Food for Thought

Sep 1

A home inspection is not enough. An independent energy inspection is the key to ensuring that your newly built home is efficient. Contact us before your warranty runs out. Let's make sure you got what you paid for.

Have you bought a newly built home that's still under warranty? Here's some food for thought. I have inspected several hundred new builds for energy efficiency, and here's what I've found:

-- 98 percent of them had insufficient insulation.

-- 86 percent were missing insulation outright from part of the attic or walls.

-- 87 percent had severe duct kinks, crushes, longitudinal compression or other restrictions.

-- 12 percent of them had ducts that fell off or were never connected.

-- 34 percent had at least one truss that was cracked enough to require attention.

-- 2 percent had a furnace flue that was disconnected or improperly connected, and was venting carbon monoxide directly into the attic.

-- 3 homes had at least one window reinstalled backward after having the glazing removed and the frame repaired.

-- 28 homes had disconnected or improperly connected kitchen fans.

If your newly built home is still under warranty, reach out to us. It's about time you got what you paid for.

Trust, but verify.

Note the gap between the coil and furnace -- just below the circular piece of PVC. The HVAC contractor forgot to seal the gap, resulting in about a ton of conditioned air blowing into the attic. This had been going on through the summer, resulting in massive dust and a few hundred dollars in unnecessarily high electric bills.

Here's a closeup of the gap from the previous photo. Note the damage to and the buildup of dirt on the coil. This is not what the homeowners paid for.

Oops. Someone forgot to connect the fresh-air fan.

Oops! Someone forgot to connect this fresh-air fan, too.

Actually, it turns out that they couldn't connect the fresh-air fan because (oops) someone forgot to install the electrical receptacle.

The HVAC contractor squeezed a 16-inch return into an 11-inch space. It is no wonder the unit had high static pressure and poor airflow.

This duct had fallen off because it was improperly attached. It turns out it was improperly dampered, as well. The contractor used actual tape to cut off half the air to the massively oversized duct. What happens in a year or two when the tape comes off inside the duct?

This poorly run duct in Hastings Farms has massive longitudinal compression -- the contractor never trimmed the duct, so there's about 12 feet worth of duct in an 8 foot space. This kind of compression can quadruple or quintuple the friction rate in the duct, resulting in poor airflow.

This is the same brand-new house, but a different duct with the same issues: partially disconnected and a damper made of tape. Thankfully, the home buyers sent HEAT's report to the builder, and the problems were fixed at no additional cost. This is why it's important to have an energy inspection done before the warranty is up. (Home inspectors almost never catch energy-efficiency issues.)

Photo of a ceiling in brand-new home in Promontory at Foothills West. I caught this issue before the homeowners moved in. (See IR image)

The thermal camera revealed missing insulation over 80 percent of the bedroom. We caught this three days before the homeowners moved in, and they were able to get it fixed and cleaned up before the home was furnished.