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To cover or not to cover exposed insulation in basement utility room

7 years ago

We just moved into a home that is about 8 years old. We have a ultility room in the basement that has exposed insulation in the ceiling. We plan to mostly use the room for long term storage, but I would also like to put the cat pan in there. I'm concerned about keeping the cats from getting near the insulation. Can I cover the celing? How should i do that, plastic film?

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Comments (2)

oldcheme81
7 years ago
Don't seal the insulation on the bottom, you'll trap moisture in the joist cavity.
E M
7 years ago
Good luck. I hope you find a solution.

I do put one of my two cats downstairs but I physically caught him eating the insulation on multiple occasions so I obviously try not to do it for too long now but now that I am doing renovations upstairs and I am also doing partial renovations downstairs he's going to have to go there more often because I need to put him somewhere and there are other issues with other rooms. I guess I will just have to pull out all the insulation as I cannot do a drop ceiling (you will see in another long post that is one of the things the town has told me will make my basement "finished" and they will re-assess my taxes. I have no idea how much he ate before I realized what he was doing UGGHHH. I took in my ex-husband's cat almost 2 yrs ago when his house was destroyed by fire and the two cats hate each other even though I introduced very slowly and did everything by the book so it makes it more challenging trying to separate them and keep mine out of the basement (my house is NOT big). I guess it will just be easier to take down all the insulation but it's fairly old and nasty too so it won't be a very pleasant task.
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I don't even know why the contractor put in the insulation. I would treat the utility room as conditioned space and insulate the outside wall, though not with fiberglass. Unless both the heater and furnace are completely sealed units with air supply and exhaust outside the home, there are mandatory provisions for ventilation. I'd check the manufacturer's booklets for specs. Exposed fibreglass is not a health hazard, but if the fg is disturbed it will irritate most people.
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Thanks so much for the feedback, I'm glad you're thinking it might be reasonable to qualify as a utility space, that gives me some hope ;). Forgive my naivete... but it seems like my local AHJ (the city building inspector is who I think we're referring to here, they have a department for this) is going to be unlikely to answer a hypothetical question about a space they've not inspected and an insulation project for which we did not get a permit...? But then again I don't know. I get the idea of asking them the hypothetical "does all insulation in utility rooms need to be covered with drywall" and "what qualifies as a utility room". It's just that I think they are most likely to tell me they can't answer any questions over the phone, and to apply for a permit, submit the plans as drawn up by a certified person, etc. Or maybe I am wrong and they do answer questions over the phone? I don't see any hotline info or online FAQs. And perhaps when I posted most people would assume we have a permit and are having this inspected, and I should have clarified right away:). Either way, thanks for your feedback, I do really appreciate it! Nicole
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I've been finding conflicting info about benefits/drawbacks, use of vapor barriers, etc. Only from non-building scientists. See Building Science Corp., link below. They also provide much of the insulation info available from the US Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. insulate the ceiling of the utility/furnace room Is the basement heated or not heated? If it's heated, insulate the first four feet of the walls and the space between the joists. If it's not heated, what is the point of insulating the ceiling on one room? batts and vapor barrier in the exterior wall space above the foundation Absolutely not! Liquid water or water vapour will render fibrous insulation less than useless and provide a home for mould. It would help if we knew what climate you were in. I know that everyone puts in their profile they are in the US. It's a big country. Here is a link that might be useful: Basement Insulation Systems
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