Hey guys! OK so I was performing an inspection for a client and I was in the attic. I looked at the floor of the attic and on top of the insulation was a bunch of rolled up old wallpaper. Can someone tell me why or how all this wallpaper got in the attic and on the insulation. Any ideas? Does it even matter? Am I missing something ? Thanks guys!
Low Insulation in attic X inches
Looks like there is Old pieces of wall paper being used as Insulation .
Recommend removal of paper and add more proper insulation
People store crap in attics. Sometimes they spread it around thinking that they are improving the insulation. Generally, they are increasing risk of rapid spread of fire by lacing the attic with combustibles.
Where did the stains come from?
How would I know what happened before I got there
Seems like a lot of attic spaces that are intended for insulating, ventilating the attic spaces and supporting the roof structure are more used for garbage, stored items and poor attic conditions develop and rodent, birds, small animals invade the attic spaces (from poor exterior conditions like overhanging vegetation and poor flashing.
The wallpaper was most likely stored up there and then is being affected by the temperature extremes.
You could report that the insulation system was improperly affected by damaged stored materials and needs to be removed from the attic spaces. Once this is done then a full re inspection of the insulation and attic would be needed to ensure there are no concealed defects like electrical, bath fans, ect.
Oh, I need to use my mask as these attics are killing me!!
I’d recommend a structural engineer.
I used to get questions like this from clients… why this, why that…
My stock answer was "I really can’t answer that. My crystal ball broke and I can’t find anyone to fix it…:mrgreen:
In this case so what it doesn’t matter!
BTW Please complete your profile so we know where you are located. It might help us answer some really important questions in the future.
Cheers
Comment on it , flame spread would be one concern for sure . I would recommend removal of debris .
I’d be happy to help.
First I’m glad you told us why you were in the attic and whom you were performing the inspection for.
Secondly it’s helpful to know you what direction you were looking in, so thank you for that.
As to HOW the wallpaper got up there I can only hazard a guess.
It’s possible that certain members of the household at some point in the past liked wallpaper so much that they could not force themselves to discard even small amounts.
This may have led to strife within the household as the wallpaper remnants built up.
The wallpaper hoarder(s) was/were therefore forced to hide it in the attic.
Now the big question.
“Does it Matter?”
Like many big questions this can only be resolved by the asker.
And that can take a lifetime.
And yes, you are missing something, but that’s just par for the course.
Hope that helps!