Working With Cotton Insulation Batts

This post is edited and reissued as:

https://energyconservationhowto.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-deep-energy-retrofit-fall-of-2013.html   

Please go there.

Better, find all posts discussing cotton batt insulation:

https://energyconservationhowto.blogspot.com/search?q=cotton   

This is the superseded post, not deleted.

Out of necessity for a customer, I have gained lessons in the usefulness of UltraTouch cotton batts in residential weatherization. Here is a sharing of those lessons.

The owner of the reported home aimed to be best green, in needful improvement of insulation, in Fall, 2008. Then, and now, UltraTouch denim batts by Bonded Logic, Inc., offers

impressive claims.

UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation is the successful combination of 35 years of insulation experience and a revolutionary patented manufacturing process that has created a superior and safe product.

UltraTouch is made from high-quality natural fibers. These fibers contain inherent qualities that provide for extremely effective sound absorption and maximum thermal performance. UltraTouch has No Fiberglass Itch and is easy to handle and work with. UltraTouch contains no chemical irritants and requires no warning labels compared to other traditional products. There are no VOC concerns when using UltraTouch, as it is safe for you and the environment.

UltraTouch is also a Class-A Building Product and meets the highest ASTM testing standards for fire and smoke ratings, fungi resistance and corrosiveness. UltraTouch™ Denim Insulation contains 80% post-consumer recycled natural fibers making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to use a high quality sustainable building material.

UltraTouch makes installation user-friendly. The inclusion of perforated batts allows for quick and easy off-size cavity installation. Simply measure, tear, fit and you're done!.

Many bags of UltraTouch R30 in size 23"x48" were purchased, for placement in the crawl space, by a hired top-notch weatherization  contractor, and for the attic, to be placed by the home owner. Things did not go well, with more than $8000 paid to the contractor, and more money tied up in mis-applied  or stockpiled cotton batts, by the home owner. All for little, if any, saving of energy. The home owner was responsible for misunderstanding how to insulate an attic, but was misled by the bad example of the contractor's work in the crawl space, and couldn't find guidance anywhere.

In reporting here, I intend to be useful to contractors and their management authorities everywhere. I hope to also get the attention of batt manufacturer Bonded Logic, Inc.. Bonded Logic may not sell product with no responsibility to advise in competent usage. From an experience here, consumers should learn that benefit from cotton batts is not easily obtained. There are many ways to use them inappropriately. Cotton batts are not uniquely "green;" in that deserving slack over misuse. Search, that now readily finds this blog post, nets little other help, and finds a lot of condemnation. Cotton batts are useless placed alone as wall insulation, where they can't adjustably fill cavities, and cavities not full may have no effective insulation. The recently-added Bonded Logic brag of perforated batts  is empty. Batts still will not fill a wall on thickness, and perforations will likely be at unlucky widths. 

Here, I find pretty decent usage of cotton batts in an attic floor as top layer with flexible fill-in of fiberglass, liking that they tolerate being walked upon. In a crawl space, after a lot of work, I guess they are ok.

Photos that follow are drawn from a Web album with similar captions:

Repairing The Installation Of Cotton Insulation Batts In An Attic and In A Crawl Space 

The attic treatment of cotton batts began with taking down batts unwisely hung from roof joists. After a couple of years, mold was starting to grow above the batts, at the underside of the roof sheathing. Batts were wet.

Cotton batts dropped from roof joists and brought up new, would cover about three quarters of the attic floor.

Top up an R21 insulation base layer using new R11 batts. Supplement R30 cotton batts crossing floor joists, with R30 fiberglass batts. Protect all soffit vents with plywood baffles, and place R30 all the way out to cover exterior wall headers.

Note a Romex electrical wire here, correctly running over, not through floor joists. With thick insulation, electrical service should be permitted by simply lifting top-course batts.

Plywood decking is very important to work access. Plywood is raised 5" above floor joists, upon new 2x4 uprights 24" oc.

