of the drywall in the laundry room behind the tub, and I found this..... Maybe a couple inches thick and what looks like horsehair under the paper. It was covering the hole where the tub trap is, and not done well. Weird thing too, is that my wife is repainting the bathroom, so all the wall plates and stuff came off the wall, and behind the recessed TP holder is this same stuff. It's an interior wall. My plan for the bathroom was to tear it down to the studs (as usual) and have a do-ovah, but I have too many other things in process to mess with that, so she's putting lipstick on a pig. Has anybody here ever seen this "insulation" before?
Never heard of it, but seems to have about the R-value of the rock wool I pulled out of my walls Website with some interesting stuff about Balsam Wool
yup seen it.. used in interior walls for sound damper in effect.. actually a sign of well built home 40 plus years ago
Yeah, I think they good intentions, but the application sucked. In the bathroom, the cavity is obviously too narrow for the batt, so they just folded it back onto itself. At least that wasn't done on the outside walls.......those have their own poorly executed applications.
Yep. I understand building practices were somewhat different and so was insulation, but doing things half-butt is timeless.
“Balsam wool” is a shredded wood product, treated with borax as a fire-retardant. Maybe treated with a mildewcide too.
it probably depends on what "borax" is . If it is just boron , the mineral salt that is mined, processed, poured into boxes as a cleaning agent ( think 20 mule team here ) I'd be concerned with any caustic affects on steel - like with burning logs from the ocean. If it was mixed with an acid to make boric acid and called "borax" to disguise and deflect product composition concerns - well I'd be wary of caustic concerns with steel again. Probably negligible and minimal, but you know how 'probably negligible and minimal' can go sometimes.
papadave ...welcome to the world of wood insulation! If it looks different it might be manufactured at a different time. I read that they started with just by products of milling operationa than changed to include different sources of wood. You'll love the improvement in R value...and the knowledge that you can now come over and help me!
Help you? I thought you were comin' ovah ta help ME. I've been spending some quality time in the attic with insulation over the west end of the living room and bedroom. Only doing a bundle at a time, as that's about the limit for me to stay up there. Seems to be helping. Still need to pull out a strip of this same stuff from the attic and post a picture. Must be more of the same wood insulation, but it looks a little different than that stuff I found under the tub.
First I have known of that product. Dave, your house has been just full of surprises for you. I am beginning to think you are replacing it Once you are done, it will a different place.
Hey, I wonder at what point it will turn into a place next to a lake? More insulation going into the attic as I can get it and have the energy for crawling around up there, but it's helping. I'd guess that stuff was the thing to use back in the day, but it's woefully inadequate now, compared to what we have available. I found it interesting...and noticed in both rooms I've gone through so far, that the old JM fiberglass insulation had shrunk from 3.5" thick down to about 2". That was weird. It's also why I ended up replacing all of it.
That stuff is similar to cellulose insulation- nothing wrong with it. Being a fiber type, I wonder if it has the same short comings of fiberglass- allowing air migration through it. I haven't found a single insulation that will not shrink/settle some over time- even the foams. Cellulose does not allow air migration when properly installed. It can be dense packed into walls as as well. Can be applied over existing fiberglass batts, maybe over blown fiber glass as well not sure. Funny thing about fiber glass as temps dip it loses r value which is likely due to air migration. Just a bunch of info I picked up years ago when redoing one of my homes.
