do it yourself blown-in insulation…
hammertime
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
hello all of you aces and also all of you others. just looking for some feedback on blown-in insulation. i have a house with ballon framing and no insulation. so i am looking for advice on what is the best way to blow it in. would it be rent the equipment and do it my self your hire it out. i would rather do it myself it has to be much cheaper. if anyone has tried this themselves please let me in on the tricks.
thanks to anyone who responds
Replies
If you have a house with balloon framing and no insulation, it may well have knob & tube wiring. In my town, knob & tube is now longer rated for insulation contact. That is, you'd have to upgrade your wiring before you insulate. Suddenly a few-hundred-dollar insulation job becomes a many-thousand-dollar electrical job.
thanks for the tip you may be right, but i do believe that the electric was upgraded. don't ask me why it wasn't insulated but i will check that out thanks
its not cheaper to do your self, that is one job where they earn every penny, in time and material. they can be in and out in couple hours for just couple hundred more or it would take you weeks. with the heat in the attic its worth every penny.
You make a good point. Most, at least of those I'm familiar with, insulation contractors won't install insulation into an area that still has knob and tube wiring. It is a hazard for their workers and a potential fire liability and long standing risk for any tradesmen who may enter the space where the live wires are concealed by the insulation.
The other point is that if there is any chance that an electrical upgrade or rewire is planned for the future you need to be aware that most electrical contractors will demand that the insulation be removed before rewiring begins. Usually this is accomplished with an industrial vacuum. Once vacuumed out the insulation usually is not suitable for reuse and insulating after the rewiring ends up being a job paid for twice.
Did my house w/cellulose. 8' walls, sheet rock int. ,brick ext.
Drilled approx. 1"- 1-1/2" hole(can't remember size, did it aprrox.15yrs ago)
down about 3" inches from ceiling. Used the machine(free) that they let you
use when you buy the insulation. Bought a vacuum attachment that reduces
the insul. hose down from 2-1/2" to 1"?. Duct taped the reducer to the hose and on
the small end I attached about 6" of clear 1"tubing. Stuck the clear tube in the hole
down as far as it would go and let ride up the wall as it filled up with insulation.
Stuffed a wrag around the hole with the tube in it to keep blow back down to
a minimun. It worked great, but what a MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Patch hole and
your golden.
Edited 7/28/2004 8:18 pm ET by butch
Plan ahead. Run lots of conduit for future wiring.
Also, pvc conduit works great for reducing blower hose.
You wan to run the machine as lean as possible to acheive the highest density.
Everything everyone else said is good information. From someone who does blown in I can tell you that there is a huge difference in insulation blowers you get from a HD or Lowes vs a pro machine. The home center machines are made to work on a 15 amp circuit thus have a smaller blower and are much slower.
How much slower? Last year we were waiting on a part for our blower and did the walls of a 2 story house with a unit from Lowes. It took 2 of us 9 hours of drilling and blowing to do the job. A few months later I did the house across the street alone and did it in 5 hours. Same size house, same floor plan etc. And we used 5 more bags of insulation so I believe we are able to pack more insulation in a given area than with the lower pressure unit. Just my thoughts. You will save money but I don't think you will get the same job. DanT