Photo Guide to Identification of Cotton Building Insulation

Photo guide to identification of cotton building insulation materials
- Properties and R-values of Cotton & other building insulation products
- Is cotton building insulation a green insulation or a green building product?
INSULATION IDENTIFICATION GUIDE - separate article
Questions & Answers about cotton batt building insulation
References

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Cotton insulating batts: This article illustrates and describes how to identify, inspect, and evaluate cotton insulation materials in buildings. We provide photographs and descriptive text of cotton insulation and other insulation products to permit identification of these materials in buildings. This document assists building buyers, owners or inspectors who need to identify various kinds of insulating materials and who need to evaluate the condition of building insulation by simple visual inspection.

COTTON INSULATING BATTS - Cotton building insulation should not be mistaken for asbestos

Cotton building insulation was sold by the Lockport Cotton Batting Company under the product name Lo-K®.

Cotton insulation may have been made, sold, and distributed by other manufacturers or distributors of building insulation in the late 1940's, including Bristol Insulation, Cary Insulation, Insulation Industries, Inc., Janesville Cotton Mill, Sears Roebuck, and Gilman Brothers Co.

Cotton insulating batts were installed in many homes in the U.S. from about 1935 to 1950, and this material has recently seen a surge in new interest as a "green" building material.

What is the insulating value of cotton batts?

Cotton insulation batts sold as Lockport's Lo-K® ranged in thickness from about 1/2" to 20" and its density ranged from 4.19 to 2991 kg· m^-3 (about 1/4 pound per cubic foot up to more than 100 pounds/cubic foot(?))The heat transmission of various insulating materials including cotton can be viewed at the NIST website. NIST data shows that cotton insulation had a resistance to heat transfer ranging from 0.025 to 9.1 h· ft²· °F· Btu^-1 (depending on the thickness of the product). I'm guessing from the data that this translates into modern "R" values of about 0.5 per inch.

Currently marketed cotton insulation costs about 20% more than fiberglass insulation of roughly the same dimensions, and has a lower R value of R 3 to R 4 per inch of cotton insulation compared with an R value of R 5 to R 7 per inch for fiberglass batts.

To compare insulating material R-values see our Table of Properties of Insulating Materials

Is Cotton Insulation Batting a Green Insulation Building Product?

Well sure it is insofar as we're using a natural, grown material rather than an insulation product made from petroleum products (plastics, foams). But "green" is a little tough to pin down.

For example, when we evaluate the greeness of cotton insulating batts, the "green" claims we've read did not consider the petroleum product consumption in the production of cotton, the transport of cotton to the insulation producer, nor the effects of use of pesticides and fertilizers. These added complexities confound the environmental claims of lots of products, not just building insulation.

The health claim, that cotton produces fewer problem particles than fiberglass sounds reasonable, but a study of the health effects that plagued workers in 20th century cotton mills leaves some questions about this assertion as well, at least for the producers of the product. The fiber release of any insulating product depends a lot on where and how it was installed and on its condition and its exposure to disturbance.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Balsam Wool Insulation: properties, R-values, Ingredients, Hazards, Fire Resistance

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Questions & answers or comments about the properties & identification of balsam wool & other wood product insulation materials.

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Technical Reviewers & References

Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.

[1] 3/07: thanks to Gary Randolph, Ounce of Prevention Home Inspection, LLC Buffalo, NY, for attentive reading and editing suggestions. Mr. Randolph can be reached in Buffalo, NY, at (716) 636-3865 gary@ouncehome.com
[2] 06/07: thanks for photographs of transite asbestos heating ducts, courtesy of Thomas Hauswirth, Managing Member of Beacon Fine Home Inspections, LLC and (in 2007) Vice President, Connecticut Association of Home Inspectors Ph. 860-526-3355 Fax 860-526-2942 beaconinspections@sbcglobal.net
[3] Thanks to home inspector Stephen P. Shockley, Shore-Footed Property Services, for discussing "blackweld" cellulose-based (probably) insulation, August 2010
"Insulation: Adding Insulation to an Existing Home," U.S. Department of Energy - tips on how to do your own check for the presence of absence of insulation in a home
Insulation: Selecting Insulation for New Home Construction, U.S. Department of Energy - "Your state and local building codes probably include minimum insulation requirements, but to build an energy-efficient home, you may need or want to exceed them. For maximum energy efficiency, you should also consider the interaction between the insulation and other building components. This is called the whole-house systems design approach."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST (nee National Bureau of Standards NBS) is a US government agency - see www.nist.gov
- "A Parametric Study of Wall Moisture Contents Using a Revised Variable Indoor Relative Humidity Version of the "Moist" Transient Heat and Moisture Transfer Model [copy on file as/interiors/MOIST_Model_NIST_b95074.pdf ] - ", George Tsongas, Doug Burch, Carolyn Roos, Malcom Cunningham; this paper describes software and the prediction of wall moisture contents. - PDF Document from NIS
"Weather-Resistive Barriers [copy on file as /interiors/Weather_Resistant_Barriers_DOE.pdf ] - ", how to select and install housewrap and other types of weather resistive barriers, U.S. DOE
Weaver: Beaver Board and Upson Board: Beaver Board and Upson Board: History and Conservation of Early Wallboard, Shelby Weaver, APT Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 2/3 (1997), pp. 71-78, Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), available online at JSTOR.

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The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 25th Ed., 2012, is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume. Special Offer: For a 10% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference Book purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space. InspectAPedia.com editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author.

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