If they get wet they ll dissolve and they re made to be highly biodegradable so they ll break down pretty quickly anyway.
Can you use packing peanuts as insulation.
Styrofoam is designed from air bubbles that are trapped to prevent heat energy from escaping.
Yes packing peanuts are excellent insulators because they are made out of styrofoam.
Plastic peanuts hold air that helps cushion whatever is being shipped.
If the packing peanuts are newer they won t work.
By preventing heat loss packing peanuts make lovely insulators.
Osborn a former associate editor replies.
In a wall cavity they would offer little resistance to air movement so they would be of limited r value.
New packing peanuts are made from a type of corn starch.
Most packing peanuts are made of polystyrene.
In the course of some framing it seems that there are spaces which get closed off and won t get insulated unless the gc does it on his own nickel during the framing process.
Foam packing peanuts as insulation.
But the problem with using packing peanuts for attic insulation is that while the individual peanuts may have an r value of about 4 0 per inch the peanuts have large air spaces between them which allows air currents to easily flow through a layer of packing peanuts.
The very reason why plastic peanuts work well as packing makes them a bad choice for wall insulation.