Blowing Insulation in Wall

[STAN MULAIK]

I had a job to blow insulation into an above-ground basement wall that was
about 75' long. I chose to use cellulose (made from ground up paper) because
an insulation contractor told me it was easiest to use and did not hang up
on nails inside the wall as often as fiberglass fill would.

I had to blow the insulation from inside the house because the outside
wall was brick with a weather board backing.

The wall inside was dry-wall.

I got the advice from a neighbor who is in the business of buying and
restoring houses to cut round holes in the wall with a hole cutter and drill,
then blow insulation in with an insulation blowing machine borrowed from
Home Depot. He suggested there were little cups that would fit the holes
exactly after blowing the insulation that would cap them off. I couldn't find
any of those, so here is how I resealed the holes after blowing in the
insulation.

I cut 3/8" thick strips of wood, 1 1/2 wide and 6 inches long from pieces of
2 x 4 and 2 x 6. I had 45 holes to seal, so I made about 50 of these wooden
pieces using my table saw.

Then I took one of these strips of wood, inserted it into the hole and
centered it across the hole inside the wall, holding it with fingers of
my left hand. With my other hand I used a drill with a magnetic screw
driver attachment to drill self-drilling screws (available at Home Depot)
through the dry wall and through the strips of wood. The screws would
cinch up the strip of wood against the inside surface of the dry-wall.
That would leave a flat support for mounting the original round pieces
cut from the dry wall by the hole cutter. These I mounted to the strips
of wood by two self-drilling screws. So 4 screws were necessary to
seal each hole. Afterward I simply used dry-wall mud to seal the holes.

I'm going to paint the wall next with alkyd paint that will serve to
provide a vapor barrier against house moisture going through the wall and
condensing in the cellulose insulation.

I hope this helps someone else who has a similar job to do.

--
Stanley A. Mulaik
School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332
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