My contractor is insisting that the access holes in the existing drywall need to be drilled at the top of the wall? I'm wanting a dense pack of cellulose in the existing walls, but trying to avoid having to take a portion of wall cabinets down by having the holes drilled mid-point of the wall right below the cabinets. Watching this video, it appears that holes higher in the wall is not mandatory for an effective dense pack install, and if anything, seems a bit trickier. Thoughts? Great video by the way.
We do dense pack on a daily basis and almost never drill the tops of the walls. Usually that implies that the "old school" technique of drilling and filling with a directional nozzle rather than a fill tube that is 9-10 feet is being used. If you are using a fill tube, it does not matter where the holes are drilled. I will be posting a video soon on how we dense pack walls with cellulose insulation, and why we think this is superior to most other forms of insulating the walls of existing homes. Thanks! Andy
Well, it depends entirely on the strength of the wall. Generally speaking it's best to dense pack the material as tightly as the walls will allow for. If you hear drywall screws start popping, or small cracks forming, you want to 1) pull the tube down quickly from the stress point and then 2) possibly reduce the air pressure of the blower motors. Hope that helps! Andy
Hi James, I don't know if I can visualize what packing cellulose with a sledge hammer looks like, but it sure sounds like hard work. I'm not sure if I can comment on whether it'll cause you a problem. If possible I'd try and find an competent insulation company that does proper dense pack insulation and see if they can give you a hand.
1 1/4" would work yes. We step our hoses down from 3" to 2 1/2 " to 2" and then to the actual dense pack hose. Our dense pack hose is either 1 1/4" or 1 1/2 ID
Hi there. The best place to order these hoses from is a company called Cool Machines in Ohio. They can be a challenge to find otherwise. Just make sure to order the right size, ie know your reducer size, etc.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "knifing," but going from the middle of the wall is perfectly acceptable, it's just that you wind up with holes to patch that are much closer to eye level and it's easier to spot any flaws in the drywall / plaster if done from the inside of the home. Thanks! Andy
I have a loose packed cellulose in the bay cavities of several exterior walls of a 1919 built ballooned frames home I own. It is a duplex with several upper unit lathe walls removed for electrical updates (eliminating knob and tube wiring) and insulation with mineral wool. I have been manually packing borate cellulose with the assistance of a 12 lb sledge hammer to nominally improve lower unit exterior wall insulation. Am I wasting my time or does anyone see a problem with this process?
Good question Brian! The installer can see the cellulose moving through the transparent fill tube. When the feed stops, the installed pulls the fill tube down 6-12" inches. Then the feed resumes and when it stops again, he/ she pulls the tube down again until the cavity is completely filled. It takes a bit of practice to not clog the fill tube or make too much of a mess, but it's overall a very straightforward process.
Hi Chris, thanks for your comment that's actually a great question. When you "fill tube" a wall with a proper dense pack process, you can identify exactly where the stops are because the tube only goes into the wall 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, feet etc instead of the full 8 -10 ft that it should. We then pull the tube from the wall, place it against the outside of the wall and line up where the hose stopped going in. That tells us exactly where the stop is located. We then drill another hole above the fire stop/ blocking. At that point we've accessed the entire bay. I've found over the years though that most older homes usually only have a handful of "stops" as we call them. And most of the time they are at the base of window frames. This is why fill tubing walls offers an advantage over the old "blow and go" method where one hole is drilled at the top of the wall, a nozzle gets inserted, and then whatever can be put into the wall from that one hole is what it gets. That's a bs technique in my opinion (unless your desire is to have settling and voids).
My contractor is insisting that the access holes in the existing drywall need to be drilled at the top of the wall? I'm wanting a dense pack of cellulose in the existing walls, but trying to avoid having to take a portion of wall cabinets down by having the holes drilled mid-point of the wall right below the cabinets. Watching this video, it appears that holes higher in the wall is not mandatory for an effective dense pack install, and if anything, seems a bit trickier. Thoughts? Great video by the way.
We do dense pack on a daily basis and almost never drill the tops of the walls. Usually that implies that the "old school" technique of drilling and filling with a directional nozzle rather than a fill tube that is 9-10 feet is being used. If you are using a fill tube, it does not matter where the holes are drilled. I will be posting a video soon on how we dense pack walls with cellulose insulation, and why we think this is superior to most other forms of insulating the walls of existing homes.
