Disappointment

Well, I got the inspection yesterday. It was a bit of a problem getting it at all - I had asked for a call ahead, but the inspection office neglected to pass that along. So, I missed the inspection, because I wasn't home. After waiting a while, I called the office, who verified that I did indeed have an inspection, and gave me the inspector's number. I then called him, and got everything straightened out. Whew!

And then... disaster. All that insulation I put in? Wrong. Yep. Off by an R value of 2, which is something like a Styrofoam cup. Which means all the insulation on the walls has to go. Worse is the ceiling; any ceiling must have insulation with an R value of 30. I used the same as the walls, so... yeah. No go.

The walls will need thicker insulation, bar none. It's just the way it had to be. No saving that. The ceiling, though, has a ray of hope. [Warning: electrical engineering math] See, insulation is like a resistor. In an electrical circuit, resistors in series (end-to-end) add together, because the current is limited by both. With resistors in parallel (ends tired together), the current has two paths to travel, so the actual resistance is lower. Insulation behaves the same way. If you stack R11 and R29 together, you get R30. Does that number sound familiar? It should! Because that's what I need in the ceiling. I have R11 stapled up right now; I have a bunch of R29 insulation just waiting for a home. Technically, it was supposed to go under the rooms, between floor joists, but instead, it's going to go on top of the ceiling. That's going to take some wrangling, but I'll make it work. Yeah, I need to replace the insulation on the walls. But, with the ceiling insulation needing to be R30, I wouldn't have passed anyway.

So, as disappointing as this setback is, I'm not giving up. It sets me back a week and about $100 and more itching, stabbing, painful insulation installation... but what needs to happen, needs to happen. Onward!