I seem to recall that recently there was a post warning against the use of cellulose insulation, sayint that it is prone to mildew and mold. For anyone who has been scared off from this type of insulation because of this, please check out www.nuwool.com The main point the site makes about cellulose and mold, mildew, and fungus is that, owing to its density, cellulose insulation is very unlikely to absorb sufficient moisture to even initiate any of the above problems. In fact they (www.nuwool.com) do not use vapor barriers in their installations as they feel it is overkill, the cellulose itself being sufficient barrier to vapor. They also offer a substantial guarantee.

I attended a seminar by Doug Rye who is a proponent of cellulose and he said that the story of wet cellulose circulating on the internet actually originated from an incident where the structural wood got wet and started to mildew etc. Since the wood is also made of cellulose it was said that wet cellulose was mildewing, but that this is not an accurate reflection on cellulose insulation. One of the displays he had was a small wood wall section in which half was insulated with fiberglass batts and the other with cellulose. An air space under both sides was heated with light bulbs. It was remarkable. The side with the fiberglass insulation began to heat up almost immeadiately but the side with the cellulose resisted the heat for the entire seminar. So it seems clear to me that at least the claim of cellulose being superior, owing to its density, is beyond reproach.

By the way it is also excellent sound insulation. He took a personal protection devise, an ear piercing alarm, and dropped it in a bucket that was insulated with cellulose, save a small cavity for the alarm. It was barely audible once inside the bucket, and when he put a rubber cap on top of the bucket I had to really strain to hear the thing.

-- John Fritz (JohnFritz24@hotmail.com), December 08, 2001

Answers

Thanks John.

-- Dave.??? (Duckthis1@maqs.flurafluff), December 08, 2001.

Thanks John. After spending big bucks for the insulation, this information makes me feel a whole lot better.

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), December 08, 2001.

We installed cellulose insulation in our house in Ohio about 15 years ago and when we sold the house we had never had any problem with it. This was an old house, too and the roof leaked but we never had any problem with mildew in the attic. We had to coat that flat roof several times while we lived there though! Too bad the aluminized paint didn't last like the insulation!

-- Patricia Ramsey (WOOLSPIN@AOL.COM), December 10, 2001.

Before installing it in our new house, we checked around. Over in the next town, there was a fire in a filling station. You could see charred strips running down the walls. Those were the studs. The insuallation was intact. Not even discolored. We are very happy with it, not only for its insulating ability, but also its noise reduction.

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), December 11, 2001.