Rod, John, anyone, alternatives to fluffy pink insulation?

Hello, greetings from Panama. I was wondering if anyone knew of a cost effective non-messy-itchy alternative to pink fluffy insulation (r11, r13 etc...). Yes, I know there are no health risks, but I have two little kids at home, 2 yo and 1 yo. The 1 yo is like a little vacuum cleaner, anything on the floor he picks it up and eats it, so I don´t want them to be eating fiberglass or rubbing it all over their faces or being all itchy. As careful as I would be, because of the location of the room, I´m sure they would be potentially exposed. So what can I do?, I´m building 4 gypsum walls over the existing concrete walls but I´m at a loss as to what to use instead of pink fluffy fiberglass (that would still be cost effective) for insulation. I heard about the ultratouch stuff, but I don´t think that would be easy to get over here. Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

The ultratouch stuff you're talking about is - http://www.buyacoustics.com/index.php/c ... 1549019fd1 Made of denim, primarily I think. That was the first google search result. http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/wall_ ... atouch.htm Same product there except there is a demo picture with cute little kids -

Awwww... little cute redheaded kids and everyone's wearing denim... Resources within this forum: Reference section of this forum has a link of Fiberglass safety: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1742 Read it and you'll see that there are ways to overcome floating fibers through sprays and fabric. Working with insulation and a couple of specific product references. One guy even put a data sheet forth for a product similar to ultratouch. Here's the ultratouch data sheet - look at the last graph on page 4. http://www.ultratouch.net/pdfs/UT_Brochure_all.pdf Then compare that with owens corning ratings: eh... I just searched for a while and came up empty.. you find it! ;)

Hello Cram, thanks for your reply. I am aware that there are ways to contain the fibers once installed, but i´m not talking about rigid fiberglass, which you would cover with fabric. I'm talking about the pink fluffy stuff that goes between the false and existing wall as insulation. My concern isnt about long term exposure, since I know it would be perfectly contained between the two walls. What I'm worried about is the installation process, when you are installing the pink fluffy stuff, cutting it and stuffing it/securing it to the wall, it can get real messy, with fibers and fluffy balls flying all over the place, and it is a small room, some stuff may fly out of the room and, as careful as you are throughout the cleanup process, there may still be stuff lying around and, well, we go back to the little kids issue. As for ultratouch, I've found that the batts are heavy and it may cost me a fortune to bring it to Panama. I need a more universal solution, a material that is widely used but that doesnt have the issues I've pointed out regarding fluffy fiberglass.

I had thought about this: http://poliseal.net/english.htm But have since found, while searching the forum, that spray foam sucks for sound insulation.

Well, For what it's worth - I've done about 5 houses worth of insulation in my time with that stuff. Fiberglass insulation that is.. I'm no expert, but I've worked enough that I feel confident in my level of exposure during construction. My method has left me with little to no itching and no scratch in the throat - Find a mask with a tight fit around the resperatory area. Preferably one with check valve(s). Long sleeve sweatshirt and pants. My choice of garb in my room were junk jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. Leather work gloves. Nice pair of safety glasses. For the environment of the room(s) - Blankets/Tarps on the doorways. Shopvac work. Don't use a broom or anything that will kick things up during cleanup. I may be ignorant to trace levels of fiber being left behind, but I cleanup every day and the room is clean as can be. I do this precisely for my wife and kid's benefit.

Thanks Cram. I guess I should probably reconsider the fluffy stuff, but try to make sure to isolate the room from the rest of the house during installation and buy a powerful vacuum cleaner. Because in the end those are my two main issues, contamination and clean up. If it can be contained and if cleaning it all up is not that hard then I'll give it a shot.

Ultratouch is great if you can get it. Try contacting the manufacturer to see if they have distribution in your area. http://www.bondedlogic.com/contactus.aspx

Maybe the children could go to GrandMa-ma's for a couple of days?

Johnny Plant wrote:

Yes, I know there are no health risks, but I have two little kids at home, 2 yo and 1 yo. The 1 yo is like a little vacuum cleaner, anything on the floor he picks it up and eats it, so I don´t want them to be eating fiberglass or rubbing it all over their faces or being all itchy. As careful as I would be, because of the location of the room, I´m sure they would be potentially exposed.

Johnny, Perhaps you are being a little overprotective as well........ My father was a builder - and he made me (and my older brother) work for him from the time that I was 5 years old on - just clean up at first - but by the time I was 13 I was framing with the crew. I was about 8 years old when I learned that one of the things he would expect would be for my big brother and I to insulate the walls before drywall would commence. And insulate them we did - with me sitting in the middle of a room making cuts for my big bro while he preformed the actual installation. Sure I scratched at first - but quickly learned what I needed to do in order to minimize that. I probably spent the better part of those years sitting on the floors of the various houuses we worked on cutting product and feeding it to my brother for him to install....... None of that created any long term problems - nor anything I regret looking back on it today......... Sincerely, Rod