled the hole with a block before covering it up.
Pictures didn't load.
That last one. Sorry but I have to laugh. Seriously that little piece of wood doesn't look AT ALL conspicuous. *sarcasm.*
Sorry they are all sideways! Left is up. You can see the guys finger marks in the first pic.
Did you ever figure out the reason? It just boggles the mind.
Bet it was overfill! And insulation contractors said... " it'll push in" no open cell wont pita sometimes. I TRULY FEEL FOR YOU! BEEN THROUGH IT