Mike Had Moisture in His Minnetrista Attic. There Wasn’t Just One Reason Why.

Mike had a moisture problem in the attic of his Minnetrista, MN home.

And once we got up there, it wasn’t hard to see why.

There wasn’t enough insulation. Ventilation wasn’t what it needed to be. Air wasn’t moving through the attic properly either.

It was really a combination of things.

At that point, adding another layer of insulation wasn’t going to solve much. We needed to get everything out of the way and deal with what was happening underneath it first.

Everything Had to Come Out

Our crew at Koala Insulation of St. Paul started by removing all of the old attic insulation.

Once we had an empty attic, we could actually get to the areas that had been hidden underneath it.

Because of the moisture Mike had been dealing with, we sprayed the entire attic for mold and mildew.

We weren’t about to cover everything back up without addressing that first.

With the old insulation gone, this was also our chance to work on the air leakage between the house and attic.

We Sealed It Before We Insulated It

We went through the attic and sealed the penetrations with closed-cell spray foam.

Those little openings may not look like much individually, but there can be a lot of them across an attic. Warm, moisture-filled air from inside the house can find its way through those gaps.

So, before any new insulation went down, we sealed them.

Then we moved on to the ventilation.

We added new chutes to give air a clear path from the soffits up into the attic.

That was important on this house because poor airflow was already part of Mike’s moisture problem. We didn’t want to fix the insulation and leave the ventilation exactly the way we found it.

Then We Took the Attic Up to R-60

Once the cleanup, treatment, air sealing and ventilation work were finished, we could finally insulate.

We brought the attic up to R-60.

Now Mike had a completely different setup than what we found when we first got there.

Old insulation out.

Mold and mildew treated.

Attic penetrations sealed.

Ventilation chutes installed.

Fresh insulation up to R-60.

That’s how we wanted to leave it.

Mike’s Review Said a Lot About the Crew

Mike left us a 5-star review after the job, and one part really stood out to us.

He said the installation team explained the process, answered his questions and gave him updates throughout the day.

We like hearing that.

Attic work can be pretty involved, especially on a job like this where we’re removing everything and basically rebuilding how the attic handles insulation, air movement and ventilation.

The homeowner shouldn’t have to wonder what’s happening above their head all day.

Mike said he was very pleased with the result and would recommend us to everyone.

We’ll happily take that ending.

If you’re seeing moisture, mold or mildew in your attic, don’t assume adding more insulation is automatically the answer. There may be something else going on up there that needs attention first.

Call Koala Insulation of St. Paul or visit our website for a FREE evaluation!