We spent a lot of time figuring out what type of insulation we wanted to use. The choices ranged from traditional fiberglass batts, to blown fiberglass, to cementitious foam to open and closed cell blown foams. Each had their pros and cons, but we settled on the following:
Batt insulation for the garage spaces:
- It's cheap to fill up a big area and you're less likely to have problems with air intrusion when it is used in the garage.
- Wet blown cellulose for the rest of the house including the attic, between the basement and first floor, in the walls around the home theater and in the wall between the court and the house.
Cellulose is about the same price as fiberglass but is superior in a lot of ways
- It's blown in, so there aren't spaces and voids around wires, pipes and utility boxes to let air and sound in
- It's denser than fiberglass - this makes it much more resistant to air intrusion
- It's a much better sound dampener than fiberglass
- The borax that it's treated with makes it more fire resistant than fiberglass batts.
