Thread: What type of insulation?

Can anybody tell me what kind of insulation this is? The home was built in 1983 and is all electric. The depth of the insulation was only 8 inches. Because of electric heat I suspect it is pretty good stuff but being a new inspector I am not sure by looking at it what it is. It was obviously blown in.





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Fuzzy picture. Looks like cellulose.

Originally Posted by Tom Cissell

Can anybody tell me what kind of insulation this is? The home was built in 1983 and is all electric. The depth of the insulation was only 8 inches. Because of electric heat I suspect it is pretty good stuff but being a new inspector I am not sure by looking at it what it is. It was obviously blown in.

Cellulose insulation.. It is ground up newspaper that it is treated with chemicals so it will not burn or mold easily. Goes on wet like paper mache and drys firm. It is a good product..

Should have been covered in any home inspector training course, this is basic 101 stuff.....

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

Cellulose insulation.. It is ground up newspaper that it is treated with chemicals so it will not burn or mold easily. Goes on wet like paper mache and drys firm. It is a good product..

Should have been covered in any home inspector training course, this is basic 101 stuff.....

Not necessarily blown in wet. Most cellulose in attics here is dry loose fill. Wet blown is reserved for vertical applications or on the underside of roofs in barns, etc.

Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall

Not necessarily blown in wet. Most cellulose in attics here is dry loose fill. Wet blown is reserved for vertical applications or on the underside of roofs in barns, etc.

I have not seen the dry application. Here they mix the chemical wetting agent with the dry as it is pumped in from the truck. I have noticed that they attic cover is less damp than then what is sprayed on the walls.

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

I have not seen the dry application. Here they mix the chemical wetting agent with the dry as it is pumped in from the truck. I have noticed that they attic cover is less damp than then what is sprayed on the walls.

Check the last half of the video
Installing Cellulose Insulation - YouTube

I have seen cellulose blown in both dry and wet. Typically the wet stuff is blown onto the inside of the concrete block walls - I have not seen this done since the mid- to late-1980s. The problem was that the wet blown cellulose never seemed to dry out and the slightest bit of moisture being driven through the block walls kept it wet, and in South Florida moisture was always being driven through the block walls.

That wet blown cellulose lead to some very interesting fungi finds back in those days - long before 'Mold was Gold', those fungi looked like they were from outer space ... creepy looking.