Blown-in Insulation Removal

Before and After

Fiberglass Awareness

Page 1

A light colored hardwood floor next to a maroon wall with white trim with a lot of gray dust all over the floor and wall and a silver hoop earing on the floor

Before—The gray fiberglass dust that used to accumulate on the floors before the blown in fiberglass in the attic was removed from the home. We had figured out decades ago that carpets creat poor indoor air quality, but it took longer to figure out the fiberglass issue. Had we had carpets in the home the fiberglass dust would have been harder to see.

The backside of a white air vent with gray dust all over it

Before—The gray fiberglass dust on the backside of the air vent before the fiberglass was removed from the attic floor. The fiberglass was getting sucked into the return and blown around the house.

A floor with the boards removed with gray fiberglass packed into the floor and air vents and wires running through it

Before—This is the attic floor with the floor boards removed exposing the blown in fiberglass that was getting all over the home.

A floor with the fiberglass removed showing clean bays between the floor joists and air ducts with a roll of bubble wrap on the floor

After—We removed all of the blown in loose fiberglass under the attic floor. This is a shot of the new clean, fiberglass free air vents being installed. Bubble wrap is being used where insulated vents are necessary. A much cleaner choice than shredded glass.

A black flex duct with fiberglass wrapped around the duct with orange-brown colored fiberglass hanging out the end on a wooden floor with wires and a heater next to it

Before—One of the flex ducts used in the heater and AC system installed in 2001. That is fiberglass wrapped around the duct. The plastic is meant to hold in the microscopic glass, but over the years the plastic ages and gets tears in it exposing the fiberglass to the air. These fiberglass flex ducts are also supposed to be sealed off with duct tape, but I notice that contractors often leave the ends exposed and do not properly seal off the glass fibers.

Two metal air ducts wrapped in silver bubble wrap laying across brown floor joists against white walls in front of a doorway.

After—We replaced the fiberglass wrapped flex ducts with clean metal ducts wrapped in plastic bubble wrap. Unlike fiberglass wrapped ducts, if the bubble wrap gets a tear in it, it will not contaminate the air.

Orange-brown fiberglass hanging from black flex ducts behind a wall with wires coming out between them

Before—Flex ducts behind the wall. The orange-brown stuff hanging off the end of the duct is fiberglass. These ducts were installed in 2001.

The view down a shiny silver foil air duct

After—We replaced those dirty ducts with clean metal and foil, wrapped in bubble wrap where insulation was necessary.