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napa_girl

Old attic insulation looks like laundry soap ???

napagirl
12 years ago

Need help identifying what this is - hope it's not hazardous!

We just discovered that our 1953 California rental house has some kind of white granular insulation between some of the ceiling joists. Most of the insulation is old fiberglass batts. But in some places the batts were removed and replaced with this substance. It totally reminds me of white powered laundry soap, only much lighter and very white. It was not blown in, but poured into each bay. A previous owner must have done it sometime between 1953 and 1970. I've done some research and it is not vermiculite, which sometimes may contain asbestos.

We want to add more insulation, but at this point we're not sure whether it will be DIY fiberglass batts, or blown in fiberglass. The white substance covers approx 200 sf at the far end of the 900 sf attic. I'd really like to know what it is, if its hazardous, and if it should, or could, be removed.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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