I insulate the attic much earlier in the building process, so there's a lot more cleaning between then and possession.

Construction is a dirty business!

I'll add that celluose enters the house through open areas
unsealed gaps cut into sheetrock.
One of the things I do is to find these leakage areas and
address the air infiltration.
A common complaint is the dark floors and furniture
and dust.
Recessed lights are a common entry way for insulation
particles to enter the house and is hvac driven. when
the hvac system cuts on it pressurizes the house and particles enter.
oversized cuts like stove vents, bath fans and even cuts in sheetrock for hvac supply grills all allow these particles to enter.
unsealed return air chases, duct leakage all contribute to
the problem.

While it is easier in the building stage ..installing
insulation contact air tight recessed cans instead of the cheaper IC only cans..to seal the air barrier between insulation and living space, you can retrofit recessed cans
with air tight inserts (at about $15 each) and seal other
leakage sites after - it is just harder.
Before the attic is insulated you should go up there and look for light comming in from the living space. Once attic
is insulated you either fight the insulation to seal these areas from the attic or find a way to seal from inside the
house.

Blower doors are very effective in finding leakage sites.
Comperhensive, long lasting sealing is the next step.
Insulation is not performing when air moves through it,
the dust is an indicator of this leakage site.

vhehn, Are you talking about dust during installation, or on-going dust that appears again quickly after cleaning? We're trying to decide on insulation materials, and have 5 dogs. We don't need more dust!

That is why we didn't go with cellulose. I am allergic to it and was worried about it finding it's way outside the studs.

I should have added that our sheetrock was also glued to the studs/plates. This was done by the drywall installers who are performing a level 5 finish.

We've been in our house approaching two years and have begun to suspect exactly what energy_rater_la outlined. We've had a dusty house and we did wet blown cellulose walls and dry blown cellulose in the attic. We have recessed lights in the top floor ceiling but only IC, not ICAT cans.

My theory was the cans were allowing some cellulose dust in. We have a fairly tight house and installed an ERV. We did a blower door test when we were just about to move in but it didn't point too much to the cans being a problem. Mostly the infiltration came from the lack of any caulk under 20 linear feet of sliding glass doors. We also cleaned all the ducts before we moved in as I noticed quite a bit of cellulose in them even though the supposedly blocked them when the wet blown cellulose went in.

The dust does appear to be tapering off but it has taken nearly two years. We figured it is just another one of those joys of living in new construction. Will definitely look into upgrading the upstairs cans to ICAT if we can.

I'm not sure I'd call it a danger unless you were sensitive to it. Just an annoyance, but we still couldn't justify the upcharge to spray foam in our case.

If any product is working it's way into the home that 'should' be in the stud cavities or attic; then the house wasn't built and sealed correctly.

"vhehn, Are you talking about dust during installation, or on-going dust that appears again quickly after cleaning? We're trying to decide on insulation materials, and have 5 dogs. We don't need more dust!"

its an ongoing problem. we foamed all openings in the ceiling before we insulated or so we thought. we used the airtight drywall approach and glued the drywall. i have added a media filter but its still a problem. the hvac is in the basement so its not sucking it into returns in the attic. i plan on blowing a coat of fiberglass over top of it to try and seal it in. it seems worse because we used dark wood in this house so it shows more.

Having used the Airtight drywall approach in literally hundreds of homes over the last 3 decades, I can only guess that somehow, somewhere, you have a bypass that is leaking.

When you say you glued the drywall, that sends up a yellow flag for me, (not red, but not green either) as any type of glue that you would use to hold the drywall up, would not be "forgiving" enough in a ADA application. Urethene gasketing or Tremco acoustical sealant would be a typical recommendation for the areas that need sealing.

Blowing fibreglass over the top, would be a waste of time and money.

Air leakage problem areas,(as mentioned by Energy Rater) would be recessed cans, electrical and plumbing openings in the ceiling plane, dropped soffits that got built before the drywall was installed, and leakage at the top plates of the interior walls.

Another possibility, is that it isn't cellulose dust but from some other product in the house such as drywall, or carpeting.

Ok, so we've lived in this house for six years and it's about an 8-year old house. The dust is awful. I can clean my black stovetop one night and there's a layer of dust on it the next day. We do have recessed lighting. After reading all the comments above, it sounds as if it could be a number of issues. Fist however, how would you determine what type of recessed lighting you have; second, how do you know what kind of insulation you might have. What kind of company would you call to make these determinations? Also, is cellulose bad for your health?

Any contractor can tell you what kind of insulation you have. Insulation must be held a certain distance from recessed light fixture housings that are not rated for Insulation Contact (IC) because otherwise the fixtures would overheat, turn off, cool off, turn on and then turn off again and again.

Blown cellulose in an attic floor might cause dust problems but not "dense pack" cellulose. I've put it in many houses with no trouble whatsoever. But I put insulation between roof rafters rather than in attic floors so I never use the dry blown-in cellulose.

If its a health issue, it would be for the installers.

two ways to determine if recessed lights are IC or ICAT

one is to remove the bulb & look for the label.

make sure it doesn't say "air tite when used with the following ..."

the other method is to go into the attic after turning on recessed

lights. look for light shinning through holes in housing.

you might have to move some insulation around to see properly.

(do they even sell recessed lights that aren't IC??)

what color is your insulation? can you post a picture of it?

you can make these determinations yourself.

once you know what you have, then we can help you

to develop a plan.

you might start a new thread rather than reviving an 8

year old thread.

best of luck.

Are the recessed fixtures below a ventilated attic? If so, they should be air sealed as well as rated for insulation contact.

The model number codes for IC air-tite/air-tight/air-sealed recessed housings differ with the manufacturer. ICAT is common because Halo and a few others use it but others use AIC, ICE, ICX, ICV, QAT and QSAT. So, it may be necessary to get the brand name in order to determine the type of housing.