[Greenbuilding] Cellulose blowing tools/techniques

[Mike O'Brien]

Hi, Jefro--

Blowing in dry cellulose through a mesh *can* work. Fibers will blow  
back out through the mesh and make clouds of cellulose haze, but when  
it settles you can sweep it up for reuse. The stapled mesh will swell  
outward if a cavity is overblown, making it hard for the drywallers  
to compress flat with boards, so watch the amount.

Mike O'Brien



On Jun 1, 2007, at 3:23 PM, Jefro wrote:

> I have been following this thread with grave interest, as I am in the
> same position---about 3 or 4 weeks away from installing cellulose into
> my 2x10 wall cavities.
>
> As I see it, I have three options if I want to do the job myself---and
> given the financial realities of house building, I will be doing it
> myself.  I'll be using Cocoon cellulose, which is manufactured  
> about 150
> miles from home, and installing with a rented blower.  This will be a
> dry install.  Options are:
>
> - sheetrock first, drill holes and install as a retrofit per manuf.
> instructions
> - install poly netting and blow through it, and hope for the best
> - sheetrock the lower half of the wall, fill with cellulose, then  
> do the
> same with the upper half
>
> I can see advantages and disadvantages to each method.  Will  
> probably do
> a test run using each method on a couple of different wall sections
> first, to see which goes fastest and which seems to fit most  
> densely and
> thoroughly.  I'll also do a "settle test" by drilling holes at the
> ceiling in a couple of months and topping off where necessary.
>
> For the third method, I wonder if it would be advantageous to  
> forego the
> blower, just sheetrock up 4 feet and dump the stuff into the well, and
> then compress or tamp down by hand before adding the top layer.  Any
> thoughts?
>
> BTW, I estimated about 105 "bags" of insulation per the manufacturer's
> recommended coverage.  (They list for horizontal blowing, mine is  
> inside
> vertical walls so I added 10%.)  The hardware store rents the  
> blower for
> free if you buy enough insulation.  That means that ALL of the wall
> insulation to fill 2x10 walls in a 1600sf two-story house for approx.
> R29 walls, will cost about $1100.  That beats fiberglass by a long,  
> long
> margin, though of course doesn't count the roof.
>
>
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