Insulating with Cellulose
Cellulose insulation was blown by CJs Insulation of
First step was to prep the attic. The cardboard baffles were placed in every
other truss bay to hold back the loose blown cellulose to be used in the
attic. They maintain an
airspace from the soffit up under the roof
sheathing and into the attic. The
openings in the other bays were closed with insulation.
The walls were blown with a damp
sprayed cellulose. Here’s the truck with
the pumping equipment inside.
The bags of cellulose are dumped into a “fluffer”, mixed with a little water, and blown through
tubes into the house. The installers start at the bottom of each stud bay and
build up to the plate.
A second man vacuumed up all the excess, which is
sucked back into the truck and reused.
The cellulose slightly overfills the stud bay. The excess is milled off with a row of
rotating steel discs……
and vacuumed back into the truck for reuse.
Here’s the finished product after the crew cleans up…..
Cellulose can slump.
We had four problem spots. The
first one was re-blown when the insulators came back to blow the attic. The other three were very minor so we just
stuffed them with left over cellulose.
Our walls weren’t covered with drywall until at least
three weeks later so we had plenty of time to let the cellulose dry out…. And to see any developing problem areas.
Here’s the access left into the tub/shower
plumbing. We had cellulose blown into
the bathroom walls to cut down sound transmission.
Here’s the kitchen wall where the sink will be
installed. The cellulose fills the wall cavity
completely. Note that the copper water
supply lines were brought up through the floor just inside the wall plate and
not in the wall. Didn’t want to take any
chance that they might freeze in that north wall!
The attic was blown with 16 inches of dry cellulose
about two weeks after the walls were done.
We had to drywall the upstairs ceiling before the attic could be
blown. We didn’t turn the heat on until
after the attic was insulated to prevent the drywall from absorbing
moisture. If it gets damp it can get
wavy or even fall down!