Can You Use Packing Peanuts As Insulation

Plastic peanuts hold air that helps cushion whatever is being shipped.

Can you use packing peanuts as insulation.

Foam packing peanuts as insulation. Osborn a former associate editor replies. Most packing peanuts are made of polystyrene. As far as being a fire hazard eps from which the peanuts are made can be and has been legally used in sheets for insulation as long as it s covered by a fire rated barrier such as drywall as bsee cm suggests above i would expect that if you were using peanuts in a wallspace that you would want to compress them as much as possible to maximise the extent to which they entrap air.

If the packing peanuts are newer they won t work. Styrofoam is designed from air bubbles that are trapped to prevent heat energy from escaping. The r value of polystyrene is about 4 0 per inch. 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.

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. In a wall cavity they would offer little resistance to air movement so they would be of limited r value. By preventing heat loss packing peanuts make lovely insulators. New packing peanuts are made from a type of corn starch.

Yes packing peanuts are excellent insulators because they are made out of styrofoam.