This review has been a long time in coming. We just finished a series of renovations and upgrades…read morethat took us several months. I am now looking back at the various companies with whom we worked, and taking stock of our experiences. We went with RBH because our roofer recommended them. We also took his advice for hiring the electrician and rain gutter company we selected. We were very pleased with these last two choices.
RBH Insulation, however, was a bit of a different matter. Our attic cleanout took place on a Friday, with the crew returning the following Monday to install the new insulation. Upon them leaving for the weekend, I went up into our attic, and was dismayed to discover old nails literally all over the place, so much so that I texted Greg, the RBH representative with whom we were working. In one small, four-foot by four-foot area, for example, I picked up over a dozen nails. (One of the first things our roofer told us was that his crew's work stripping our old roof would result in nails and debris dropping into the attic. Understandable, of course, but that's why we were told to plan to hire a cleanout service like RBH.) Greg's explanation was that it's very difficult for his crew to vacuum out metal objects as they suction out the old insulation, but that they would go back through with a magnet to get nails. While his crew worked the following Monday, I sat for the entire time at our dining room table watching them go back and forth. At no point did any of the crew acknowledge that they'd received this directive. Neither did I see anyone come or go with a magnet full of additional metal debris, so I'm hoping that the crew actually followed through on this.
What is more, the crew cleaned none of the dirt and debris that had fallen through the old roof and was now spread on the insulation of our HVAC system. See the pictures. I was under the impression that we were paying to have our attic cleaned. If they're spending hours and hours vacuuming, why skip this?
The most disconcerting discovery I made upon inspecting the crew's work before they added new insulation was that they had completely broken one of the large wooden support beams that holds up a huge duct for our forced air. I heard plenty of crashing around above me while the crew worked the first day, but no one reported anything damaged. Whoever broke the support beam simply carelessly draped the drooping air duct over another one, and left it. This was no small break. I'm talking about a large board that measures about twelve feet from end to end. Again, see my photos.
Greg made a big deal about the rodent-proofing his service would include. This was good news, as we live on an alley, and there is a storm drain next door to us, as well. I've seen the kind of thorough work that companies can perform to ensure attics aren't accessible to animals. When I asked the crew about this, they had no idea what I was talking about. Again, I messaged Greg. He showed up at our home with a bottle of foam spray, the likes of which anyone can purchase at Home Depot, and said he'd be giving this to the crew. Later in the day, I received a set of pictures that included one of the top of a light fixture that now had foam sealant around it. (I was never concerned about rodents getting into our lights.) Another shows a board that now has holes plugged up. (Not sure there was ever much of a threat that rodents would burrow into solid wood.)
When my roofer found out how much we spent on RBH, he was very surprised. Apparently, the costs had gone up considerably. (We paid $1500 more than he'd estimated we'd be charged.) Additionally, our roofer told us that we would immediately notice the effects of new insulation; our air conditioning, for example, would come on far less often, he told us. This was not the case at all. We have noticed no change. I realize that RBH isn't exactly at fault for these last two details, but they added to our consternation when all was said and done.
Greg strikes me as a nice guy, and was pleasant to work with as we got started. I've given three stars because of this, and because it's evident that the actual insulation job was thorough. Also, the crew did good work preparing the house to prevent dust and debris from the vacuuming process from getting into our home.
