Where a Boca Raton ceiling leaks air | Cardinal
Insulation slows heat moving through the material. Air moving through a gap goes around it. In a Boca Raton house the expensive leaks are in the ceiling, and they are ordinary: the top of the wall, the wire holes, the lights, the hatch, and a bath fan that never made it outside. Another two inches of fiberglass on those holes does not close them.
The shop is 4263 NW 1st Ave, Boca Raton, FL 33431. Call (561) 654-7698. The seal is the first hour of a blown-in job. It is not a second company, and it is not a blower-door number unless the test was run.
Why the R-value does not catch the leak
A higher R-value is a thicker blanket. An open chase is an open window under that blanket. The air leaving a cooled Boca house is moist. It hits a roof deck that is hot by noon. Sealing the ceiling cuts that path. Piling R-49 on top of an open top plate, which some pages sell as the Boca target, does not.
Palm Beach County is climate zone 1A. The ceiling floor is R-30. We install R-38 after the holes we can reach are closed. Zone 1's 7 air changes per hour is a whole-house test result. It is not a bag count, and we do not hand you that number unless a blower door was run.
The top plate and the holes around it
The top plate is the wood at the top of the wall, where the drywall often stops short. In a 1960s and 1970s house in 33431, 33432, and 33486 that gap can run the length of a bedroom. Wire holes through the same plate, and the opening where a plumber dropped a stack, are the same leak in a smaller shape. They get sealed before the blow. Once the fill covers them, the hour is over.
An open chase over a shower or a dropped soffit in the kitchen is larger. You can sometimes see daylight or the top of a cabinet. That is not an insulation problem. It is a hole. West Boca houses in 33496 and 33498 have the same plates, just more of them, because the attic runs farther.
Lights, fans, and the hatch
A recessed light that is not rated for insulation contact cannot be buried. It needs clearance or a listed cover, then the fill can come up to the cover. Covering a non-IC can to make the depth look even is how a fire starts. An IC-rated can can be covered. The rating is on the can, not on the proposal.
A bath fan that dumps into the attic is a moisture leak with a motor on it. The duct should leave the building. A fan housing that is open to the attic, with no duct at all, is a hole the size of the fan. We do not call a hose full of fiberglass a duct.
The hatch is the leak people can see from the hallway. A bare plywood door with no weatherstrip is a hole in the ceiling every night the air conditioner runs. The cover gets weatherstripped and insulated. Pull-down stairs are the same leak with more area. East Boca closet hatches are small, which makes the gap a larger share of the opening.
What we do not seal
We do not plug the soffit vents to tighten the attic. Section R806.3 requires at least a 1-inch space at the eave so the attic can still breathe. Sealing the soffit on a vented roof is the wrong kind of tight. If a roof is supposed to become unvented, the vents over that roof are closed on purpose and the product is foam on the deck. One system. Not foam and an open soffit.
We do not seal ducts and call it the ceiling. Ducts in the attic are a separate problem. A leaky supply duct wastes cooled air above the insulation. Closing the ceiling holes does not repair the duct. We also do not encapsulate a crawl space or insulate a garage door and pretend the bedroom was the job.
What you should see before the bags are empty
Ask to look before the fill goes down. The seal is visible then: foam or caulk at the plates and the wire holes, covers on the cans that need them, a weatherstripped hatch, and baffles still open at the eaves. After the blow, you should still read depth markers, at least one every 300 square feet, facing the hatch. An even field with the soffit open is the job.
Quotes are prepared by Russell Y, a building scientist who is BPI certified and certified to perform blower door testing. Ask to see the card. The test is optional and separate. The seal on an existing Boca attic is not that test. The product decision, blown-in or foam, is at https://cardinalinsulation.com/blog/which-insulation-a-boca-raton-attic-needs.
Questions on removal, attic insulation, and blown-in
Does blown-in insulation stop air leaks?
No. It slows heat through the material. The top plate, the wire holes, the cans, the hatch, and a bath fan that ends in the attic still leak until they are sealed.
Should the soffit vents be sealed?
Not on a vented attic. The eaves stay open, with at least a 1-inch space. Closing them to chase a higher R-value closes the attic.
Do you run a blower door on every Boca job?
No. Russell Y is certified to run the test. The ACH50 number is reported only when the test is run. The seal on the ceiling is part of the blown-in job either way.
Where is the shop?
4263 NW 1st Ave, Boca Raton, FL 33431. Call (561) 654-7698.