The mechanical room has a potential of being quite loud depending on the particular equipment running (geothermal furnace, hot water heater, heat pump etc.) so we felt insulating this room was a must. Recycled cotton batts – one of the better green insulation products – fit this need perfectly. Dad and I drove a fews hours south to the only Vermont distributor of Bonded Logic’s UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber insulation and picked up 12 bundles of varying thicknesses and R-values, which my girlfriend Rae and I installed all day today. It’s excellent stuff, very dense – so perfect for sound absorption – but easy to work with and install. Working without gloves was nice (which I wouldn’t do with regular fiberglass) but the cotton fibers gave off a lot of dust and so a mask and eye protection were very important.
We also did the ceilings in the two downstairs storage/bedrooms to help with noise transferring though from traffic upstairs.