Odour from Certainteed fiberglass insulation
We just had some Certaineteed fiberglass insulation installed,in our house and have noticed a very strong odour from it. I thought it would dissipate relatively quickly but after 4 days , it is still quite noticeable. In fact, the odour was so strong that we had to go to a hotel because it made my wife sick.
As anyone ever had this experience with Certainteed fiberglass insulation before?
I have worked with other brands of insulation in the past and cannot ever recall that strong of an odour.
Does anyone have experience with Certainteed?
Is this normal for Certainteed?
How long should it take for the odour to go away?
It has already been covered with poly.
There was some installed under an exterior overhang and every time if walk under it, I can smell it.
And this is exposed to the outside.
We purchased from an insulation supplier in Vancouver, BC so I don’t know where it was manufactured.
In the US or do they have a factory in Canada?
I never expected this issue with fiberglass insulation.
I will be calling the supplier Monday but any opinions/information is helpful.
Thanks,
Aaron
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Replies
My guess is that it is something else used in the process -- an adhesive or sealant, for example. Tremco "acoustic sealant" is popular for air sealing, particularly with poly sheets, and is very smelly, and can take months to stop smelling.
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/smelly-fiberglass-batts
Sounds more like Martin's blog is more accurate than my ideas. Certainteed fiberglass insulation options include:
"CertainTeed Sustainable Insulation is made of fiber glass that consists of rapidly renewable content, a high percentage of recycled glass, and a new plant-based binder that has no formaldehyde, harsh acrylics, dyes or unnecessary fire retardants added."
Perhaps they are at the same point in the process tuning that Owens Corning was a few years ago. I hope they are as responsive as Owens Corning was.
Thanks all.
I know what the Tremco smells like and It is not the Tremco.
And as we have an exterior overhang insulated with the same batts without any sealants and it has the same odour.
You can also smell the odour from the exterior of the house.
As I walk around the outside, I can smell the odour emanating from the walls as they are only covered with Typar and there are 1 inch gaps between the plywood sheathing.
The inside is sealed with poly so the odour is less noticeable.
However we use a direct vent gas fireplace for heating our basement and it draws in the insulation fumes.
Hi! I know this is a really old post, but what ever ended up happening? We are having the same issue with some Certainteed insulation we just installed and it’s a super strong chemical smell all over our house!!