Leighton Jantz Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 Hi guys, its the rookie, I've been following this site as I've been taking the HI course and wouldn't you know on my second practice inspection for CAHPI, I believe I've come across UFFI, I found an old thread from '10 where there was a picture but this looks slightly different. It has the consistency of peanut butter but it's not sticky. Was I correct? I just pushed down on it I didn't try to break it up. Click to Enlarge 41.19 KB
kurt Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 UFFI is slightly yellowish. When you break some off and rub it between your fingers it goes to super fine powder. Peanut butter doesn't describe it; it's really dry and powdery when you smash it.
Leighton Jantz Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Posted February 19, 2015 Kurt, your fast, there's a pic there now. Guess I should have tried crumbling it, hope the pic helps?
Jim Katen Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 Do you have a close-up pic? Preferably some in your hand? In my area, old UFFI is pure white and it's never perfectly flat like that. It looks like meringue. As Kurt said, it breaks into a very fine powder - almost like flour - when you rub it. The stuff in your picture looks like blown-in white fiberglass. I'm having a hard time visualizing an insulation that's anything like peanut butter.
kurt Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 That isn't UFFI. It looks like smashed down Low density fiberglass. For future reference, UFFI is more white than yellow....it's only very slightly yellowish. Never seen pure white UFFI around here.
Rob Amaral Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 It's friable.. but not like an egg is.. That doesn't look like UFFI...
Tom Raymond Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 I've seen UFFI that is almost orange. I would attribute the color variation to tannin stains. Did they really flood attics with the stuff? There is far too much water in the modern counterparts for that to be viable.
Les Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 Not UFFI in photo. Agree with other posters. I have found a relationship between the color and the density/weight. Most pure white is really light, can't feel a baseball size piece in your palm. The yellowish seems to have more weight and a little less likely to powder. We see lots of it in Mid-Michigan. It has caused us a lot of stress over the years.
Leighton Jantz Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Posted February 19, 2015 It's not pure white,flash must be a little bright, closest to true color in pic is at bottom of vent stack, I will go back and try to crumble it and take more pics.
ghentjr Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 The powdery residue on the cable indicates a blown in softer product. Not UFFI. Think of the top of a lemon meringue pie for uffi.
Chad Fabry Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 I'm pretty sure there is zero intact UFFI left. Everything I've seen is crumbling and the surface of exposed UFFI is 40 years old now and so it always has a substantial layer of dirt and rodent scat. The photo looks like wet-spayed cellulose.
kurt Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 I don't find it much nowadays, maybe once every several years, but it's intact. When we've opened walls with it, it's intact and functional. Maybe it's different elsewhere. Lots of it got installed badly....that'll make it fail real quick. We put it in a lot of Kalamazoo houses years ago. It's the only retrofit material that actually worked reasonably well.
Les Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 I don't find it much nowadays, maybe once every several years, but it's intact. When we've opened walls with it, it's intact and functional. Maybe it's different elsewhere. Lots of it got installed badly....that'll make it fail real quick. We put it in a lot of Kalamazoo houses years ago. It's the only retrofit material that actually worked reasonably well. There are neighborhoods in our area that are nearly 75% uffi'd. It worked really well if applied correctly. I think the original post sure looks like wet cellulose.
Leighton Jantz Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Posted February 19, 2015 well I'm glad I went back before handing in report, in my defence, the insulation is VERY light coloured grey and because they sprayed right over soffit vents there is a 1" spongy/ moist layer on top. It's cellulose fiber. Guess I learned my lesson, go ahead and get my fingers dirty. If they clear insulation from soffits, cellulose won't dry out will it? Click to Enlarge 33.66 KB[:-banghea
kurt Posted February 19, 2015 Report Posted February 19, 2015 Wet cellulose turns to paper mache. If it's not soaked all the way through, it can still provide some insulating capacity. Density is good; it provides some decent level of air sealing.
Leighton Jantz Posted February 20, 2015 Author Report Posted February 20, 2015 Thanks everyone, for your responses, this is a great forum, hopefully one day I will have some valuable input.
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