All the things you have mentioned are priority. Venting can be a big issue with air quality. There may be insulation that has gotten inside the damaged HVAC ducts, so that is a priority to get done right, and make sure those are cleaned and connected properly. Could have been damaged by rodents, and could be rodent droppings in the ducts, that can also affect air quality. The HAVC person will know if they are asbestos or not and whether they have to be replaced. I would ask the contractor, if those range and bathroom vents were connected before the new roofing. He should be able to tell that. If thats the case, then the roofing contractor needs to come back and fix that at no cost, with the exception of those that are vented to the gable. Replacing the screen on the attic vent is a priority, or you will have rodents, and birds, and bees and who knows what else inside there. If all that is done, then maybe the dirty insulation can wait until fall, or even next spring, before its replaced. As for the recessed lights, they should be replaced with something that can have insulation over them, or removed completely.

Thanks! Is it possible for them to just spread the repairs/remediation out over a longer period of time? And if so, what order should they have everything addressed?

1) pest control - seal off the entry points and lay traps. They have a dog and chickens so not sure if poison would be the best thing

2) HVAC ducting and tune-up (LADWP actually offers a free tune-up program but the program has been indefinitely put on hold due to COVID) so not sure when this could be done.

3) Address the venting issues

4) Replace lighting and insulation?

First and foremost and you can do yourself, no need to hire, is to get a screen replaced over the gable vent where its torn. Anything else you do will be undone if you have pests in there. If you dont do the bathroom vents and kitchen vents, you are very likely to have mold up in there, and remediation will destroy everything else you are doing.. HVAC repaired, and all ducts cleaned, is a priority for health reasons, and also efficiency. You dont want it all going into the attic, instead of the ducts in the house. No point in you testing for asbestos, since the HVAC will know exactly what they are. He installed them. If the dirty insulation is left up there until fall, well, then you could leave the recessed lights until the insulation is done. Not much of anything else can be left.

Thanks - with gable screens are you supposed to install those from *inside* the attic or is that done on the exterior? And are you supposed to use the thinner stainless steel type mesh for that (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Chimney-Fireplace-Foundation-300mmx300mm/dp/B087CHJB55/)? Maybe I'll do that for them next time we go up.

Is it worth while putting traps and poison up in the attic or garage? If there are pests, sealing entry points is one thing but don't you still need to eradicate them?

For the vents the contractor was warning about the kitchen vent/hood/range being more of a fire hazard than anything.

Regarding HVAC, I think all the ducting was there from before they owned the house (they bought in 2004) so I don't think they know who installed them. They have an HVAC person though so we tell them to have him assess everything. I'm wondering if the HVAC guy can just take care of all the venting (in addition to the ductwork) as well as just repairing the gable screen while he's up there.

But my FIL might want to undertake the gable screen project if it doesn't require him going into the attic and if he's able to do it from the outside (if this is how you can or should do it).

Quick question too regarding the flashing/t-top for the roof. When the roofers put up the new roof, were they supposed to have accounted for this and installed it regardless of whether or not the previous roof had venting? It just seems like an oversight. Is there any code or law that speaks to this in CA?

No offense, but contractors always like to make an elephant from a fly.

Just like with any project, you need to do your own assessment first. Is this insulation require removal? May be most of it is ok?

1: But, If it is schedule contractor to remove only, tell him to rent a machine to remove all insulation.

2: Install baffles to keep insulation away from the eves.

3: Connect vents (w/o attic insulation much easier), same with hvac.

4: Schedule insulation install

No, roofers are not required to install those vents through the roof, if you previously did not have them through there. If they were through the roof, and the roofer just removed and roofed over the openings, then, they would have to come back and do it right, at no charge. It is code to run those vents through the roof, since it creates mold in attics. Also, since you did have a new roof, could some of the dirt and debris, they are seeing on the insulation, have come from just being above and pounding, and the debris falling from that? That can happen, particularly if you have boards over your roof, rather than 4x8 sheets of plywood. If so, its not necessary to remove the insulation for that type of debris. You did mention rodent droppings in the insulation, and if that is the case, and its severe, then, yes, insulation should be removed for health concerns.

