[Greenbuilding] How green is cellulose infill?

[Jefro]

Thanks, I should have been more clear with our intentions. 

This house is sort of a hybrid.  There are several posts/beams on the 
interior, where we will be able to see them.  The exterior is a solid, 
contiguous, insulated stud wall (with openings for windows/doors, 
naturally). 

The original plan was for either a standard bale wrap, with no notching, 
or a hybrid with some large (12x12) posts and some stud walls which 
would hold notched bales.  We are sticking with the same dimensions, but 
we will very likely change insulation to a material more acceptable to 
the building and planning office. 

I'll do some more research on what is available locally before we make a 
decision.  If what we can get is filled with toxins, we might well 
decide to stick with bales and duke it out with the building office, 
although in that case we almost certainly won't get the house closed in 
before winter, which throws our whole schedule out of whack, financial 
and otherwise.  (We are working with a 12-month bridge loan, hopefully 
closing in about a month.)

Thanks for the information!  I'll post more about our project at some point.

Corwyn wrote:
>
> On Jul 7, 2006, at 17:22, Jefro wrote:
>> My questions are:  what sort of chemicals are mixed into cellulose to
>> make it fireproof?  Is it simply a set of inert borate compounds, or are
>> there hardcore chemicals involved?  I imagine this might be specific to
>> different applications and even locales.
>
> Mostly borate compounds, you are correct, but of course you should 
> check with the particular brand you intend to buy.
>
> You might check out my website 
> http://www.greenfret.com/house/house.html for an examples of a post 
> and beam OUT-filled with cellulose.  Although infill is recommend by 
> some for strawbale, I would not recommend it for cellulose filled.   
> Putting the cellulose on the outside is much easier, provides better 
> insulation, and allows inspection and maintenance of the post and beam.
>
> Thank You Kindly,
>
> Corwyn
>