Furnace return air ducts are covered with R21 insulation, minimum, including a firm skin of poly skrim kraft upon R11 basement wall insulation. Duct insulation is tucked into top layer batts, or is screwed to plywood decking.










With the blocked access, the home owner was concerned about the placement of the crawl space batts. The batt installer, after days of awful work in this, would not be confronted.  Thinking things weren't right, the home owner chose to forego a rebate claim, and didn't know what to do for resolution.

In the course of attic work, I inspected the crawl space. I reported that, as expected, the twined-up batts were sagging everywhere, only in contact with flooring in lines at edges. Full floor contact is mandated by regulating authority, Energy Trust of Oregon, ETO. Their rule stated:


Insulation shall be installed so that there is no air space between the top of the insulation and the floor.



Unacceptable work is not eligible for rebate, so a rebate now would give the home owner some compensation for the cost of needed repairs. The installer refused to accept any responsibility in this, but we will see what happens in review after the repairs.

In time, I devised a repair plan, posted for more than a year, and shared for comment with responsible parties, manufacturer Bonded Logic, Inc. and regulator Energy Trust Of Oregon. There was no thinking or standing up with me for the interest of the home owner.

This is the actual method of tying up crawl space batts that I had to work with. Batts were generally in pairs of matched 48" length, one 23" wide, the other somehow sawn 21" wide. The twine was fairly useful near to floor joists, and I left it in place. At about every 9" on average, in the slot between batts, I stapled up a loop of 17ga electric fence wire about 20" long, thus:

The battens typically were cut to 43" lengths. I used about 200 eight-foot lengths, costing $1.79 each. The lumber cost is significant.





















Now consider how this might have been done, starting with new batts. I think each batt might be thrown up, upon a 2x3 or 2x4, to then be progressively secured higher-up, with wire and battens. The wires might be preset on other wire or lumber, adding to material cost but saving labor.

The same number of battens are needed whether or not there is benefit of prior twining. Lumber cost here remains about $400. 

There is a nicer solution that has higher material cost, but would be superior overall:

Complete coverage with 3/8" CDX plywood sections costs about $15 for each eight-foot length of joist bay. Four eight-foot 1x2 battens in the same service would cost about $7. The lumber cost is doubled, but the isolation of insulation is a good deal, that should be mandatory. No insulation anywhere, not even on an attic floor, should be left raw, to be abused. Reduced labor costs might more than compensate for plywood cost. Where insulation is already hanging down but is not foul, this is a really good solution.



Home Performance Education For The Determined Or Advised Reader

The situation of waste found in this home had existed for nearly three years.  

Enter then, myself, first for the attic work. I was discovered through new home owner membership in Angie's List. Already in Fall, 2011, I had been banished as a Trade Ally of Energy Trust of Oregon, and could not be found among the "players." Banishment for a year, but now seemingly forever, was for reporting to each customer the things I do, that are not done by those within the embrace of Energy Trust, contractors who brag upon the misperceptions of "Home Performance With Energy Star," HPwES. 

The problems with HPwES begin with a basic false claim, that a blower door is the guide and measure of weatherization progress. As guide, in eight years of ever more-professional service, I have never seen a situation needing guidance of a blower door. As measure, achievable sealing rarely has value of more than $20 per year.

I have repaired many large energy bleeds not at all detectable by a blower door. Most attic floor pits, as with the generally-found chimney chase, have little effect on blower door readings. Where the goal is real or jiggered improvement of blower door readings, by hundreds of CFM50,  correction of floor pits is not rewarded.  

Even where they might affect blower door readings, bleeds are almost never found that way. The clean-shirted technician can not and will not be in the usual dark and dangerous attic while his blower door is operating.  Workers will rarely take initiative to fix the things they might see and care about, of course unknown, then not in a contract. Buried problems usually have much higher opportunity cost, than any benefit.

