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Job story · Athens County, Ohio

Dense packing an 1800s farmhouse from the outside

Old balloon framed walls, empty or holding a little settled insulation. We took strips of the original siding off, packed every stud bay with cellulose, and put the siding back. Nothing inside the house was touched.

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Front of a two-story red farmhouse with a white Victorian porch, a ladder up the right side, and pale strips of packed insulation showing under the eaves and along the bottom of the siding — The front, mid job. The pale strips under the eaves and along the bottom are open courses of siding, packed with cellulose.

The job

Where	Athens County, Ohio
The house	Two-story farmhouse from the 1800s, original wood siding, balloon framed
The problem	Old walls with empty or settled cavities
What we did	Dense packed the walls with cellulose from the outside
How much	About 1,600 square feet of wall
Inside the house	Untouched. No holes in the interior walls.

The problem

The house is balloon framed: the stud bays run from down near the foundation up toward the roof. Some bays were empty. Others held a little old insulation that had settled to the bottom years ago. Cold walls, and heat leaving through every one of them.

Why from the outside

The Department of Energy describes drill and fill as one common and somewhat uninvasive method, done through holes in the interior or exterior wall near the top of the wall at each wall cavity [1]. On this house we went in from the outside: pull a strip of siding, fill the bays behind it, put the strip back. Working from the outside meant no holes and no patching in the interior walls.

Why dense packed cellulose

The DOE says densely packed cellulose and fiberglass are the favored methods if insulating walls and other closed cavities in existing dwellings, and lists the advantages: preventing insulation from settling, completely filling the cavities, consistent insulating values, and the ability to slow airflow [2]. It recommends cellulose be packed to 3.5 to 4.5 pounds per cubic foot [2]. That is why it is packed, not just poured: so it does not settle into the bottom of the bay like the old stuff did.

Step by step

From open siding to packed walls

The farmhouse front with blower hoses running across the yard to the wall and scaffolding on the right side — 1. Hoses run from the blower to the wall. Scaffolding goes up on the sides.

The farmhouse from the corner, a ladder against the wall and open courses of siding under the eaves — 2. Ladders on the front, a course of siding open under the eaves.

Red scaffolding against the side wall of the farmhouse, with an open course of siding along the bottom — 3. The side wall, worked from the scaffolding.

A rear corner of the farmhouse with scaffolding and open siding near the foundation — 4. Open courses near the foundation, bay by bay.

Looking up at the porch roof and the second story, with the top course of siding open and packed under the eaves — 5. The top course, open and packed under the eaves.

Under the porch, siding strips removed at the bottom of the wall showing packed cellulose between the studs — 6. Under the porch: strips off, cavities packed.

Close up

Packed tight between the studs

Close view of stud bays packed solid with gray cellulose behind removed siding, next to a white porch post — Every bay filled solid.

Close view of red painted siding with one course removed and cellulose packed tight between the studs — Packed, not poured, so it stays put.

Packed cellulose in the bottom of the wall just above the stone foundation — Down at the sill, right above the stone.

Dense packing a wall cavity through the opened siding. Six seconds, no sound.

On the job

Cellulose gets everywhere on a job like this, and the people doing it go home wearing some.

A House Tite worker with a beard, covered in cellulose dust, taking a selfie by the house at sunset — House Tite's owner, on the job at sunset.

The strips of original siding go back on as each wall is done.

Sources

U.S. Department of Energy, Building America Solution Center. Blown Insulation for Cavities of Existing Exterior Walls.
U.S. Department of Energy, Building America Solution Center. Dense-Pack Insulation.

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Call740-590-5352 Text a photo740-590-5352 Emailsprayfoam@housetite.com

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