attic cat or green fiber cellulose

[Blazinzuk]

Going to be blowing r 60 into my shop space and adding insulation to my home at the same time.

Shop has nothing in it at the time, home has 6" of insulation.

It will cost me 200 bucks more for the attic cat insulation.

It seems to be a slightly better insulation that holds its insulative properties better, albeit slightly, over a time period.

Anyone with first hand knowledge of the attic cat? Is it worth the 200 bucks?

Attic cat and the green fiber cellulose are the two that are very common in my area.

 

[Mancino]

I had this discussion with a buddy of mine who does insulation. He suggested green fiber.

Yeah, you get more coverage per bag from the attic cat, but when we totaled it up, it was still cheaper to go with the cellulose and buy more bags and still get almost the same R-value/inch...it worked out great for all of us because we had a total of 3 people who wanted to do this in their houses so when we added all the bags up, we got the discounted pricing, which made it even better.

 

[Blazinzuk]

I will be well into the discount pricing in either. I'm figuring 60 bags of the pink stuff and like 170 bags of the cellulose.

Cellulose saves me 200 bucks so if no one can give me a compelling reason to do the pink stuff I'll just stick with cellulose

 

[DC73]

Go with cellulose. It's a better insulation. It blocks the flow of air movement through the insulation much better than fiberglass. Most building scientists and those in the green building industry prefer cellulose. It creates much more dust when applying than does fiberglass but it doesn't itch like fiberglass. I've put it over top of fiberglass batts and had good results with it.

DC

 

[lowe.joshua51]

I blew in cellulose in my house a couple months ago. I ended up buying mine at a home depot about 3 hours away because it was so much cheaper. I paid $4.38 per bag of green fiber for 100 bags. The home depot a few minutes from my house was $13.25 per bag of the same stuff and they wouldn't match the price. I only ended up using 27 bags... I have a lot in my garage. 51 bags left, but it was still cheaper than buying it at the higher cost and once I finish selling it all I'll have insulated for free.

 

[chrispyny]

I’ll be the odd man out. I blew in 22 bags of pink stuff from
HD. The attic foorprint is 20x40. Took my girlfriend feeding the machine in the garage and me blowing in the pink insulation 2.5 hours. I prefered the pink stuff as its less prone to mold, is lighter, and will allow water to pass thru it without creating a HUGE mess if my roof were to ever leak. With cellulose, if there is a leak, you won’t know from exactly where as water will spread via capillary action. Cellulose will retain that water and that could mean a LOT of weight in your attic which could take your ceiling down. Cellulose is better at capping off over time and stopping air infiltration but i have what is now almost r72 in the attic. I’m ‘fine’ with it.

I also got a new roof with new ridgevent and installed radiant foil barrier. What a HUUUUGE difference it has made with all three changes.

Ridge vent
Radiant foil barrier
Blowing in more insulation.

HUGE difference. Both in A/C and heating.

 

[85stu85]

I blew 6" of green fiber into my 20x30 and have no complaints. I went with cellulose because I HATE fiberglass. cant stand how itchy it makes me. some people aren't affected by it as much as others. the once or twice a year ill be up there was enough to make me not used fiberglass. not to mention how much cheaper it was for me to use cellulose over fiberglass.

 

[CarGuyX]

I just installed 50 bags of the pink in the ceiling of my shop. I dressed appropriately with an air mask and didn't itch a bit. I had problems with impossible to get rid of dust with the cellulose and if it got wet/damp there goes the insulation factor. I got a good bulk price on the bulk price and didn't look back. The blow-in rental/loaned equipment is miles better with the 3M machine also.

 

[like2wheel]

I’ll be the odd man out. I blew in 22 bags of pink stuff from
HD. The attic foorprint is 20x40. Took my girlfriend feeding the machine in the garage and me blowing in the pink insulation 2.5 hours. I prefered the pink stuff as its less prone to mold, is lighter, and will allow water to pass thru it without creating a HUGE mess if my roof were to ever leak. With cellulose, if there is a leak, you won’t know from exactly where as water will spread via capillary action. Cellulose will retain that water and that could mean a LOT of weight in your attic which could take your ceiling down. Cellulose is better at capping off over time and stopping air infiltration but i have what is now almost r72 in the attic. I’m ‘fine’ with it.

.

Good points, some I hadn't considered.

Thanks for posting

 

[toyotadriver]

I have cellulose in both the walls and the attic. I'm happy I chose it.

 

[Bamafan]

Cellulose is cheaper.
But.

Cellulose will settle. Fiberglass will not. However, you can get over that by just over-blowing it a bit if you install cellulose.

It takes a lot more cellulose to make the same R value as fiberglass, so it will weigh much, much more per sq ft and sometimes causes ceiling sagging at very high R values.

Cellulose is very dusty to install. As the quality of paper stock has been declining, it has become even more dusty. That’s one of the reasons why professional builders almost always blow fiberglass into attics of the homes they build; their crews don’t like to blow cellulose. But that might not be too much of an issue for you if you are only doing it once.

 

[DC73]

Here's a good analysis in the comparison of fiberglass vs cellulose: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/fiberglass-versus-cellulose

Those of you in cold climates should pay particular attention to the "Extreme Cold" paragraph (cellulose is better).

This is also a good article on the subject at hand (blown insulation in attics) but you have to be a GBA Prime member to read it (however, you can get a 10-day free trial): http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com...own-insulation-attics-fiberglass-vs-cellulose

DC

 

[FTG-05]

Go with cellulose. It's a better insulation. It blocks the flow of air movement through the insulation much better than fiberglass. Most building scientists and those in the green building industry prefer cellulose. It creates much more dust when applying than does fiberglass but it doesn't itch like fiberglass. I've put it over top of fiberglass batts and had good results with it.

DC

This. The issue of air infiltration and it's costs on heating and cooling cannot be overstated. It's almost impossible to seal an attic after it's built and regular insulation added; adding cellulose is the next best thing. There's a reason installers call fiberglas "filterglas".

And let's not forget it's other advantages over fiberglas:

- Better flame resistance and blocking
- Has inherent insulation unlike fiberglas which just provides dead air space
- Better sound attenuation
- Insulation performance doesn't degrade with temp extremes like fiberglas, especially at low temps

I added 8-10" of cellulose to my attic this past summer. Although my house was already insulated pretty good, it made a big difference in how much cooler the house was this summer and how much firewood we used this winter. This is the 4th house I've added cellulose to and this has been my experience every time.