would aluminum foil backed foam board insulation reflect or retain heat or cool back into my house?
oy veyYou have a pricey problem on your hands, my friendOr on your head, I should sayYour contractor is a sorry jerk who cut corners and didn't care enough to supervise your constructionThe settling that normally occurs should not be to this degree regardless of how many years the house has stood; mine is nearly 50 yrsold and has NO cracks or sags OK, causes: improper grading of the landImproper foundation constructionSoil too sandy, too wet, or too dryAnything that effects expansion and contraction of the soil has a direct impact on your foundationThat said, even with walls settling the ceiling should NOTThe weight of the insulaiton is a minor factor, but most likely the drywall (I presume it's drywall) was not properly installed, which should have been screws every 12 or soSee, there is no way the sheets of drywall would bow down if they had 4 screws in at those intervals, right? Have the screws popped out so you see their heads? Has your mud and tape popped off? Unfortunately, there is little recourse for a crappy building jobMy sister's fireplace pulled away from her super custom-built tray ceiling within weeks of moving in and her builder was like and? Never did fix it and the thing leaked from day oneYou could ask the builder to come and do a walk through, preferably with a friendly home inspector, and see what kind of crap he's going to try and hand youBut fixing it? You'll need the house jacked up and essentially reinforced all around.
You need to have a thorough inspection done.This sounds like you have shoddy workmanship in several areas of the house.The cracks in the walls could indicate structural faults,and the resulting sagging ceilings are from the foundation up.they could have neglected to put in enough supports for the load on the framing along the entire sill and sub-structure,and basement columns.They could have failed to provide enough stringers in the cap above to tie in the joists to hang the rafters with.Oh boy,have you got a crap load.get a refund.
Hire a home inspector to look at your problemThere could be many causes, such as someone removed a supporting wall down the middle of the home, or you could have a leak in the roof allowing water to enter and collect above - one day to come raining down on youMaybe the wrong sized joist were usedThe list could go on and onSpend a couple bucks and find out the real problem and go from there.
The purpose of insulation is to get minimal energy loss from your house due to difference in temperature to the outsideThe aluminum is used to keep your house cool during the summerWhen buying a house or insulating your home, check the R-value of the insulationThe larger the value, the better insulation you getYou can't stop the heat from getting out, but you minimize the heat loss with insulation and vice versa with cooling your house.
