Recently in our post Send Lawyers guns and Money, we called out Guardian Building Products USA for being heavy handed and unprofessional. We claimed they had no interest in furthering best practice,after they threatened legal action against a blog, not unlike ours. The blog from Energy Vanguard was showing how insulation batts can perform poorly when poorly installed.
We got the following ass kissing retraction; (in part)
Thanks for stimulating some serious soul-searching within our organization over the past few days. We have learned a valuable lesson and beginning today will be much more careful in looking before we leap…..
I apologize for our Company having sent a letter that may have gone over the top or that was viewed as improperly harsh….
we have no desire to pursue this matter any further – unless it’s to engage you and interested folks in the merits of improving energy efficiencies…….
We welcome the opportunity to engage in a broader discussion with you and your readers about how to improve energy efficiency in homes and the quality of installation across the spectrum of building products….
So how did it get to this?
Basically the blog at Energy Vanguard made the claim that batts of say R1.5 would not perform to that standard if
- They were compressed into tight spaces (see also our post stuff it full of insulation)
- They were poorly between frame members
- Gaps were left around electrical fixtures and the like.
So should we gloat?
The point of course is to not to gloat but to learn something, so at the risk of vomiting in my own mouth I am going to quote my good friend Colleen
Everything in life is a lesson, everything.
So I intend to write to Guardian and accept their apology and congratulate them on their intention;
(to offer) training programs to our customers to help achieve quality workmanship and the appropriate use of our products.
For my part I am going to take heed of this, which is also from Steven Ziessler , president Guardian Building Products LLC
We believe that many of the problems with fiberglass …… installations could be solved with a stricter inspection and enforcement standard at local levels.
Rather than simply checking that the insulation has been installed I intend to be more rigorous in my inspection of the proble areas identified above.
Now here is just a little of the late, great, Warren Zevon ‘s classic, Send Lawyers Guns and money
