I don’t believe I have ever come across this type of insulation, at least not in this form anyway. The home was build in the 40’s with this insulation being on the walls. It looked like cardboard but was very thin and brittle.
Any idea what type it is?
Vince,
I’ve run into this type of insulation many times here in my area.
The thin brown layered insulation is simply a thin crepe paper they used many years ago. I only find it in the older homes.
The insulation in your first pic in the upper right hand corner appears to be rock wool hanging out of the barrier.
It’s R-value needs upgrading either way.
I have never seen it before, but that 3rd picture looks like a Hornet’s nest.
I have seen similar products of the sort when I was a pompous kid. ha. ha.
While working with my father in the early 1960’s, I used to pull it out of the wall and wondered why it had a paper on both sides.
Back then, I called it bagged insulation, and had no idea what it’s composition was nor do I today.
Can’t find any history on it. For obvious reasons, no computers right?
Like Dave mentioned,. the paper was brittle and saw some with a cellulose type insulation and some with a fiber type.
Called it rock wool. It was about 2" thick bagged. Stapled in the middle of the stud creating two air space.
Marcel 
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No, that is insulation. have only found it once, a couple of years ago, in 23 years inspecting. Took a sample with the brand name on it but can’t lay my hands on it now. When I describe it to people, I say that it looks like the layers in a wasps nest.
As D Valley said the first picture does appear to have an early rockwool hanging from the batt.
As I stated it looks like CREPE PAPER.
Today… they use it for Electrical insulators, but yesteryear they used it as residential insulation.
Check it out here.
When this stuff gets old, it becomes brittle and crumbles and that is when the layers of this crepe paper appear to look like a bees hive.
Resurrecting this thread, since I’ve been finding this type of insulation in the older homes, primarily the attic. This is Kimsul Insulation that was manufactured by Kimberly Clark way back in the 1930s and 40s and was supposed to be the greatest thing at that time. It was also used for trailer insulation. It appears like layers of crapepaper or cardboard, but today you will find it flaking and disintegrated. Look on the paper, covering that looks like rosin paper, reddish and you may see “Kimsul”. However, please be careful in the attics and wear protective gear (at least a particle dust mask) since this product contains asbestos. They no longer make this product, but they do still make lots of toilet tissue, paper towels and other paper products. It did come in a gray paper facing as well, which claimed to be reflective. The product did work well in it’s day, but because of the asbestos component, it’s a NO MORE made, but it is still out there in the older homes.
Thanks Debra good info Much appreciated .
I do home energy “audit” inspections and came across Kimsul in a homeowner’s attic. I’d never encountered the stuff before, and since the Building Performance Institute rules we work under don’t allow us to do all our testing if asbestos is present in a form that could become airborne, I halted the inspection until a sample could be lab-tested. The result was a negative without qualification — no asbestos found. This is only one case, of course. For all I know, some of the product was made with asbestos and some wasn’t. But it would seem that it’s wrong to say definitively that Kimsul has asbestos in it.
Still wise to wear a dust mask in any attic and around insulation generally, of course.
This does not contain asbestos. Any Google search will fill you in.
Who said it did, may I ask.