# Wet Insulation



## wnybassman (May 9, 2008)

We picked up a very nice little drywall job in a single story house a couple weeks ago. The insulator was going to be finished in a couple days and we could start right after that.

We show up last Monday, it was a sprayed in cellulose job, and it was wet. Some spots REAL wet. Later that day we find it is was the first job this guy did and it was brand new equipment not dialed in at all, and no expertise to get it dialed in correctly.

We all knew it was too wet, the GC, the insulator and us. But we all figured it might just take a few extra days to dry out, especially with our cool weather we had last week.

Of course being on a time schedule (theirs) we hung lids and interior walls to pass time letting the exteriors dry.

Today was the one week mark since we started the job, and there are places in each and every room where you could still grab a handful of insulation and squeeze water out of it. Two rooms are horrible, while the rest of the house is better, but still awfully damp.

The insulator came in today with a big dehumidifier and said it will take care of it in no time, sucking as much as 10 gallons of water out of _the air_ a day. Big whoop, the water is in the walls, not the air. And I bet there is a gallon or more of water in each stud space.

The GC's kid came in this morning with a moisture meter and checked levels throughout the house. The only area he could get a reading was a small area around a tub/shower where they blew it in dry and it read 8-10.5 percent. The rest of the house it read 99.9% but written on the unit it said it was only accurate below 30%. If he didn't shove it in the wall all the way he could get readings of 20-38% but that was the dry crust of the insulation. I would dare guess the moisture is an easy 50-70% within, maybe more.

The bottoms of the studs are even wet and saturated.

We told told insulator we would not proceed until we got the go ahead to do so, and not without everyone involved signing a waiver saying we are not responsible for anything related to high moisture.

The insulator had the balls to say he would not hesitate to sign off on the whole house RIGHT NOW except for those two rooms, even though the rest of the house is clearly WAY over the maximum limit (I read 25% in my research)

Anyway, we are stuck. We know things have to be dry enough to close up the walls. The GC knows that too, but he can't get a bank draw until we hang and tape the board. He is stuck, and may bend the rules to get paid. The insulator clearly is out of his element but says people hang over wet insulation all the time 

What would you guys do??

We hate to see the young family building this house to get the short end of the stick here.


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## DSJOHN (Apr 5, 2010)

Stick to your guns,dont hang the rest. You think its BS now wait until mold starts and they point the finger at you, I,d take pictures and get a written waiver. DSJOHN


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## wnybassman (May 9, 2008)

DSJOHN said:


> Stick to your guns,dont hang the rest. You think its BS now wait until mold starts and they point the finger at you, I,d take pictures and get a written waiver. DSJOHN



I just wrote up the waiver and took some pictures last week. This picture is of the worst room. The dark spots in the insulation were saturated, and still are in there for the most part. The water on the floor was 100% from the insulation. You can even start to see the moisture on the studs. That is worse now since the wood has had a lot of time to soak up the water. Even on the outside of the house there were spots where water had run down the foundation to the ground. I'm tellin' ya, it was wet!


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## wnybassman (May 9, 2008)

Also, the house is already housewrapped and sided. No place for excessive moisture to go but in.


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## tricounty dwall (Apr 29, 2010)

i agree. i wouldnt close the walls up til it dries. And id still get a written waiver with a witness signing also. If u dont they will blame u for hanging it. but either way i hope that insulator has good insurance


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## Final touch drywall (Mar 30, 2010)

They should get propane heaters in there asap.That water is no good.I would not continue.


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

Forget the heaters call service master and have them set up some commercial dehumidifiers that will suck out all moister fast.


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## pipercub17 (Feb 26, 2010)

get some big fans in there and open the windows :thumbsup:


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## DSJOHN (Apr 5, 2010)

Dont let the insulator get away!!!! DSJOHN


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## drywall guy158 (Dec 31, 2009)

i see several screw pops in the future on this one !! wow what a mess !! i would move on to something else for a couple of weeks if not more !!


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## Kiwiman (Jun 14, 2008)

I would be treating it the same as a house flood and get several commercial fans and dehumidifiers in for a week or so, then let the building settle for at least 2 or 3 weeks after that, even if the moisture test shows low levels there could well be a lot trapped under the framing and between the timber joins etc. You'll be doing the young couple a huge favour if you can talk them into waiting an extra month or two.


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## wnybassman (May 9, 2008)

Well, we went to the job this morning to grab our trailers and do something else for at least the rest of this week. Talked with the GC and he is on the same page, not wanting to do anything until he sees certain moisture %'s. He seems optimistic that it will happen in 2 or 3 days though. We'll see, but a single giant dehumidifier probably won't make it happen that fast.


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## A+ Texture LLC (Jan 10, 2009)

I wouldn't use propane, it will add moisture. I would also be leery of the gc. Makes ya wonder why he hired the guy to begin with. Sounds like a guy thats after the small numbers. Watch yourself.


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## wnybassman (May 9, 2008)

So the house sat all last week. We got a call Thursday from a contractor we have done work for before for a small job that needed to start ASAP. I called up the GC of the wet insulation house and asked how things are going because we can go elsewhere if needed. He assured us Monday it will be ready to go.

Anybody in the business knows where this is heading..........

Today we get a call from the GC and he said it is making no progress drying. He and the insulator are starting to have some serious words. We are going over tomorrow to receive partial payment and try to figure out where this is all headed.

One guys inexperience is putting a whole lot of people in a bad position. We need to scramble to get something else going now and we already turned down a sure thing. Sometimes running a small business sucks. We should have just taken the other job and said screw this job until we are done.


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