?? Cellulose or Fiberglass ?? (home, costs, drywall)

[Canine*Castle]

I've need to have my attic insulated and have researched both cellulose and fiberglass learning good and bad about both but then again, there is so much doubletalk about both that I don't know what's true and what's not.

Is there anyone out there who really "knows" what is better? This would have to come from personal experience, not just speculation or hearsay. I would so appreciate a little advice. I understand all about the R factor. Now I just need to know what product would be better.

Thanks so much!

[lh_newbie]

I did a ton of research on it and ultimately went with cellulose. Here's my core dump of pros/cons:

Fiberglass
Pros: Less expensive product
Cons: Less dense product, so it is easier for thermal drafts within the product, effectively lowering the R-Value. Itchy.

Cellulose
Pros: More dense product, so less prone to thermal drafts and is a better sound damper. Recycled product.
Cons: More expensive. If DIY, you'll need more bundles of it to get the same R-Value (becuase it's more dense), so it may take an extra trip to bring it all home if using a personal vehicle.

My recommendation is to use cellulose, even though it costs a bit more. But it's not like either product is bad - and both will pay for themselves within a year or two with energy savings, both summer and winter (though you will see bigger savings in the winter compared to summer with ceiling insulation).

A couple of additional things to mention: before adding insulation to your attic, please ensure all your recessed light fixtures are "IC-Rated", meaning they are rated for insulation to contact them. Non-IC rated cans should be replaced. It's a pretty inexpensive thing to do - and if you do need to do this, definitely spend the extra 2-3 dollars on "Air-Tite" rated fixtures, too. They will have a fully sealed exterior housing and come with a gasket that will fit between the drywall and the fixture to seal it to your ceiling to stop air leaks. You could also have the insulation pulled away from your ceiling vents for HVAC and either use a spray foam or foil-tape (the real duct tape, not the paper/plastic crap) to seal those to your ceiling also. It's much easier to plug all the holes in your ceiling BEFORE you add extra insulation. Cheaper, too.

Hope this helps.

Brian

[loves2read]

something I read about this--
if you are paying to have someone install cellulose or blown fiberglass--that is done by WEIGHT and VOLUMN--
check the bundles BEFORE they break them up for the blower and make sure you have what you paid for
and know that some people who do this will add extra air to the mix so that the volumn is not as heavy as it should be--
just like carbonation in drinks--let it sit out and the carbonation bleeds off and drink is flat
once the insulation settles and the extra air sifts out--then you don't have the volumn/height you were paying for...
some people will measure the height of the blown insulation by sticking the ruler down to a framing member--vs the actual floor base--

so there are some tricks to watch out for

[Canine*Castle]

Thanks for the comments. I'm actually leaning toward the cellulose.