Balsam-Wool Insulation
Back when we were trying to get all the attic insulation out ourselves, we ran in to this strange stuff. It seemed to be a loose, disintegrated organic matter...dusty beige and the consistency of baby powder.
Eventually we called in the experts, who took care of it with more industrial quality tools. They did recognize the stuff and called it "balsamite." However, a search on Google didn't turn up any insulation with that name.
Since the we've been working more upstairs and have run in to more of the stuff, and today we found further proof on just what that stuff is...
Inside one of the knee-walls we finally found a label on one of the bats: "Balsam-Wool Insulation."
We even found a huge piece of the paper that one of the original roles came in.
That name turns up a lot more info on Google. Several posts on BobVilla.com and Old House Web discussion forms mentioned it. From there we learned:
- The insulation was manufactured from balsam wood pulp
- It was manufactured by Weyerhaeuser
- It isn't toxic and contains no asbestos
- It doesn't have a great R-value
So there you have it--mystery solved. We're taking ours out, since most of it falls out of the walls anyway and much of the moisture barrier was torn by the racoons that were living up there.
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Comments
I suspect that stuff is very flammable! Yes, remove it.. POPS"30"
Posted by: POPS | May 16, 2004 12:19 PM
Nice site. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: asbestos news | June 3, 2004 11:12 PM
Our house has the same stuff in the attic. Thanks for such good information! The substance has become quite crumbly and I also agree that it is a major fire hazard by now. =
Posted by: ACA | June 4, 2004 6:12 AM
Thank you for the information! I'm about to take this same insulation out of my attic (half of it has fallen out of the rafters already) and it's good to know that I'm not going to need anything more powerful than a dust mask to protect my lungs.
Posted by: rene | June 10, 2004 12:05 PM