Hello,

I need your help! Our house is half brick, half vinyl siding, and we hired a siding contractor to install new Hardie, but they forgot to install 3/4" rigid foam insulation (R-4) as promised beneath the Hardie! They will correct this at their cost, but it's a big ordeal and a major loss for them and an extended headache for us. I need advice on what we should do. Facts are below.

Original cross-section (what we had before the siding project started):

Studs with batt insulation

Original wood siding

Rigid foam insulation

Vinyl siding

Current cross-section (what is currently installed on our house):

Studs with batt insulation

OSB

Tyvek

**

Hardie

**Missing rigid foam insulation should go here, between Tyvek and Hardie.

Project cost: $32k

Project duration: 2.5 weeks thus far (partly due to rain)

Remediation duration: 4 weeks due to reordering all new Hardie

Alternate option: Keep what is installed and company would replace all of our big wooden windows (5 large single pane wooden windows that are old and have chipping off grids and 1 small bathroom window) for free. I don't actually know the value of the insulation in the contract, but I would imagine the floor to ceiling wood windows would be much more expensive.

Any suggestions? Does R-4 make a noticeable difference on the top half of the house with respect to sound and thermal efficiency? We don't hear/feel much of a difference yet, but we haven't hit peak cold or hot weather yet. What would you do?

Thank you!

Original conditions:

Progress photo from a few days ago: