LetItBeLEED

Can anyone please share their experience blowing cellulose from INSIDE a finished lathe and plaster wall? If you had to do it over, would you do anything different?

Thanks for in advance for warstories

joasis

#1 Tear out all lathe and plaster

#2 Call an electrician to rewire

#3 Wet blow cellulose

#4 Sheetrock



Now, how we doing so far?

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LetItBeLEED

How are we doing so far? I don't know about you, but I'm fine.

Seriously, has anyone tried this? Did the drilling catch on the lathe or vibrate the lathe so much as to cause much damage to the finished wall ( beyond the drilled holes, I mean)? The house is empty and the HO wants to avoid punching holes in the siding if the extra money won't break the bank.

joasis

We have drilled a fill hole angled from the top plate down, and it works ok, except, access.

Now, you asked, so here it is: If you are insured, you might wish to talk to your insurance carrier about drilling and blowing walls that could contain old wiring, and catch the blame for a home fire. Now, cellulose is fire resistant, but....lath isn't. Pressure filling walls will displace old wiring and could lead to a potential claim you can't sleep with at night.

This is why we do not do it any longer. The correct method is to demo the inside and do it right, or add insulation barrier or board to the exterior.

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neolitic

With intermediate blocking
4 holes per bay, you can count on
lots of broken keys.
Some plaster to repair now,
some more later.
Don't forget to check for blocking
below the floor if it's ballon frame.

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LetItBeLEED

Thanks for input, folks

LetItBeLeed

tommytwo

Can you remove siding, and then punch holes through just the wall sheathing? That's the way we do it around here.

We try to avoid making any holes from inside because of lead paint in a lot of these old houses.

Joasis--have you heard of a fire starting like that? I haven't, but I'm sure it's possible.

joasis

I have no personal experience with any fires related to pressure filling walls, but my insurance carrier apparently has a strong opinion on it.

I have not seen anyone drilling and filling here in a few years. We will not do it, or rather, my son will not (his company), and because it is not really effective, I would recommend selling a window job and sheetrock...then you can do it right.

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tommytwo

What makes you think it's not effective? Seems like it makes a big difference in both air infiltration and heat loss to me.




That would be nice, but most of my work is for the weatherization program here. They have to meet savings/investment ratios that would make that a pretty tough sale.

joasis

Unless you have a way to see into the wall cavities, you cannot be assured of getting a good fill...of course, any is better then none, but considering the research on the subject, and that weatherization probably helps more by sealing up air infiltration, the blown in wall cavity insulation is probably not that effective.

Remember, in a lot of old homes, there are fireblocks, wiring, gas lines, and how many times have you seen newspapers and other trash in these walls that would prevent a good fill? What about under the windows? And the narrow bays? Beside the doors?

See my point?

It matters not to me what people choose to do, but in the real world, wall insulation added from a drill and fill would probably not return the savings to pay for the damage that has to repaired....I bet most of the real savings would happen by simply caulking all seems and sealing the walls.

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LetItBeLEED

[quote=tommytwo;747631]What makes you think it's not effective? Seems like it makes a big difference in both air infiltration and heat loss to me.



Without FLIR (infrared photography) to assess the actual deposit of the insulation during the blow you can end up with lots of gaps. That's the only problem with effectiveness I know about.

joasis

And when you assess that indeed there will be voids, what would you do? Drill and fill those areas as well?

I was excited about the concept once, and then practicality took over, that, research, and experience.

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neolitic

Amen

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parts

Drill and fill works better than nothing at all. Blowing blind you can get about 85% of the walls in a structure if you are careful. That is better than none at all. I have had many compliments on the energy savings from customers. That said going from the inside especially though lath and plaster is a real mess I have done it but try to avoid it at all costs. You will need a really good carbide tipped hole saw get at least two just in case I get them online from a insulation supply house for garage ceilings. But it is messy and dusty beyond what you can imagine

Red Adobe

I have to agree with gutting the inside exterior walls and doing it right, too many things can happen in a blind hole cavity fill
sheetrocking those walls won't cost much more then filling hundreds holes. Chalk a line 3 inches down from ceing and CUT the plaster......then you dont have to corner tape the ceiling or touch it up. Flat tape it then texture and paint and your done.

my 2 cents worth

Lefty H

Hi,

If you insulate around nob n tube wiring, this is your best chance for a fire.

If you keep track of the insulation you are blowing you know if the bay is fully insulated or not.

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parts

Once you get into gutting things around here EVERYTHING must be brought up to code that is a lot of money far above what most homeowners are willing to spend.