Blow in cellulose insulation?

[pinkoos]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anybody knows about this stuff called blow-in cellulose insulation?

The insulation in our 3 attics is not the best (even the inspector mentioned this when we made an offer on the house), but we haven't had a chance to look into upgrading it yet.

Anyway, someone was telling me about cellulose insulation which seems to be made of ground up newspaper with a fire retardant added. Apparently it's blown into the attics via a large gauge hose, creating almost 2 feet of depth on the flooring of the attics.

This is supposed to act as a great insulation, possibly better than fiberglass and/or anything that you would put on the actual ceiling of the attics.

Anybody know of this or have any experience with this?

Thanks.

[iaJim]

It has been in my attic for 36 years. It's a great insulation. Don't worry about it being made of old newspapers. What's the difference?

[pinkoos]

So this stuff just coats the flooring of your attic, correct?

We have all of our horizontal plumbing pipes basically snaked all over the floor of the attic, so this stuff would essentially bury all of that?

What if we need to get to some of this piping at some point in the future?

[the_poochies]

I had it blown in between the walls of my 112 year-old victorian house. The contractor drilled a 2" hole in my interior walls between the studs, blew in the cellulose and then patched the hole back up.

The work wasn't cheap....IIRC, it was $1000 for 2 rooms.

I noticed a slight savings in my insanely expensive heating bill, but what I noticed the most was that I no longer heard noise from the busy street outside my bedroom or living room.

[cbelt3]

pinkoos, any insulation you put in and around the piping will make access difficult. If you need to repair, you'll have to vacuum/dig it out.

And... what KIND of pipes do you have in your attic ? They are quite probably vent stacks. Right ? No actual water running in your attic (where it can freeze, etc..) ?

That stuff is very convenient to use in attics that are difficult to access. it also fills voids quite nicely, which helps too.

Be absolutely sure that you don't compromise your attic ventilation... it's necessary to install baffles to protect the airflow from soffit vents and so forth before you blow. And if an insulation contractor tells you 'you don't need to worry about that', run away.

[pinkoos]

It's our PEX plumbing pipes, running all through the attics and then snaking down the walls to the fixtures.

[mrbigstuff]

Any reason you can't look into insulating the attic roof and walls? My house is probably closer to Poochies' house and although the attic is unfinished, I would like to finish it one day so I'm probably going to insulate the attic. But, I'm going to have it done via expanding the thickness of the roof rafters from the exterior. I can then come into the house and do an additional layer of insulation in the existing rafters.

[cbelt3]

Pinkoos... you must live where it doesn't get below freezing ?
mrbig....

Finishing an attic requires VERY careful work to ensure that the roof ventilation is kept intact. Otherwise you end up with roof damage, condensation in the attic rooms, etc... The attic is the 'hat' of the house. Just like a properly ventilated hat in the summer keeps you cool, so does your attic.

[Numo]

What Cbelt said about ventilation.

About cellulose - what happens if it gets wet?

[cbelt3]

If cellulose gets wet you end up with a papier mache insulation. It's messy.

if fiberglass gets wet it gets messy too.

Water in an attic === Badness !

Any wet insulation has to be removed as part of a roof repair process.