The two least expensive and most commonly used residential insulation are fiberglass and cellulose. Granted fiberglass is about 50 times more common but a distant second is still second.
Unless the homeowner opts for spray foam, their insulation choice usually comes down to fiberglass vs. cellulose. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? How are they similar and how are they different?
At first blush, itchy pink fiberglass and fluffy gray cellulose seems quite different. But the two types of insulation wouldn’t be competing for the same share of the housing insulation market if they weren’t in many ways alike.
Fiberglass vs. Cellulose – The Similarities
I’m not going into depth about the individual properties of each insulation here. For more details see this article on fiberglass and this article on cellulose.
Cost – First off, cellulose and fiberglass are inexpensive. In the world of insulation, the most common being XPS foam board, EPS, polyisocyanurate, rock wool and spray foam, cellulose and fiberglass are inch for inch and square foot for square foot the least expensive.
This can vary depending on deals on materials or different contractors but generally remains true.
Ease of Installation – Fiberglass has become the most popular insulation in the world because it is effective (if properly installed) and inexpensive. Contractors and do-it-yourself folks don’t need special training or equipment to install it. (However, inexperienced installers often do a sloppy job of installation, reducing the effectiveness of the insulation job.)
When installed in an attic, blown-in cellulose requires about 3 molecules more effort. The job requires an insulation blower and 30 minutes of training from the guy at Lowe’s. (An important note: I am talking about blown-in cellulose here…not damp-spray, netted, or dense-packed cellulose.)
R-value – Fiberglass batts and cellulose deliver comparable R-value (between 3.5 and 3.7 per inch).
This can vary based on many factors like settling, wind washing or outside temperature but like price remains generally true.
Air Barrier – Both insulations capably help retain heat but neither one can act as an air barrier.
Both cellulose and fiberglass allow air to pass through and need to be paired with an air barrier. The effective R-value of fiberglass can be particularly affected by air flow.
Moisture – Neither insulation is a fan of moisture. Both cellulose and fiberglass can retain large amounts of moisture. Because of their high air permeability both can dry out very quickly.
Cellulose and fiberglass are fibrous insulation which can easily trap moisture. If paired with a vapor barrier in a high moisture environment like your basement … it can be problematic.
Wind Washing – Lastly, when blown into attic flats with vented soffits/eaves, both loose fill cellulose and fiberglass are susceptible to wind.
A strong gust of wind will blow loose insulation all over the attic. With Maine’s stiff sea breezes, I’ve seen several houses whose insulation is blown entirely to one side. Loose blown insulation requires properly sealed and blocked eaves to prevent wind washing.
Fiberglass vs. Cellulose – The Differences
Air Retardant – Neither insulation is an air barrier. Very true. Neither cellulose even when dense packed nor fiberglass meet any technical standard for an air barrier. However, cellulose will slow air flow whereas fiberglass does not at all.
When dense packed into a wall cavity, cellulose prevents most air flow. Even loose fill cellulose slows some air movement.
Flammability – Fiberglass and cellulose have different issues with fire and flame spread. Fiberglass is spun glass, it won’t burn at any normal temperature. Under direct flame, it will simply melt. However, most fiberglass batts are faced with kraft paper which most certainly will burn.
Cellulose is ground up paper. Very early cellulose-style insulation was quite flammable. I mean, c’mon, it’s paper. Modern cellulose is heavily treated (about 15% by volume) with boric acid, borax nitrate or ammonium sulfate. These chemicals aren’t harmful to people but are very effective flame retardants and help reduce pest issues.
During the 70s and 80s, cellulose couldn’t shake a bad reputation stemming from (possibly apocryphal) stories about insulation based fires. Modern cellulose manufacture has sufficiently high production standards that product quality is no longer an issue.
Installation Redux – Remember I mentioned that ‘ease of use’ was a similarity? Not if you’re insulating a wall cavity. Anyone can insulate a wall with fiberglass batts. It’s just a matter of cutting around electrical outlets, slapping the batts into the wall cavities and stapling the facing to the studs.
Unfortunately, a fast, sloppy installation usually results in voids or imperfections. Proper installation of fiberglass batts is slow, meticulous work (which is why most fiberglass batt installations are fast and sloppy.)
Fortunately, it’s harder to do a sloppy job with cellulose. However, properly dense packing cellulose into wall cavities requires high powered insulation blowers which are a sight more powerful than the Geo Metro versions you can rent at the Big Box store. Also, unless you like blowing out your finish drywall, more than a little experience is helpful.
Embodied Energy – Embodied energy is the sum of energy required for a project or material. Fiberglass has a much higher embodied energy than cellulose insulation. Fiberglass is glass that is melted and spun into fibers like cotton candy. There are fiberglass brands which use recycled content but more often they use new raw materials.
Most cellulose brands use a high recycled content and the production process (shredding paper and adding fire retardant borates) uses much less energy.
Extreme Cold – Last (I know, finally), the two insulations react very differently in extreme cold. Fiberglass works by trapping pockets of warm air (here’s a not so brief summary on how insulation works).
During very cold weather like in Minnesota or Maine, the heat is quickly stripped from insulation. Fiberglass can lose a large chunk of its effective R-value. Cellulose doesn’t suffer as acutely from this problem.
So should you insulate with cellulose or fiberglass? Well, here’s a photo from my house:
Dense pack cellulose it is...
We dense packed the wall cavities with cellulose. I choose cellulose because of the better air sealing, and comparable R-value for the same price. Should you insulate with cellulose or fiberglass…it depends on the project at hand.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good article, but why didn’t you compare spray foam, SIPS, ICF and other systems?
Thanks,
Bryson,
Good point…I’ve written about spray foam, SIPs and ICFs previously. Unless it’s a LEED project, fiberglass (batts and blown) and cellulose constitute about 95% of insulation jobs I see. I think comparing these insulations is very useful since they are still so commonly used. Other approaches can definitely improve performance though.