I have a new construction home and have been in the home 3 months. Mid December I noticed wet spots on our northwest wall. Approx. 20 spots appeared and our walls felt cold. I had a professional come and read the temp of the walls. Anywhere from 35-45 degrees in the corner of the rooms and along the ceiling. I have frost occasionally and my humidity runs 25-35%. I have had my builder out and he states he has never had this problem before, not knowing how to fix it. The insulation company came and added 14 more bags on insulation in the attic. This has not helped the problem. Any ideas would be appriated.

21boat

The attic is not the problem here its the WALLS. Thats why the bags did not help. The other problem here Is if the new Insulation gets 5% of moisture in it in those walls. Now it has lost 95% of its insul qualities.
If he is a builder he is either lying to you on how to fix it. Or he's a bad builder and isn't that smart.
Insulation properly rated to your area installed properly with the correct vapor barrier always works if the structure was built right.
Again the WALLS need to be addressed as does the possibly the damp insulation there that could cause mold later. Get him back and demand he expose the areas to prove to you that the insulation was completely put in and the proper "R" value for your Geo area.
This is a NEW home and that sould not happen if done right. Someone here forgot something or underrated the insul in walls and maybe even forgot a vapor barrier. Below is standard construction for My Pa. area and it gets to 0 degrees here at times
Siding
1'2 exterior sheeting
tyvex ( house wrap" over exterior sheeting)
2x6 stud walls with 6" "R" 19 glass insul
vapor barrier on face of inside studs.
1/2" drywall
So check it out and make sure there is not 4' insul in the walls which would be "R" 13

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mikedem7

during the framing construction,at each corner of the walls there is always a space between the studs if this space is not insullated during framing the person that is doing the insullating can not get to this area which will always be cold. For the ceiling area the insullation was just poorly installed.

Leah4

our exterior walls are 2x4's with 7/16 sheeting and tyvek. I don't know if there is a vapor barrier on the inside, we went with blown in insulation. I assume the drywall is 1/2 but doesn't say in my orginal paperwork. I was told by the builder and insulator that you can't insulate where my walls are cold because they are wood on wood? We built our last house and never experienced this. our isulation value is r-13 and lately our temps can get to 0 or below.

21boat

Leah4 Not to depress you but you are in serious trouble. I can't believe that a building inspector would allow 'R" 13 for and exterior wall!! when the temps get to 0 degrees. If thats the case than you or anybody else there has been lucky. This 'R" 13 is NOT and opinion situation here. I don't care what anybody says here. Its to borderline on the "R" 13. Now lets go to summer and see how hard that home will be to Air condition.ooohhh
Insulation is not just about heating.
Is this an addition or a whole home?
I will give you and example hear on how codes and insulation can get fouled up.
Would you believe me If I told you it snowed and sleeted in Maryland in June!! And a part of Maryland gets as much a 6 feet of snow every year. My wife use to live in Maryland Garret County Deep creek Maryland. So the codes Geo overlap is sometimes missed.
Sorry for the bad news. The old days they used 2x4 ext walls on new homes in the 50 and 60s back then its was rock wool blown in insulation which breathed more and it still had problems. The frosting on those walls usually too place inside the wall cavity's more. Also the wasn't a vapor barrier back then. The other difference was it was planking on the exterior and clapboard siding or asbestos brittle lap shingle style siding. All of this application let more air breath in the wall more and didn't trap any moisture because of no real vapor barrier.
Bottom Line hear 'R" 13 WILL not be right if your Geo reaches 0 degrees or even in the teens and mid 20s The map below doesn't completely address altitude which changes "R" vales in Geo's

EERE Energy Savers: Insulation

What is insulation R value? | Insulation | Insulation Info


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ballengerb1

I'd love your builder to explain to me how he does blown in insulation in a home with a drywall interior. I think the only thing blown is smoke. Blown in is for attic spaces and retro-insulation jobs where holes must be cut top and bottom. Somebody isn't being square with you at the builders office.

Leah4

I'm confused because I was told the cellulose blown in insulation was a better way to go than the regular batt insulation. I had someone come in with the infra red camera and I have wall temps of 35-45 degrees in the corners then 48-60 degree in various spots on the walls. This happens in all of our rooms and not just on the north wall. I don't know where to go because my builder says things are fine but I feel we have been taken for what we paid for the home.

21boat

Leaha4 Here is the way blown insulation is blown is done on new
Ballengerb1 Is correct on not being able to blow insul with drywall there. But he is not correct for it just being for retro.
We have blown in loose insul on our new builds
Once the fiberglass is in the wall cavity thats IT period. You have to take the drywall off to re insulate and as thin as the exterior you need to go Spray Foam insul
If it was loose blown and not the loose that sticks you would have to make 3 to 4 holes in the drywall for each stud cavity and at that point tear off drywall.

Leah4 I would not bother the builder any more until you go to your Township and ask the codes on insul there. I posted a generic chart that may help. This is going to get serious. call other reputable builders and custom home builders and see what they say. I personally would take pictures and let the township know you have a problem and was the inspection done on the insulation phase of your house.
I would also hire a rep builder and video tape him taking out a small section of drywall to actually SEE what is in the wall and do it close to the corners that are the worst.
Agin id it gets to ZERO "R" 19 or more is required here


YouTube - Installing Cellulose Insulation

YouTube - Blown Cellulose Insulation
YouTube - Insulation: Blown Cellulose Vs. Fiberglass

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arby808

The first question that no one asked is where do you live building codes vary from one city to the next one even from state to state if you live in a southern state the codes for northern states are not the same some states or townships do allow 2 X4 walls in construction. If this is a new home the town has an inspector that checks most aspects of the building most include framing electric plumbing fire rating between the house and garage and insulation. If your builder has never had this problem before ( it was a very cold winter this year) you may want to ask if they could remove the drywall and the insulation and try to sprayfoam that wall re drywall it . i had a builder that had the same problem in a house that was brick with 2 X 6 walls and the problem wasnt just the walls it even made the floor buckle

21boat

arby808 Hi guy. The building codes does vary on many things but when it comes to insulation its such a wide cover and its not local that way either is the massive Insul U.S. Map.Then only way that will every vary if one lives at the bottom on the mountain and the next lives at the top of the mountain.
The skinny on re blowing loose insulation.
If Leah had "R"13 kraft face insul or unfaced with barrier You CAN"T blow more insul in a wall cavity with glass in the way. If there was blown insul there now stick or non stick and there are two kinds application o loose. If it was LOOSE in the wall you would have to cut HOLES in the drywall to get more density and if the density there was at its limit "R" 13 MORE blown insul. would decrease the "R" value and make it worse. Ballenger1 Got only retro part not correct but he is 100% CORRECT on you have to cut holes! So in essence I'm laughing he was half correct and so were you. But he is correct on cutting in to add insul IF that wall cavity had insul unless the OLD loose sunk in many years and you needed to add more and we are right back to cutting holes in the top of the drywall.

Mikedem7 .... I under stand about the corner void on the studding If you build it a bit different insul van get in there by using 4 pcs of blocking as opposed to a full 2by for the drywall to nail to.If it wasn't done like that that area wouldn't react as much as you think But yes that ONE spot would be colder.
The bottom line here is "R"13 because of a cheap builder not using 2x6 instead. If the 2x4 wall is built spray foam should have been use to get the "R" value to "R" 21+ Of course the spray foam is about 3 times more to insul which brings us back to the bad builder.