Dear Suzy,
I have one of those 1920s pier and beam homes with thin hardwood floors
that are cold, cold, cold in the winter. Are there any options for insulating
under the house? Can someone slide around the crawl space and spray that groovy
commercial cellulose stuff? Is there something that involves a net to hold
regular old strips of insulation?
Or should I just buy thicker socks?
— Tim
Dear Tim,
Someone can probably slide around under your house and spray that groovy
cellulose stuff. Terry Taylor of Enerchek says they’ve blown cellulose under
several older homes and “everybody loves it,” although there are some
“constraints” and “there’s a lot to it.” If words like “constraints” trigger
visions of dollar signs dancing in your head, maybe you are the someone
who will be crawling on his belly like a reptile, schlepping itchy pink fiber
glass bats along with you. If this is the case, be sure to check out the
plastic-wrapped bats Owens-Cornings offers, which promise to minimize the usual
fiber glass itch fest.
But before you waste any time, money, or cuss words on an insulation job,
check your house for pesky air leaks around doors, windows, and electrical
outlets. Supposedly, sealing these cracks can reduce heating and
air-conditioning cost by as much as 30 percent, but I think the same people who
predict things like “job growth” dream up these numbers up after a night of
heavy drinking.
And what about the age-old conundrum, “Which class of insulation material is
safer during a fire?” Critics of cellulose, made from chemically treated ground
up newspapers, say it reignites after firefighters have permanently
extinguished a blaze and that it loses its fire retardancy over time. Of
course, its the fiber glass boys making this accusation. The findings of the
three-year study by the State of California Bureau of Home Furnishings, on
which the glass-industry bases its accusations, are interpreted differently by
the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association (CIMA). They quote the
director of the study as saying, “Results of this [loss of fire retardancy in
cellulose] study are inconclusive and certainly cannot be used to condemn this
material.”
U.S. Borax, whose products are used by both industries, conducted an
eight-year study of borate-treated cellulose insulation, testing cellulose
installed in the floors of actual homes across the country, as well as in boxed
samples like those used in the California study. The boxed samples demonstrated
a slight loss of boric acid, but the cellulose installed in homes showed no
significant loss of fire-retardancy. “For reasons we are only beginning to
understand,” said the study, “there are significant differences between the way
cellulose insulation performs in little boxes and in the real world of
buildings.”
Then again, wool socks are half-price this month.
Send me fan mail every day to Suzebe@aol.com or PO Box 49066,
Austin, TX 78765.
This article appears in January 5 • 1996 and January 5 • 1996 (Cover).