Cellulose Insulation Removal (“Blow In”)

This project involved removing cellulose insulation and replacing it with new, glass wool batts. Like many houses with poor insulation, it was severely affected in winter and summer causing discomfort within the home.

The problem with cellulose is you simply can’t guarantee the thickness and therefore the thermal resistance (“R rating”) of the product due to the nature of its installation. It can also difficult to get sufficient thickness to get comparable performance to regular glass wool batts.  Don’t get us wrong – there are cases where only blow in will do such as where it is simply not possible to install batts due to limited access.

We are often confronted with the situation where we are asked to improve the existing ceiling insulation at a home that has cellulose blow in insulation.

Unfortunately, the uneven nature of the “blow in” insulation generally forms a lumpy surface.  This means that if we were to lay new bats over the top, the new batts would be uneven and would not neatly butt up against each other and a “leaky” install would result.

In all insulation batt cases, they need to be well sealed again the ceiling lining and against each other with no gaps to avoid heat “leaking” out during winter and coming in during summer.