What is wood-fiber blown insulation, what are its technical characteristics, the main pros and cons, the rules for choosing high-quality products, an overview of manufacturers and prices, a brief do-it-yourself installation guide.
Disadvantages of blown wood fiber insulation
Before opting for this heat insulator, carefully study its weaknesses. These include:
- Relatively high cost … Like any other natural eco-friendly material, it cannot be cheap.
- Combustible … Although most manufacturers claim the opposite, wood, even treated with flame retardants, burns. However, choosing products of a well-known brand, you significantly reduce the risk of light fire insulation.
- The need for special equipment for blowing out the heat insulator … To carry out high-quality backfill, you will need wood fiber insulation equipment. It is quite expensive and the installation process can be tricky for a beginner as it is important to distribute it evenly. You can also backfill manually, but the result can be much worse than using equipment.
Selection criteria for blown wood fiber insulation
You can determine whether the material is of high quality in front of you already at the stage of inspection of the package. Well-known manufacturers indicate all the necessary information about the composition, place of production and technical characteristics of the insulation directly on it. Study this data carefully.
If they are not enough for you, ask the seller to show you the accompanying documentation, which the heat insulator must have.
Avoid purchasing material from questionable manufacturers. For the manufacture of blown thermal insulation, they can use waste from the woodworking industry, a large amount of chemically aggressive fillers. Such heaters are capable of not only settling in the future, losing their shape and properties, but also releasing volatile toxic substances. It is impossible to talk about the environmental friendliness of such materials.
When buying blown wood fiber insulation, it is important to correctly calculate the required amount. As a rule, the recommended installation density for insulation of ceilings and floors is 35 kilograms per cubic meter, for roofs and walls - 40 kilograms per cubic meter.
Price and manufacturers of blown wood fiber heat insulator
Few manufacturers offer blow-out insulation. Consider the most popular brands that are present on the domestic market:
- Steico … It is a Polish manufacturer of thermal insulation materials, usually made from natural raw materials. The line of blown wood fiber insulation is called Steico Zell. It is a durable and high quality yellowish material that has earned good reviews. Packaged in polyethylene bags of 15 kilograms. The price per package is on average 2,000 rubles.
- Gutex … A brand from Germany, which is positioned as a manufacturer of premium products. The inflatable insulation is represented by the Gutex Thermofibre brand. It is also packed in polyethylene bags weighing 15 kilograms. The price of wood fiber insulation of this brand is about 2,000 rubles.
Installation instructions for blown wood fiber insulation
Blowing of this type of insulation most often occurs through the use of special equipment - an injection unit that feeds material through a hose to a height of no more than one hundred meters and at a distance of up to 200 meters. It costs a lot, so if you intend to use it once, then it makes sense to rent the device or hire a team of professionals.
Consider the installation process in stages:
- We prepare the surface - we clean it, treat it with antiseptics.
- We install the crate or lay the logs. It is recommended to make them from wooden beams. Their size will be equal to the thickness of the insulation layer.
- Before using the material, it must be fluffed up qualitatively. If you use the device, it will do some of the work for you. If you plan to lay wood fiber insulation by hand, do it diligently with your hands.
- If you are insulating a horizontal surface, then the material must be dry. If vertical walls or sloped roofs are insulated, then the heat insulator will need to be slightly moistened to simplify the installation process.
- Hose spraying, as well as manual installation, we begin to carry out from the bottom up, evenly filling the crate cells. Try to avoid the appearance of bumps, dips or bumps.
- At the end of the work, use a building level to check the evenness of the thermal insulation layer. If there are irregularities, then they can be easily cut off with a knife or removed by hand.
Surfaces insulated in this way must be covered, for example, with drywall sheets or any decorative material.
Watch a video review of blown wood fiber insulation:
Thermal insulation with blown fiber insulation is a modern, environmentally friendly method. The material is hypoallergenic and can be used almost everywhere. It has excellent thermal insulation properties and is not inferior to artificial counterparts.