Among issues that could be seen and expressed, the home owner was very upset by ugly and useless "sealing", as characterized by this crude aerosol orange foaming about the exhaust duct of the kitchen microwave, in a kitchen cabinet. 


















The conditions of unacceptable sealing found, and their repair, can not be summed up in a few photos. For the detailed story of sealing, please download and study a large pdf album:

Real Sealing Fixes HPwES Sealing In An Oregon Attic 

Where CFM50 = 7.5 * (Hole Size, sq in), total ducts hole size is 71 sq in., as with more than two 6" ducts (28 sq in each) fully detached. If workers found two duct sections detached, and reset them without comment, that is not duct sealing action of goop troops. It should not count. If ducts can fall down, then how could workers justify leaving the crawl space inaccessible after their departure? Leakage of 205 CFM50 is still huge, and should not be allowed. None of the steel ducts were found or left with required screws. Nearly all joints, now stiffened with goop, remained closed by dried-out ordinary duct tape. This was not duct sealing by some scientific process, and was not worthy of compensation. Most of the involved money should be reclaimed to compensate the home owner for the cost of my fully replacing the ducts, needfully and with courage, restoring access for extremely difficult work in the crawl space.

I don't believe sealing actions could have amounted to more than a few hundred CFM50. A 100 CFM50 reduction is closure of 13 sq in, a total equivalent hole four inches diameter or a gap 1/16" wide and 18 ft long. The great majority of reported reduction was from knowing fraud in devising a to-be-closed air handler room yet attic floor pit, with a gasketed new door. It is not allowed that an interior door may be closed in pre or post "Home Performance Testing." The door was a mystery to the home owner, perhaps to be closed for convenience.

This was my third run-in with this contractor, where I did the real sealing. In one, there were a car-bashed large hole in the garage wall, hidden behind a woodpile, and two closets with large leakage to outside controlled by closing doors; of course none found by blower door.

No one does better sealing of an attic floor or HVAC ducting than I do, with absolute disdain for fraud of Home Performance. I find problems as one must, digging down and dirty, by sight. I don't just reduce duct leakage. I methodically eliminate it, verifiable by sight as I go, and in method-sampling photos.

Here is discussion of my improvement of the crawlspace HVAC ducts in this home:
http://energyconservationhowto.blogspot.com/2013/11/more-hvac-circuitry-in-crawl-space.html 

The ugly obstructions beginning at the access hole are gone! Repair of the cotton-batt insulation could only be done after removing the found HVAC ducts for recycling. Quite a pile. Hundreds of pounds of steel that had responded to every furnace cycle .

Should We Rely On "Agencies"?

The last post suggests reliance on "agencies" to achieve good, honest work in weatherization. I don't think that is the way.


Public display of customer reports might work. We might all belong to an affordable and more-informative Angie's List. With diligent reporting of satisfaction, or being wronged, a careful home owner could intelligently choose honest workers and consensus best practices. I have tried to influence Angie's List to entice fuller membership through low pricing, and reward of responsible participation. Suggestions include a Honored Member status, earning half-price annual fees, at not more than $20 per year. All new members are Honored Members, helping them over a barrier of uncertainty, where one must pay first, to see the value. Honored Member status is retained by responsible participation, say a combined number of five, in posted reports and referred new members. With five years of Honored Member status, it becomes permanent. I want Angie's List to succeed in this way, and welcome customer reports on my work. Good work, reported, is my investment in advertising.


Another solution is having self-maintained records of work well done. I imagine  Google-like companies (several) setting up data warehouses, where the condition of our homes is a public record. Things that matter to society get recorded. Measures taken for energy efficiency are for the common good, and are included. Posting is voluntary, with rewards. The public record is a basis for home valuation at resale, and for more-favorable taxes and mortgage interest rates.

Why Cheat With Attic Insulation?

