Thursday, July 10, 2008

Would Wood Insulate?

A friend of mine was working with a realtor, to purchase his first home, and I told him to call me with any questions. Well he did the very next day. He found this older home he liked, but he had some concerns about the attic. The attic had about a foot of wood shavings between the ceiling joists, and he did not know why it was there. His agent said, she had never heard of wood for insulation, but that is what it looked like to her, but she did not know if wood had any insulation value. Well she was right; it was a practice in older houses to use wood shavings for insulation, along with other strange things like horsehair, ground paper, and rock wool. As a home inspector, I have seen a lot of different products for insulation.
Actually, wood shavings do have some insulation value. Common cellulose loose fill insulation is about 3.5 “R” value per inch, wood shavings is about 2.5 “R” value per inch. Cellulose is the most common loose fill insulation used today. This insulation is a paper product with additives to provide resistance to fire and mold/fungus growth.
The problems with wood shavings are it is hard to treat against fire, vermin, and fungal growth. Also wood shavings are heavy and may be too heavy for some attics.

Steve did by the house and I told him I would help him change the insulation when he was ready. That was in the summer of 1989, and he has not been ready yet.

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