Blow in insulation- The machine

[Bigrhamr]

A question for those of you who have used a blow in insulation machine like they have at Lowes or HD.

What's it like to use? If I do some blow in it will be above a 40x60 area with 17' ceiling height. First how much hose can it run? I'd like to just have one access hatch at the corner of the building, will I be able to reach the opposite corner 70 plus feet away? And what about the height rise, if the machine is on the floor will it reliably feed material up that high or will it need to go up on a platform?

 

[kb2tha]

Just recently blew in 700 sf 16" deep. 18 bags of Attic Cat. Took only 1-1/2 hrs start to finish. I worked in the attic space while my wife cut the bags and fed the machine. Much easier than expected. 2 - 50' hoses. They claimed you need to run the full 100' to get the proper breakdown of the insulation. The attic end of the hose actually has a remote on/off switch that you can control or use the machine switch.
Ken

 

[rlitman]

I borrowed a machine from Lowes. It came with two 25' hoses and a connection in the middle. I had the machine outdoors, in front of my house, and ran the hose up, through a 2nd floor bedroom window, to blow insulation through a tiny (6"x8") opening in a knee wall, to insulate my enclosed porch ceiling.
I had to tape the hose to a pole, to get insulation around the entire porch, but even with the hose making a 180, I had no issues getting the insulation to make the rise.

You definitely want to place the machine on the ground, outdoors. It will make a real mess. I don't see there being an issue with running twice as much hose (100'). You can adjust the amount of insulation it grabs, so it doesn't choke on too much.

 

[stingry]

Just recently blew in 700 sf 16" deep. 18 bags of Attic Cat. Took only 1-1/2 hrs start to finish. I worked in the attic space while my wife cut the bags and fed the machine. Much easier than expected. 2 - 50' hoses. They claimed you need to run the full 100' to get the proper breakdown of the insulation. The attic end of the hose actually has a remote on/off switch that you can control or use the machine switch.
Ken

I used the Attic Cat blow in for my 3600 sq ft shop. It takes a special machine and does it work nice!! The insulation is super compressed and all you do is break the bale in half amd put it into the machine. It breaks the bale up and delivers a nice fluffy product. It is fairly clean and works so much better than the older type machines where you dumped the insulation into a hopper. I don't know about the 70 plus foot reach, I would probably locate the access hatch in a central location.


Cheers
Steve

 

[ForceFed70]

Find out what machine they have and do some research. My local HD will rent you the blower for free if you buy 30bags of insulation, but if it's the same machine as I got last time I will pay to rent something else.

I've done 2 houses.

1st house was easy, and job was done in a couple of hours.

2nd house was a nightmare. The machine took forever to break up and feed the batts. We ended up breaking the batts up with a shovel and a rake then scooping into the machine.

Some tips:
- Limit the amount of verticle lift as much as possible. This will help prevent jamming. Typically what I do is put the machine in the back of a pickup and then lift it another 2' or so.

- Do not stop the machine with insulation in the hose as there is a good chance that you'll get a jam when you go to start it again. Work out a way to signal the feeder. What I found works well is to put your hand breifly over the nozzle then remove. Do this twice to signal the feeder as they will hear it on their end and will stoop feeding. Wait until you stop getting insulation out of the hose, then turn the machine off.

 

[kyles974]

The machine at HDepot is awsome! Me and my son did 22bags in like 4hrs.

at first I was trying to make the machine work fast, then as I learned to let the machine work and not try to force it(I guess every machine is like this LOL) but the speed of bags started to go threw much faster.
The "old" style stink,. this new way is a brilliant way!
I don't think you would have any problems going the distance and hieght you need. Of course giving you have 60 to 65ft of hose.

 

[Reg1952]

I was going to blow in insulation myself.It was going to be $486 for material plus the machine rental(Home Dpot now charges for the machine even if you buy 100 bags).I priced a local contractor and he is doing it for $550.May want to make a few calls.

