No good deed goes unpunished.

One of my clients and I were talking about his house. He’s owned it for almost a decade and has done some improvements over that time. He’s really annoyed. One of his improvements has done much more harm than good.

Here’s what happened: My client hired a firm to increase the insulation in the attic and to also install baffles for ventilation. The insulation job led to mold growth in his attic. Now he needs to get a mold clean-up.

The task: Roof shingles last longer if there is good ventilation in the attic. It’s a good thing that most old houses don’t have. Heating costs and fuel waste are kept down by good insulation of the attic. It’s also a good thing that old houses don’t have. These two good-house-care items are at war with one another. If too much insulation is installed, it can shift over and block the ventilation. Then, the damp air from the house (caused by people breathing out, showers, and cooking) condenses in the cool surfaces in the attic. Without ventilation, the dampness can’t get out. This provides a happy environment for mold.

The homeowner’s lament is that you need to trust someone. If you aren’t going to crawl around in your attic yourself, how do you know if your attic ventilation-insulation system is working right? Even if you do crawl up there, would you know what you are looking at?

I had my own case of bad workmanship. I had a new electric service installed at my house. About two years later, workmen hit my house with their truck and knocked off my service box. (That's a different story!) It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The box was done wrong and would have failed suddenly if it hadn’t been replaced because of the accident.

Even with the hundreds of home inspections that I have attended, I wouldn’t have been able to say that the box didn’t look right. The City inspectors passed the first box; you’d think they would see the problem. So, who should I trust?

Most homeowners just wing it. But is there a better option?

Some homeowners have a home inspection every five years or so. Some hire two companies to do every job. (One to do it, and another to do it again -- their way -- about a year later.) Both of these options are expensive. But sometimes it would be worth it.

Do you wing it? Have you found out that someone didn’t do a job right at your house?