Like everyone else in America, you probably have a garage or an outbuilding – maybe both! – full of junk. Rusted bikes, string trimmers you swore you’d fix and even attic insulation find their way into piles that soon become fixtures of the view. You really don’t even see the stuff anymore because you become accustomed to their presence.
One day you may decide to reclaim the space. Or you may have to clean it out in preparation for a move. Or it just plain encroaches too far into foot traffic areas and you’re forced to clean up. Whatever the reason, you now find yourself with some bits of attic insulation. Now what?
Clearly if the lengths of batting are clean, of respectable size and not compressed, then you have something you could sell on eBay or Craigslist, or even your local shopper’s weekly. If you don’t have enough to bother selling but can’t stand to throw it out, what else can you do?
Consider using it to insulate your dog’s home. Even the best dog houses aren’t impervious to the icy cold fingers of air penetrating through nooks and crannies. Other people have used attic insulation around some plumbing pipes or the pipe which leads directly from your hot water heater out to the distribution network of pipes. It may take a bit of tape (with a light touch!) to get it to stay in place, but the R-value beats anything offered by more fitted foam tubing.
You can also use attic insulation to boost what’s already going on in your attic. Chances are the builder was a little light around windows or in small spots like dormers. Head on back up the ladder and take some attic insulation with you. There’s certainly no harm in adding more, it can only help.
