Sawdust Insulation In Attic

Any existing batt or roll insulation in the attic should have the facing against the attic drywall floor or no facing at all.

Sawdust insulation in attic.

In order to increase energy efficiency i would like to re insulate the attick. I have two questions. In the addition pitch is very low there is no floor and insulation is not covered. 1 what is the best bang for my buck ie vs r value 2 should i take out the sawdust before putting new insulation in.

Granular insulation is probably vermiculite a crystalline appearing compound that insulates at about r 2 per linear inch. This page contains a list of research papers on the use of sawdust as an insulation material. Insulation experts can remove the sawdust before blowing in fluffy helpful fiberglass or cellulose insulation that provides far greater r value. Does the job and easy to do.

At the bare minimum i plan to have them put more insulation in the attic. All about wood chip insulation october 27 2014 1 01 am. To improve the comfort of the home pictured above one solution is to remove the wood chip insulation and re insulate the entire attic cavity with blown in fibreglass insulation. Batt or rolled insulation or blown loose fill insulation fiberglass or cellulose can be installed on top of old insulation.

I have warm attic in old part and cold attic in addition so i have both of those setups. Sawdust can smolder or burn very easily. Knob and tube wiring is made of two individual wires that run through and are connected to porcelain insulators. It s pathetic and i ve been heating cooling the outside world for quite some time r20 at best and that s generous.

Same process they use for cellulose shredded paper insulation boric acid or borax is used for mold pest fire proofing. I have an old house with an attic that is insulated with saw dust. Commercial extruded polystyrene sheets and fiberglass insulation are expensive especially in the quantities required in solar passive homes hence the importance of local replacement materials. It takes a lot of borax to do it like so much it may be cheaper to buy cellulose.

In the original house insulation fiber is covered with hardboard so you don t breathe that fiber when you are in the attic. The vapor retarder on top of or between layers of insulation can trap moisture. Sawdust does have decent insulation properties as evidenced by it s use years ago for this very purpose i grew up in a mill town and whenever someone reno d a house one of the tasks was shoveling out the old sawdust from the wall cavities but the risks far outweigh the benefits. Attic insulation looks like kitty litter.