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I'm working on framing a portion of my garage into a laundry room. I had an unopened package of R-13 faced insulation standing upright on the garage floor, when the garage flooded due to heavy rains.

The way the insulation is packed in, every single piece is folded in half, and it was standing upright on the end where all the folds are. I've taken all the pieces out and laid them out to dry as best I could, but there is a 6" wide strip in the center of every piece where the insulation is compacted instead of fluffy.

I'd prefer not to just throw all this out and get new insulation, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to use this now. I was thinking maybe I could cut away the compacted insulation in the center, leaving the face intact, and replace it with scrap fluffs I may have laying around. Would this work?

Climate-wise, I'm in central Texas. I'm told the hot-cold side of walls is inconsistent enough that it doesn't really matter which side the face is on. My house is old enough that it doesn't have one of those air-tight/water-tight home wrap seals all over it.

Here's a makeshift illustration I threw together to demonstrate. faced insulation damage

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I would just cut out the bad part and tape the two pieces together that would give you much more even insulation than trying to patch and keep the existing kraft face. If the bat is not long enough for the wall cavity the kraft face should be taped to prevent excessive air movement anyway. The kraft face should almost always go towards the interior. If right along the coast there may be a few exceptions. Make sure there is no mold still in the insulation before installing.

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  • That's what I was thinking too, but these pieces are just long enough for a single wall section. If I cut the bad portion out entirely, I'd have to get another strip of insulation to replace it, meaning I'd be joining 3 pieces in one vertical wall space. Would that really be better? As for taping pieces together, is there a special tape I'm supposed to use? Thanks
    – Bill
    May 20, 2018 at 19:48
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    I think cutting would be just as quick as trying to patch the insulation and would produce better uniformity in the insulation. It should require the same amount of materials either way. Packing tape would probably work. I have seen professional insulation installers use tape specifically designed for it but haven’t seen it at the big box stores.
    – user76730
    May 20, 2018 at 20:18

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