Shredded Blue Jean Insulation
I finally had a reason to use it. I find something nifty about big fluffy cotton insulation.
It's fairly expensive, about $1/sqft, but it purports to be good sound insulation, so I installed it in an exterior wall exposed to road noise.
It works well for sound, and the R-value is fine, but it's otherwise not worth fiddling with. A few observations:
- Difficult to cut - even a new razor blade does not cut well enough to be effective. Regular scissors just don't cut it. I had to resort to high-end fabric scissors, and even then it's a lot of work.
- Dust level is high while installing. Certainly cotton is less irritating, but fiberglass produces a lot less dust.
- Lastly, it's comes unfaced, so a vapor barrier is needed immediately. I had some up, and I resumed work the next day, and the cold side was noticeably damp.
It's also more fiddly to install. It's a little hard for me to explain, bit doesn't grip or fluff quite right, so you have to be much more precise with cutting and fitting.
The other thing is for a recycled waste product, it's very expensive.
So, for easy access situations, I'll use fiberglass. For more challenging installation or high performance, I'll use the the spray foam.
It's fairly expensive, about $1/sqft, but it purports to be good sound insulation, so I installed it in an exterior wall exposed to road noise.
It works well for sound, and the R-value is fine, but it's otherwise not worth fiddling with. A few observations:
- Difficult to cut - even a new razor blade does not cut well enough to be effective. Regular scissors just don't cut it. I had to resort to high-end fabric scissors, and even then it's a lot of work.
- Dust level is high while installing. Certainly cotton is less irritating, but fiberglass produces a lot less dust.
- Lastly, it's comes unfaced, so a vapor barrier is needed immediately. I had some up, and I resumed work the next day, and the cold side was noticeably damp.
It's also more fiddly to install. It's a little hard for me to explain, bit doesn't grip or fluff quite right, so you have to be much more precise with cutting and fitting.
The other thing is for a recycled waste product, it's very expensive.
So, for easy access situations, I'll use fiberglass. For more challenging installation or high performance, I'll use the the spray foam.