Seeking dense pack cellulose installer in New Jersey
user-1140356
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
Can not find cellulose installer with experience (or even without) to dense pack my 12 inch walls with cellulose in NJ Philly area. Local cellulose installer suggests I install drywall and then pack the walls. I would like to have the walls netted. Any suggestions for tradesmen or alternative approaches welcome.
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Replies
What type of 12" wall? What's your reservation with dense-packing after drywall?
Check with these guys: http://postgreenhomes.com/. They are in Philly and have done dense pack cellulose on some of their projects.
Jesse
These are double-stud 2x4 16" OC non-staggered walls. I guess I'm most concerned with the lack of experience with any double-stud dense-pack insulation installation here in NJ. Most cellulose goes in the attic or through exterior wholes in older single stud 2x4. So, given the lack of experience, I would like to see the insulation in the wall. I have considered inspecting with a thermal imaging camera. I'm also concerned about screws popping on the wall-board. I could be concerned about nothing. It's been known to happen.
Andrew
Thanks. I will check with them. I see that they have experimented with different installation methods. That's great.
Where possible, I like to dense-pack with drywall installed. One of my concerns is that netting may diminish some of the air-leakage reductions that dense-packing walls causes. I don't have anything empirical on this, but I suspect that high-density cellulose improves leakage by filling in all the small cracks around wall plates and penetrations. Netting could reduce this. Depending on the installation, you may be able to visually verify with drywall in place. Thermal imaging is probably a good idea. National Fiber will often thermally image their installs, probably at no charge (especially if it's sort of a cool project, which your job sounds like).
I'm in your area, but as Dana and Martin have pointed out when my prospective clients have posted to this board, I'm expensive. On the other hand, from what I've seen of (pseudo) dense-packed jobs in our area, your concerns about installation quality are well founded.
Jesse,
I guess I'm also concerned with the packing around the electrical boxes and other obstructions. Without being able to see inside the wall, you need to rely on the thermal camera to aim your gun. Seems harder than looking through the netting. Have you tried it both ways?
You can find more information below and attached Perhaps you can let me know how much "expensive" is. Note the "towers" in the images are mostly ornamental and we have left the siding off so they can be filled with cellulose easily.
12" dense pack in double stud walls main house (rolled flat and ready for wallboard)
6" damp pack in 6" walls mudroom and garage (ready for wallboard)
1" spray foam in foundation rim joist mudroom and main house
1" foam in second floor rim joist mudroom and main house
20" loose cellulose in attic flats of main house
20" loose cellulose in attic flats over mudroom
20" loose cellulose in attic flats over "towers"
There may be some additional small areas where foam will work best.
9' ceilings first floor 8' ceilings second floor
http://rstuv.com/house/images5/
Pretty much any diameter of cellulose fill tube is going to achieve density within a foot or so of its outlet. So if you're dropping a tube in the middle of a 12" wall cavity and are near the bottom of the cavity, you shouldn't have to worry about wall penetrations. Make certain the installer has equipment set up to blow at ~4lbs/cf, net to connect the inner studs to the outer studs prior to drywall installation, drop the fill tube all the way into the cavity, etc. I have tried netting vs drywall (tons and tons of netting as far back as the mid-90's in Eastern Ontario) and prefer to avoid using netting as long as AHJ is on board.
I'm probably already over-stepping forum rules by promoting my commercial interests, but you can always reach me through our outdated website: finecarpenter.com
Everything I've read on this site suggests using netting is the way to go to ensure the cellulose reaches the correct density.
Would that we could find someone with experience netting at a reasonable cost.
Elizabeth,
Are you saying that it's easier to achieve density in a netted vs enclosed cavity?