I will always do what it takes to not bury savings opportunities, or hazards, under insulation in attics. Every job needs at least minimal walkways, to guard against step-through where safe footing becomes hidden. Any footing, buried or not, must be screwed down, as trick footing is far more dangerous than none. Access will happen in every attic, and that must not trash insulation. Accessibility for inspection must be required. There must be no open floor pits, or insulation voids, as complained of in the previous posts, and comprising missed savings opportunities. Every hidden diligence measure with significant cost and savings must be recorded with photographic proof, sparing inspectors of dangerous or impossible tasks.


Why not cheat, when there is low probability of inspection, or a declared policy of permission, that things like "air sealing" are not required. and there are no rules against voids. Voids predictably occur with blown insulation, under or in the lee of lumber and ducts. Voids occur where batts are ill-fit, or are carelessly placed over joist bays that are not full of insulation.


While cheating is permitted, many contractors will feel compelled to participate, for survival. They will offer the excuse that no one has taught them, or commanded them, to do right. One listed on the New York Stock Exchange will do it, perhaps leading the way, on behalf of detached investors. Much of the easiest energy savings in homes will be left undone, for many more years to come. We should not blame only the compromising or dishonest contractors for this. Agencies that will not use their heft for best results, will be largely to blame. 

Booby Trapped

How would one know that all of this insulation by an honored competitor, Gale Contractor Services, missed sixty percent of the energy savings society wishes? An inspector will not justify risks in the dangerous darkness, or have the time, to find the buried crimes. I did report fraud to the reviewing authority, Energy Trust Of Oregon, which responded by adding a "star", to highest-level approval.


Here is approximate math on the missed savings, as a graphical summary, for conduction/ convection through the attic floor:

A sea of poorly-placed insulation would have saved about $130 per year, while correctly placing the same insulation will save a total of $200 per year. The missed savings of $70 per year are less important than those related to diligence, sealing the attic floor. Closing a plumbing vent chase floor pit that exposed 150 sf of walls on three floors, will save $120 per year. The negligent work would have achieved a total $130 per year, only forty percent of the achievable $320 per year, with the same added insulation. Where the installed cost of insulation is only about $800, the savings neglected were hugely significant.

The better attic is useful, safe and pretty. The roof has some needed reinforcement.

 Needful things get fixed, when there is safe access and lighting.

Dissing of Diligence

Complaint of a dissing of diligence, in the prior post , had a specific basis.


A large and honored competitor, seemingly gets away with complete disregard of diligence, and outright fraud.

All found trash, and anything they drop, is left for burial. Unfilled joists are left as voids, cancelling the value of covering insulation over at least 25% of the space. Since insulation matters mainly where there was none, added insulation (that I had to pile elsewhere) was almost entirely wasted.






The fraud was in having a contract to seal the floor pits (wiring holes and any open chases), not doing that work or faking it, and accepting payment.

This is a first look at the meanest failure to seal, at the main plumbing vent. This kind of situation exists in most attics, and will be well-known to the worker. A glob in a spot is of no use. The worker is apparently instructed that sealing is expenditure of one can of an inappropriate foam. When it is empty, you're done.

The scheduler, and management, knew I would overturn their work to install an attic ladder, new bath fan, decking and more, out of sequence, after they were done. Despite this, workers wasted foam all over the dirty insulation around the fan, accomplishing nothing. 




I got to see work not prettied by exceptional effort.

Spaghetti noodles decorated electrical junction boxes buried under insulation, and about 10% of the wiring penetrations over walls, expending the rest of the can.

The dry spaghetti didn't wet or seal, anything. The worker did not supply that can, or choose what to do with it. This must happen in every home "served" by this competitor. How will contractors learn there is a better way, with my flexible grout? Custom Fusion Pro Tile Grout is a stably-stored ready-to-use equivalent to my flexible grout. Less-expensive grout will work too. Want these for assured full penetration sealing, with easy water cleanup. Avoid chemical foams likely to be tracked onto home floors.

