Are there areas of your building that feel warmer than others?  Does your place of business or home have a suspended ceiling?  If so, does anyone ever remove those ceiling tiles to work in that space?

      One of the best inventions for the new construction and renovation business was the suspended ceiling.  A suspended ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main structural ceiling.  They may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, dropped ceiling, or false ceiling, and are a staple of modern architecture.  The area above the dropped ceiling is called the plenum space, as it is sometimes used for the HVAC air return, which requires no additional insulation.  However, more times than not this space is used like a secondary attic space and batt insulation will be place directly on top of the ceiling tile.

     Suspended ceilings make a contactor’s life much easier when trying to hide things that the average building occupant wouldn’t want to see, such as electrical wiring, heating and air conditioning duct, sprinkler piping, etc…  The other advantage that this type of system brings with it is the ability to easily get back in and work on the systems I just named, without having to demolish a permanent fixture, such as a sheetrock ceiling.

      Unfortunately, because suspended ceilings are so accessible, people think nothing about popping that ceiling tile out and looking around.  When this happens we are so worried about not damaging the ceiling tile or getting it to fit back down in the bracketing system just perfectly, that 9 times out of 10 we forget to pull that piece of insulation back into the appropriate spot.  This came to my attention just recently in my own building.  My company recently remodeled part of our office space.  In the training room we always noticed it being rather hot, even though the air conditioning unit was running continuously.  We finally determined that the insulation in certain areas was pulled back.  So we opened up the ceiling, put all the insulation back where it was supposed to be, and noticed a significant improvement.  However, since we were also doing electrical modifications, and rerouting network cabling and telephones, we continued have difficulty regulating the temperature due to the insulation being pulled back into place.  Each time the insulation placement was corrected we could accurately regulate the space temperature.

      This is an easy mistake for anyone to make, but by not placing that insulation back in the proper location, it had a huge effect on the comfort of our employees and definitely had an effect on our power consumption.  So to start with, look above your ceiling tiles and make sure the insulation is in the correct place, and the next time you see someone remove a ceiling tile, remind them to put the insulation back where it is supposed to be.  This simple task will keep you comfortable and save you money.

 

    Chad E. Vaughn is vice president of The Service Company of Mississippi, LLC. E-mail him at Chad.Vaughn@the-service-company.com or visit the company’s website at www.the-service-company.com.