Blow in Cellulose Insulation

Does your house feel cold in the winter and hot in the summer even though your utilities are sky high? Do you know if your walls and attic are insulated? If your walls and attic aren't insulated cellulose can be blown into your walls from the inside or outside through small {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} holes and installing insulation in the attic is even easier.

Steps

  1. Determine whether you can blow in the insulation from the outside or inside the house. Installing cellulose is extremely dusty and dirty. Installing from the inside the clean up is considerable. Carpets and furniture should be removed or covered. Dust will cover the walls, ceiling, windows, floor, basically everywhere. Exterior installation, clean up might involve a quick rake and sweep around your house. One inch holes have to be drilled between each stud in your wall, above and below all windows and above doors. Probably, the biggest amount of time will be spent drilling holes and then repairing them when you are done.
  2. Determine which side of the wall will be best for you to drill into and then repair. Interior side of the walls are usually dry-wall and can be easily patched but again is messy. Exterior side of the wall depends on the type of siding you have on your home. You may want to remove a couple of rows of your siding to drill the holes or you can drill through your siding if you can determine whether you can patch it without being noticeable afterward. For example, if you have wood siding you could drill through it and then patch with a wooden dowel and wood glue then paint to match the rest of the siding.
  3. If you have a 2 or more story house you may want to consider installing from indoors to avoid being high on a ladder or you might want to install the first floor from the exterior and the higher floors from inside. Determine where your studs, electric lines, air vents, and anything else you want to avoid during installation. Ask yourself if you are comfortable drilling into your walls and that you can repair the holes. If you are, then you can continue down this list otherwise it's time to find a contractor.
  4. Go to the rental store and check the blower machine that you'll use to see what the nozzle size is. Usually it's {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} but if bigger or smaller you'll need to know because the nozzle needs to fit tightly into the holes you drill in the wall. If you drilled the hole too big for the nozzle, you'll have problems trying the hold the insulation in or the nozzle will go in too deep and hit the other side of the wall. If the holes are too small then you'll have issues with the nozzle clogging.
  5. Drill a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} hole (or the size of the nozzle) between each stud at the top of each story of the house that you are insulating. You'll probably need a stud finder and a tape measure to help you find the studs. Try to center the hole between the two studs. Start with one hole near the top of the wall {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} below the ceiling or if installing from the exterior then under the floor of the next story. During installation you might notice a space will get filled up too quickly compared to other places in the wall. At that time you may want to consider another hole about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} above the floor of that story. If installing from the exterior, make sure you do not drill holes above the ceiling of the story, if you do you might end up insulating part of the area between floors or attic instead of your wall.
  6. Check your basement to see if the first floor wall cavity is sealed or opens up to the basement. If it's opened, you'll have to seal the cavity or the insulation will flow down into the basement. You are now done with the prep work to install the insulation in the walls, next is the attic.
  7. Check or create access holes to your attic and knee-walls. If you don't have an access door to your attic you'll have to cut into the ceiling between studs or you can even create a door from outside into your attic. Do what is ever easier for you.
  8. Insulate any attic knee-walls with rolls of fiberglass insulation.
  9. Prepare a crawl way in the attic so you are able to reach all places in the attic. Once inside your attic, be careful not to step through the floor/ceiling. Step only on the studs. You might want to install wood planks on top of the studs to create a safe crawl way if there isn't one already. Before you nail or screw the planks to the stud check the depth of the area from the top of the stud to the bottom of the attic ceiling, some attic ceilings are made with 2x4s or even smaller. If it's only {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} depth you should nail another 2x4 on top of the stud to make the depth deeper so you can install more insulation without burying your walk way. Make the board as long as the width of your wood planks. Nail them to the studs and then install the wood plank over top. Now you have a nice place to sit and crawl.
  10. Prevent your attic ventilation from being blocked with insulation. Ventilation in your attic is very important. In the wintertime if heat is trapped in the attic, the heat will melt the snow on the roof and then create ice dams and then you'll have water leaking into your home. In the summertime, excessive heat trapped in the attic can damage your roof, usually by warping the wood the shingles are attached to. You might already have this problem if there's no insulation in your attic and no vents. Usually, air vents are at the top of the roof at the peak or mid-way through and soffit vents underneath bottom of the roof. You can buy plastic or foam shields to install to protect the soffit vents from being blocked. If there are no soffit or gable vents I would recommend installing some.
  11. Rent the blower. The blower should come with a long about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} diameter hose and a nozzle that reduces down to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. Ask for directions from the store you rented it from on how to operate the machine. You can use duct tape to secure the hose to the blower and the nozzle to the hose if the blower isn't equipped with a locking mechanism to keep the hose together.
  12. Now you can start filling the holes! This is at least a two person job. One person will operate the blower, turn the machine on and off and fill the hopper with insulation. The other person will manage the hose and hold the nozzle tightly into the holes. If you drilled more than one hole per space between studs you'll want to start with the lower one and you'll probably want to cover the other hole until you are ready to fill it because insulation will be blown out of the other hole. The nozzle should fit tightly into the hole otherwise the insulation will shoot back at you.
  13. First, have the nozzle holder place the nozzle into your first hole. Then have the blower operator turn the machine on and slowly start putting insulation into the hopper. If the hopper has a gate to stop the insulation start with it closed and then slowly open it. You probably shouldn't open it up all the way while using the nozzle. The nozzle can clog the insulation inside the hose if the insulation is feed to fast or the nozzle is blocked. Try to avoid clogging the hose as best you can. The blower will usually sound different, louder and higher pitched, when the insulation has stopped flowing through the hose. When this happens turn off the blower right away. While filling a hole insulation should flow freely through the hose while there is still room in the cavity. The different sound from the blower should signal to the blower operator to run the machine off quickly. The nozzle operator might be able to notice the follow has stopped from the hose first and should yell back to the blower operator to turn off the blower to avoid a clog. The blower operator will have to juggle the task of constantly and slowly adding cellulose to the hopper and listening to shut down the blower. Depending on the height of the wall, it should only take a couple of minutes to fill a cavity. If it's taking longer than a couple of minutes then you can open the hopper gate wider and go faster or the cellulose might be escaping to somewhere in the house like your basement or the area between the two floors. It's best to turn off the machine between each hole to avoid excess mess. That's all there is to it!
  14. Next, blow the insulation into the attic. You can take the nozzle off for this step. One person should control the hose and again another person controlling the blower. Start away from your access hole and work your way back to the hole. Try to keep the insulation at the same thickness.
  15. Clean up the machine and return it to the store.
  16. Seal up your attic access holes. You can create doors or just cover it back up with dry-wall or plaster to match. Just make sure you find a way to insulate the hole first. You can purchase foam covers or you can use fiberglass insulation and attach it to the drywall or wood you are using for a door.
  17. Patch the holes
  18. Clean up



Tips

  • Studs are usually {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} apart but can be more or less. You can purchase an electronic stud finder to help find where the studs are. The stud finder will work better if you are installing the cellulose from inside the house since the walls are usually covered with drywall or lathe and plaster which is only {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} thick, the exterior wall might be too thick for the stud finder to detect a stud.

Warnings

  • Be careful not to drill into electric wires or pipes in your home
  • Be careful not to drill into your heating or ac vents and fill them with cellulose if your home uses forced air to heat and cool your home.

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