 

[Yotaforce]

Scary story.
I blew in at my old house in mid summer. Machine only had switch (no remote switch). My cheap little dust mask decided to clog on me after becoming soaked with sweat and then insulation. I suddenly felt as though I was drowning, no air coming in, only out. After dropping the hose and frantically climbing back across hvac and trying not to fall in the ceiling, I finally made it to the attic access, tore open the plastic (keeping the insulation from making it back into the garage where the machine was being fed) and was able to get some air.
It was a bad situation, and should have been considered before hand.

I will simply recommend a respirator mask with filter cartridges, not a cheap little "nurses mask". When they get soaked and collect insulation all over them, when you **** in, so does the mask.

 

[DeuceDude]

My experience is with HD and 80+ bags over three blows. HD has/had two machines, one for walls and one for loose fill apps. I strongly recommend the loose fill machine for ALL applications. They seem to be worried about blowing out your walls... I just can't see it. The loose fill machine is more powerful, lighter, smaller and has a removable plastic fill tub. They supply you with an extension cord and 100ft of hose, which you must use all of to break up the insulation as much as possible. So, 100+ feet is certainly do-able, could go longer if add to extension cord, but would need very heavy rated cord. Also don't use the adapter (for walls) even for walls, it will only clog constantly. Use only the three inch hose PERIOD! And don't feed to fast! And don't get any plastic bag in the mix!

If you plan to do walls at some point, a three inch hole saw just at the top of the stud cavity works great! Don't bother doing the two hole method they recommend.

BTW I had it pumping 30+ feet up.

When I rented, it was one penny for the rental if you purchased 20 bags, you didn't have to use 20, just buy 20. So if you need 1 bag buy 20 and bring 19 back and you still got the machine for a penny.
Good Luck!

 

[wasupdu]

+1,000,000 for the AttiCat machine. I blew in 20 bags of insulation in just under 2 hours for my ~1,000 sq ft garage. Have one person feeding the machine downstairs and another in the attic blowing the insulation. One tip - mark off the r-level (in inches) that you're aiming for around the entire area with a bright colored spray paint/marker so you apply the exact level you want all the way around.

On a scale of 1-10, this job is about a 2. Super easy!!

 

[Bigrhamr]

Thanks for the info so far. Another question is about how far does it blow the material out? I'll need to put some planks down to walk on.

 

[Zick]

Usually blows about ~8ft.
People have taped the hose to the end of a wooden stick to gain more distance.

 

[kyles974]

Usually blows about ~8ft.
People have taped the hose to the end of a wooden stick to gain more distance.

at the most 8ft. Just because its like throwing a feather, hard to get distance

 

[Guenther Paul]

Any small rental machine or any machine supplyed by home centers will work faster and perform better if you use as little hose as you can. Dont use less then 25 feet

 

[burleymike]

- Do not stop the machine with insulation in the hose as there is a good chance that you'll get a jam when you go to start it again. Work out a way to signal the feeder. What I found works well is to put your hand breifly over the nozzle then remove. Do this twice to signal the feeder as they will hear it on their end and will stoop feeding. Wait until you stop getting insulation out of the hose, then turn the machine off.

What he said! Before putting on the new roof I decided I should blow some insulation in the attic above the small addition. The lumer yard will let you use their blow (old style) if you buy the insulation from them. I did not notice the hoses were full of insulation when I got it. I also did not think about spreading the hoses out not to have a bunch of tight turns.

Nothing like clearing a clog out of 100'+ of hose. Luckly I was outside and it was a really windy day so all the mess blew away.

 

[armstrr]

I would look into the benefits of cellulose over fiberglass. I have blown a few hundred bags into walls and attics. Very happy. My research concluded that cellulose was far superior

 

[TAftw]

Make sure you don't overload the machine. The first few times we used it I stupidly threw a whole bag in, and it clogged the line. The insulation needs to be aerated for it to flow, so make sure you have someone feeding it a little at a time. It goes pretty quickly once the machine works and you get a system down.

 

[wesalexleft]

Can you describe the HD machine? I'm doing insulation this weekend but have only studied the Lowes machine. It's the heavy steel, green Cocoon machine that's square with just a simple switch on the unit. If HD has a better machine for "free with bags", then I'm sold for the remote switch and better ease.