The Bathroom Project which led into removing old insulation and rewiring, now is almost back on track to focus on the bathroom. Over the last month L and I installed new denim insulation into the attic crawlspace next to the bathroom. What a difference it makes!

I spent quite a while researching insulation options, including a really helpful article in Fine Homebuilding (November, 2009) about how insulation works. What I got from that was that spray-foam would be the most efficient, cellulose-type second most efficient and fiberglass least efficient. I couldn’t do spray-foam because I don’t have full walls. The back of the wall and the top floor of the crawl space are unfinished, of course. Also, spray-foam would make it hard (I’m guessing) to add wiring or pipes down the road. And the more I thought about it the less I wanted to work with fiberglass. My choice was to pay a pro to install fiberglass or we could install cellulose ourselves.

I saw the denim batting at a friend’s house and it looked soft enough to sleep on. Comparing the costs and thinking about what I wanted in there, I really prefer something less harmful and less toxic. There’s a local resource (EcoHaus) for Bonded Logic’s UltraTouch Natural Cotton Batt insulation. L called them up and got a quote. The price was reasonable and they deliver. Easy to get. They even got  it here in two days. Continue reading “Insulating the Attic” →