[Greenbuilding] Dry Dense Pack Cellulose

[George J. Nesbitt]

I started my first job using this technique last week.
Home Energy had a good article in the May/June issue.

1. Staple Insulweb to the plates, studs and/or joist so it is flat and 
touching the wood. (I paid $305 for a 9' x 750' roll).
2. Glue fabric to wood with a 2" roller. I used carpenters glue. Regal 
Industries makes a specific glue (have not tried it) and 2" rollers, 3" 
are more common. Gluing will prevent cellulose from getting between wood 
and fabric interfering with sheetrock.
2. Fill with cellulose. The walls were 2x6 24" o.c.. I bought a vinyl 
tube to do this but it was too flexible. My regular 2" blowing hose was 
also too flexible to insert at the bottom of the wall and run to the top 
(this is how I retrofit enclosed walls, using a 2-1/2" hole, and 1-1/2" 
blowing hose, usually 2x4 16" o.c.). So I inserted it in the top and the 
hose would go all the way down. This worked fairly good, harder to get 
as good a pack at the bottom, because the hose is flexible and hard to 
control. But I got to 4 lbs/cuft density (3.2 lbs/cuft minimum to be 
dense pack and eliminate settling). Today I tried using a 2" ABS pipe 
and inserting it at the middle of the wall, blowing down, then filling 
lightly to the top, and then dense packing from the top back down. This 
was actually a little easier and I got a denser pack. Regal has an 
aluminum tube for $16.
3. The fabric will bulge out 1 to 1-1/2" so roll the insulation flat so 
it doesn't interfere with sheetrock or other finishes. Regal also sells 
a roller for this. I am using my laminate roller.

This is slower, more expensive and dustier than installing bats, but 
definitely better.

http://www.regalind.com/



Reuben Deumling wrote:
> two quick questions:
>
> what is the mesh/screen called that one would use for the above purpose?
> Would I poke holes into it for the nozzle?
>
> How about fastening it to the joists or studs? A hammer tacker and staples?
> I could use furring strips, but would rather not.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Reuben Deumling
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