Here is the full extent of the opening at the important pit, going down three floors, and exposing 100 sq ft of interior walls to attic temperature. The waste of savings would have exceeded all savings from properly placed floor insulation. for years to come.

Here is proper closure of the plumbing chase. Looking back in October, 2012 review, I wish I had used flexible grout here, too. Foam can't be relied upon to fill and seal, where it quickly skins over, and, yet sticky, can't be forced-in by fussing afterward.

Here is proper sealing of floor penetrations for wiring, with stuffed insulation, and flexible grout.










All of this has been directly brought to the attention of the responsible rebates sponsor, Energy Trust of Oregon. Upon investigation, without reply to me, the contractor, Gale Contractor Services, got a boost in its rating from next-highest, to highest. What am I to do now, with my proof of their dishonesty?

Excellence Is Better Value

Here is one "before" picture of the job in the previous post :

The effective insulation value of settled cellulose in 2x6 joists is about R11. Improvement to R38 with high-quality batts, will give modest savings, with annual heat cost dropping from $136 per year, to $46 per year. $90 per year savings, so far.


Dark, dangerous and dirty conditions invite inferior service of a home. All wiring of ceiling fixtures in this home needed replacement, perhaps from excuse the work up there had been so awful. Several wires for added fixtures were merely wrapped onto nearby conductors, stripped. No fire yet, but such contact must degrade with time. Despite now-excellent access, electricians charged as much for the few hours of fixing wiring, as I charged for all insulation labor and materials. But, how do you value a home saved from fire? Yes, this diligence pays.


Other diligence, enabled by cheerful access, will be the major savings, at near-zero cost. 275 sq ft of wall area was exposed to attic temperature, in floor pits, two gapped bathroom wet walls, and an abandoned kitchen heater chase; now tightly sealed. One needed to toss and vacuum off cellulose, to see this. Savings: $220 per year.


Total savings of $310 per year with diligence are large relative to investment. Payback for the homeowner's investment is in from three years, to eleven, depending on how much of the cost is allowed as savings-related. Better too, that the larger investment immediately raises house usefulness and resale value, by more than the invested amount. More ignorant cellulose here, would have precluded savings, and detracted from house value.


This homeowner placed value on my diligence that my rebates organization does not see, encourage or reward. A 25% tip was appropriate, for satisfaction way beyond his imagining at bid. This gives me satisfactory earnings, usually missed in this dismal business of competition with blow and go madness. I find it hard to be paid for my diligence, where it isn't even reportable. "Failure to demand diligence is reward of sleaze," as I chide with a "Diligence Report," in my rebate applications.


I state my complaint against dissing of diligence, to customers, and raise the ire of my rebates organization, Energy Trust of Oregon. How else can I get action? Energy Trust of Oregon is a pretty good organization. Perhaps there is none better. But, they persist in regressive policies best serving the affluent. They seem unable and uninterested, in guiding customers to diligent service.

Another Really-Nice Job, Done

A well-insulated attic may also be highly functional and pristine. This well-decked floor is a solid R38, under decking, and all the way out to walls below. Still missing: I want to cover the insulation batts with cotton sheets, to further protect the homeowner from insulation dust particles. Also still missing: enough ventilation to keep the attic cool in summer. I will replace the gable vents with house-symmetric, remote-operated windows, and will install a solar attic fan. The bath fan, seen here to discharge within the attic, will be hard-plumbed to a roof vent.

Where a gas furnace is placed in the attic, efficient and safe access is mandatory. Here a furnace shutoff switch was missing, and was added.


Please see more details of this service at my web sites, for policy matters, and for access door/ ladder matters of commerce.

The insulated and gasketed wood fold-out attic ladder is a Calvert Model 1804, that I have modified for less-steep, easy deployment. Conversions for user convenience and safety are well worth a twenty percent increase of the modest cost.