Derek Cole explains why wet duct insulation can't be salvaged and what to do about it. Wet insulation causes odors and contamination. The fix: seal the crawl space, replace the insulation, and install a sealed duct system to stop water from getting in.
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People try to put band aids on the problem and don't try to fix the problem. Right? I mean, I go to the doctor. I want to be healed of the sickness. I don't want a medicine to mask over the symptoms of the sickness. Does that make sense? So I want to. I want to cure. I don't want the band aid. I want to stop bleeding. I want to cover it up. So we need to figure out why the water is getting in the duct. Start with, it's probably because the crawl space is getting moisture coming from the ground. It's getting wet that way. But once that happens, that needs to be replaced. Once you get insulation wet, there is no drying. I mean, you can try to dry it, but it's not going to be completely the way it was. So you need to go back with a new duct system, a sealed duct system. And you need to handle the problem of actually the ductwork getting wet. Seal the crawl space, and then you need to replace that piece that is wet. Because wet insulation, first of all, stinks, and second of all, you don't know what is in the insulation. You can't completely dry it out.
