Loose Insulation in Walls

[Davey4000]

I'm using wide planks for my interior walls. It sure would be easy to put in the loose insulation as I go up with the planks. Does loose insulation settle too much to be used this way?

There's a run of blocking between the studs so there will be two cavities instead of one.

 

[CraigFL]

Most "loose" insulation is blown in so it packs to a known density for a given R value. You can just pour loose insulation but I wouldn't think it would work well for large areas for the reason you say.

 

[PAToyota]

I'd put all the boards up except the top row, rent one of the "blowers" - you can usually get them free from the store if you buy a certain minimum amount of the insulation - and just fill them up. You could then wait a month or two for it to settle, add some more by hand, and put the top row of boards in and fill it to the top.

 

[kbs2244]

I did it once and wouldn't do it again. The loose stuff is great in atttics where it is never more than 10 to 12 inchs thick. Then it stays fluffy. In a wall it will settle and get too firm to act as thermal insulation. It will be good sound insulation though. (Just in case you have a garage band.) Use the batts in the walls. I have found that the traditional ways in construction have been found through years of finding what works in a given area. I have done construction around the country and have seen different ways of doing the same thing in different areas. When you ask a local old timer why he dosn't do it another way, you will often get a story of his trying it and then haveing to redo it due to some local quirk of climate, weather, water table, etc.