Thanks!
Andy
@@insulwiseenergycomfortsolu3293 Thanks for the reply, Andy. Will the "old school" method give a less effective dense-fill?
Is it better to dense pack with low, medium, or high speed? 😅
Well, it depends entirely on the strength of the wall. Generally speaking it's best to dense pack the material as tightly as the walls will allow for. If you hear drywall screws start popping, or small cracks forming, you want to 1) pull the tube down quickly from the stress point and then 2) possibly reduce the air pressure of the blower motors. Hope that helps!
Andy
Hi James, I don't know if I can visualize what packing cellulose with a sledge hammer looks like, but it sure sounds like hard work. I'm not sure if I can comment on whether it'll cause you a problem. If possible I'd try and find an competent insulation company that does proper dense pack insulation and see if they can give you a hand.
What is the smallest diameter hose you could use to adapt from the 3" hose? without causing a blockage? Is 1 1/4" ID acceptable?
1 1/4" would work yes. We step our hoses down from 3" to 2 1/2 " to 2" and then to the actual dense pack hose. Our dense pack hose is either 1 1/4" or 1 1/2 ID
Would 1" ID work? Aside from slowing things down because less material would flow, is there a challenge with that diameter? E.g. regular blockages?
What type of clear hose were you using for the dense packing? Can you provide a link or recommendation where to purchase?
Hi there. The best place to order these hoses from is a company called Cool Machines in Ohio. They can be a challenge to find otherwise. Just make sure to order the right size, ie know your reducer size, etc.
Seems to me if you go from the middle and dense pack down first, then go up and dense pack back down to the hole. No knifing. Am I missing something?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "knifing," but going from the middle of the wall is perfectly acceptable, it's just that you wind up with holes to patch that are much closer to eye level and it's easier to spot any flaws in the drywall / plaster if done from the inside of the home.
Thanks!
Andy
pretty easy when you can see through the wall
Hi John, do you mean in terms of fill tubing the wall cavity so that you know you're getting access to the entire bay?
exactly... this video is hogwash.
Just as easy when you can't see through the wall.
I have a loose packed cellulose in the bay cavities of several exterior walls of a 1919 built ballooned frames home I own. It is a duplex with several upper unit lathe walls removed for electrical updates (eliminating knob and tube wiring) and insulation with mineral wool. I have been manually packing borate cellulose with the assistance of a 12 lb sledge hammer to nominally improve lower unit exterior wall insulation. Am I wasting my time or does anyone see a problem with this process?
The worker bee would be in tough shape if he was not WATCHING the progress of the fill@! What happens when you have sheet rock in place of plexiglas?
Good question Brian! The installer can see the cellulose moving through the transparent fill tube. When the feed stops, the installed pulls the fill tube down 6-12" inches. Then the feed resumes and when it stops again, he/ she pulls the tube down again until the cavity is completely filled. It takes a bit of practice to not clog the fill tube or make too much of a mess, but it's overall a very straightforward process.
What do you do when there is blocking in the wall? You are up the creek
if you have blocking in the wall, you need to fill each cavity. It will take longer, but it is no harder.
Hi Chris, thanks for your comment that's actually a great question. When you "fill tube" a wall with a proper dense pack process, you can identify exactly where the stops are because the tube only goes into the wall 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, feet etc instead of the full 8 -10 ft that it should. We then pull the tube from the wall, place it against the outside of the wall and line up where the hose stopped going in. That tells us exactly where the stop is located. We then drill another hole above the fire stop/ blocking. At that point we've accessed the entire bay.
I've found over the years though that most older homes usually only have a handful of "stops" as we call them. And most of the time they are at the base of window frames. This is why fill tubing walls offers an advantage over the old "blow and go" method where one hole is drilled at the top of the wall, a nozzle gets inserted, and then whatever can be put into the wall from that one hole is what it gets. That's a bs technique in my opinion (unless your desire is to have settling and voids).
the guy was actually able to watch his work... you really shouldve covered over the clear plexiglass. this video blows
The video is a demonstration...it usually helps to be able to see what is happening when conducting a demonstration.