Cellulose Blows
Posted by Reagan on 14 Aug 2007 at 07:20 pm | Tagged as: General
So, big surprise in the new house. There is insulation in the attic, but NONE in the walls! I mean NONE! We were definitely surprised, maybe we shouldn’t have been, but DANG it gets cold in Iowa. We thought about doing the spray foam insulation, but it would have been $1500 in materials alone and not terribly environmentally friendly.
Instead, we decided to go with blown in cellulose. At $100 in materials, the price was right. Plus, it is made from recycled paper, fibers, etc. so it fits our environmental goals. We went through one hole saw and two spade bits in the process of drilling all the holes. Drilling and refilling the holes was labor intensive, but simple.
The real pain was the stupid blower machine. The first one we got looked like it had been dropped which moved the engine just enough to make the belt not fit. They took it back and “fixed” it with a truck, a strap, and a forklift. Don’t ask! It worked for about one stud bay. But mostly it just clogged, threw insulation around the room. Which sticks to skin really nicely in this midwest humidity. So, they took it back again.
A few days later we got a much smaller less damaged looking machine. We had high hopes. That’ll show us for thinking positively! The giant hose continued to clog. It continued to blow insulation everywhere except inside the walls. Mason came out of his room one time and declared that “Dad looks like a wooly mammoth! Ha Ha Ha Ha!”
Only part of our problem was our machine. The other part was the installer needs a certain amount of finesse that we certainly did not have. Our other recommendation for future blow-in insulation installations is make sure you have lots and lots of duck tape!
Even after our “adventures” we will probably use this type of insulation in the walls in the corn crib.
When winter arrives you will be glad that you insulated those walls.
As for insulating the corn crib you might want to consider the bio-based spray insulation. It is actually made out of soybean oil. It is more expensive than celluose but it has a greater R value. I think it is a great product for new construction. Check out a the Biobased.net website.
My small duplex that I rented didn’t have insulation in one of the bedroom walls?!?!?! In the winter I would actually get frost on the INSIDE of that wall. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep in that room or foster kittens in the winter either. I’d'a fixed it if it was mine but…..
Glad you are learning all this stuff so we can follow your lead….
Thanks for the tip, Mark. I knew there had a be an environmentally friendly type of the spray foam.
Tammy,
Yikes! I can’t believe people didn’t insulate things. It never occurred to me that they wouldn’t except in REALLY old houses. We would get frost on our windows in Colorado because they were old windows, but on the walls!! WOW! You win the prize!
–Reagan
Another insulation product you could look at is Bonded Logic – Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation, http://www.bondedlogic.com/, I found this website when I was looking for recycled denim insulation that I had see contractors use on projects that were in Canada. It is a green product that is becoming more available because of its benefits.