Thanks all. The insulation contractor sent some pics for a clearer idea. This is the section of ducting from the kitchen range that he said was disconnected and should be exiting from the roof. I guess per code, you can't have the ductwork exiting that gable vent?

As per the rodent droppings, from what he saw it was minimal but he said this was near the garage (so the picture above is the side of the attic where the garage is - you can see the dryer vent hose coming up in the back - the dryer is in the garage. So I think the rodent droppings are in that area. And it would make sense because the garage is where my father in law said he had seen a rat or rat droppings.

The gable vent with a tear is this one - I'm wondering if this can just be stapled/screwed back down and secured rather than buying new screen material.

Someone else mentioned that roofers should not have gone into the attic. The roofing material would have been done on the outside only. Which makes sense... I think for some reason I was thinking that the roofers were re-doing or reinforcing the underlying roof structure as well. I think in this case it's literally just the roofing material they replaced.

Is there a deadline for the LADPW rebate? How much of this project would be "rebate-able"? Certainly, those things which are should be done before the deatline.

I don't know how long the LADPW program lasts - it may go on for as long as there are funds and until they are 'dried up'

They will pay up to $1/sq foot on the insulation installation *only* (this does not include the removal or other cleanup).

All the venting for bath fans and kitchen can go out through new sidewall or gable vents. There is no need to put holes in the roof. You just need to have someone install the proper vents and (preferably) run hard vent pipe the entire way to where it exits. Any long run of flexible vent really cuts the airflow.

Screens on gable vents should be replaced or repaired by stapling up new metal vent material. Then hire a pest control company for a one-time treatment to get rid of any residual problems. Then you need to verify there are also soffit vents, and that they are not blocked by insulation. Gable vents are the exit, but you also need to have soffit vents to let air in.

Replacing the recessed lighting cans with insulation-contact rated versions is not that hard if you are willing to crawl around in the attic. However, some of those old electricians really got carried away with nailing the brackets in place. Another temporary option is to get good quality HVAC tape (the shiny tape with a peel-off back), and tape the housing very securely to the ceiling drywall. In your mild climate, just stopping air infiltration will be a good start.

If these are metal HVAC ducts with insulation on the outside, they can probably be air sealed without really disturbing them, and then they could apply sealer that encapsulates the old protective coating. In most areas (maybe not CA), encapsulation is an approved way to deal with materials that contain asbestos.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce! Someone was mentioning to me that if the range hood is not against an exterior wall, the venting cannot exit a side wall (not sure if they were thinking that this is a code issue or what). Do you know if that's the case? There's clearly a section of ductwork running towards that gable vent but it's probably not preferable to have it exiting there if even allowed. Could a hole be cut in the gable vent and a standard duct vent installed?

>All the venting for bath fans and kitchen can go out through new sidewall or gable vents.

Oh no. it will be ugly as ...

Vent needs to extent min 6" above the top of the gable while being 12" away from the vertical surface.

So definitely can't use the existing gable vents. If anything they'd need to put holes in the siding or stucco to avoid going through the roof (which seems preferable). Couldn't they just install something like this on the side of the house where the vent exits?

All the bath vents can look just like your picture. For bath fans, try to find one that has a flapper and a metal mesh screen on the end to keep out rodents and birds. Dryer vent covers can't have mesh screens because they catch lint.

If the range vent is just for the range hood (not venting a water heater or HVAC burner), I'm not aware of any special requirements for its location on the gable. You just want to make sure the vent pipe and cover are large enough for the range hood CFM. In an unconditioned attic you also want the horizontal pipe to have a slight slope downward to the outside, so any condensation from warm air will run toward the outside.

I don't know why the vents would be ugly if they are painted the same color as the wall. And they will be at least a full story off the ground, which is not in most folk's line of sight anyway.

Bruce