The title covers the gist of it. The details:

We bought a new construction house in Central Illinois. The basement is mostly finished with a family room, bedroom and bath, but there is an unfinished section for the (covered) sump pump and HVAC/water heater. We have a 70-pint Frigidaire dehumidifier in there. The outer walls of the unfinished basement have sprayfoam insulation along the very top (above the studs), then pink fiberglass insulation between studs on the external walls - just to the frost line about four feet down (builders did minimum code).

We want to put a couple of litter boxes in the unfinished basement, but one of our cats is fully capable of climbing exposed studs (he's named Monkey for a reason!), plus there are storage tubs they could jump on.

We want to inexpensively cover the fiberglass to protect the cats without risking moisture/mold issues. We thought about using old bed sheets, but didn't know if that was safe.

I've read where people have used Tyvek (allows water vapor through, although I've seen disagreements on what side faces the insulation), fiberglass window screen or (too expensive for the area we need to cover) pegboard.


  • So you want to keep cats from peeing down on the top of the wall? Chicken wire or nylon bird mesh stapled so they cannot get on top should do the trick,, rest of opinion censored or the wife would kill me. – Ed Beal Dec 9 '17 at 1:24
  • No, they don't pee where they shouldn't. They just climb around and get into fiberglass. One of our cats has also tried to eat it. NOT good! – Ann Dec 10 '17 at 2:20

Drywall is cheap and easy to install on walls, you could just put that up across the studs. I'd get the mold resistant stuff.

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I’d let you borrow my son’s old Nintendo and Grand Theft Auto posters. Or, it sounds like a mechanical / storage room: how about peg board? You could buy some hooks and stuff to store tools, supplies on the wall for your cat to destroy.

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  • fyi, if you raid the trash bin behind a game store, you'll find tons (and I mean tons) of unused promotional posters. – raterus Dec 12 '17 at 20:06
  • @raterus Don’t tell my son... – Lee Sam Dec 12 '17 at 20:38

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