[Greenbuilding] Cellulose blowing tools/techniques

[Keith Winston]

Hi Reuben, I don't have much time, but:

A typical, small cellulose blower is not powerful enough for damp-spray 
application (This is the kind of machine I have too). I've considered 
trying to add a second-stage of blower to my Force 1, but the 
manufacturer assures me that's a bad idea. Every now and then these 
machines pop up on ebay, I think I saw a Force 1 ($3500!) and a truck 
with some kind of homemade blower (I'd be careful!) built in recently.

In addition to a special nozzle, you have to have a high-pressure pump 
for the water that's added for damp-spray (I think it's about 2000 psi), 
and I've never seen any place to rent either that pump (I've wondered if 
I couldn't fake it with my pressure-washer) nor the "scrubber" as it's 
called (the trimming machine) which costs about $800. I've also heard it 
can take a while to develop the technique. And, not all cellulose has 
the added adhesive, I believe.

On the other hand, there are actually several other ways to do it, with 
dense-pack the best in terms of performance, but again requiring a 
strong machine, and some cleverness in terms of setting things up right.

Check the Cellulose Manufacturer's association, and Krendl equipment, 
for further leads on various tools/techniques. Good luck.

Keith

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 09:23:45 -0700
> From: "Reuben Deumling" <9watts at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] primer on open cavity blow-in cellulose
> To: "Greenbuilder list" <GREENBUILDING at listserv.repp.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<bf530c410705290923l334bf648p5386f9ef3b5aadcb at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Are there manuals or guidelines for blowing cellulose into open
> cavities--both vertical and overhead that folks could recommend? As
> far as I can tell there seem to be two basic ways to accomplish this:
> using a mesh/netting, or adding moisture to the cellulose and then
> trimming it afterward. Any thoughts are appreciated. I have a blower,
> but would need to rent the trimming machine, I suppose.
>
> Reuben Deumling
>
>