Talk:Building insulation material
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safety issues, cellulose materials
In regards to section 11 (safety issues, cellulose materials), how are the last two bullets relevant to the topic of loose-fill cellulose in 11.2?It states "Although cellulose is 100% natural, and usually made from recycled material, loose-fill cellulose is not as environmentally-friendly as some people would have you believe." The final two points under this statement, if anything, seem to read as positive points about cellulose's environmental friendliness (not negative points as the initial statement implies). If cellulose isn't susceptible to mold, then aren't the final two points contradictary to the initial statement above the three bullets? Ricojonah 13:25, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
- I believed this to be author bias. In reviewing the literature, while the level of mold protection can be somewhat argued, the overall environmental benefits of cellulose are very high. --Alphastream (talk) 03:17, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
The fiberglass industry has been trying for years to drag cellulose insulation through the mud. Like all things www and wikipedia, the industry trade groups are filling these articles with lies instead of hard science and facts. The louder the voices are against something, then the better the option is either for the environment or energy efficiency. Oil and petrochemicals et al. have a lot of moles out there in the blogs and threads spewing a bunch of worthless false information in the end. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.130.112.33 (talk) 00:59, 11 August 2010 (UTC) My concerns with cellulose come from postings such as http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=59257 "It looses is fire retardant ability in approximately 5 years then is is just nothing more than ground up paper. We vacuumed cellulose out of buildings the you could drop a match on & whoosh it would be gone in an instant." I would want to know whether this issue (a) is real, (b) if this is true for older material, is it still true for more modern material or has this issue been addressed and resolved by the manufacturers and tested by independent test labs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.254.57.30 (talk) 21:48, 26 November 2010 (UTC)
Radiant barriers
There are a lot of myths about radiant barriers. The section here seemed to repeat some of them; whereas the article on radiant barriers is pretty much free of them. I removed some of the myth-influences stuff from here, while resisting the temptation to explain it more fully, because the main radiant barriers page is the right place for that. If you like some of what I removed, I suggest adding it back to the radiant barriers article, where that can be debated and developed more fully.Ccrrccrr 23:05, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
Spray foam disadvantages
There appeared to be a minor edit war going on, with two anonymous parties deleting each others contributions in this section, while both also added value. I attempted to construct a best-of-both edit. If I did some thing wrong, please discuss here.
I replaced specific R-value and cost numbers with more general statements. I would welcome quantitative data there if reliable sources are cited.
I restored the information on toxic fumes in combustion, HCFCs (added some info there), and solvent and sunlight protection. Ccrrccrr 19:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
- The R-value (insulation) page has R-Values. If you find other sources, please add there. --Alphastream (talk) 03:17, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
I added a bullet about the visions problems that spray foam insulation may give you. Zach4677 (talk) 03:28, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
Spray foam advantages
There was a line saying "* Can fill wall cavities in finished walls without tearing the walls apart (like loose-fill).". Everything I see suggests that you use a similar sized entrance hole to insert the foam or fill. Granted, I'm thinking cellulose here (video is available at This Old House of the installation) but it seems likely that the same is true for other loose fill. Therefore, I changed the parenthetical to refer to batts, since those do require removing the wall to re-insulate. If someone sees it otherwise, please change and cite.
- I suspect the "like loose fill" mean to refer to "can fill wall cavities without" not to "tearing the walls apart". In other words, I think you agree with whoever wrote it originally, but obviously the wording wasn't very good or clear. Probably still needs clarification.Ccrrccrr (talk) 12:07, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
Similarly, there was a statement "* Expands while curing, filling bypasses, and providing excellent resistance to air infiltration (unlike batts, blankets, and most types of loose-fill, which can leave bypasses and air pockets).". Everything I have read suggests that loose fill, and especially wet or semi-wet cellulose, do a very good job of filling against infiltration. While spray foam is likely superior, the statement (and perhaps the section) seemed to denigrate loose-fill more than it should. I changed the wording to "(unlike batts and blankets, which can leave bypasses and air pockets, and superior to some types of loose-fill)". Please change and cite if you see it otherwise. Regarding wet spray, it seemed to me from viewing finished installations to be just as good as spray foam, for what it is worth. --Alphastream (talk) 04:19, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
