We started at mid-morning - early for me! We drove to Menards to buy the cellulose insulation and get their insulation blower. I bought 30 bags - enough to insulate the lower attic. The bags of insulation were shrink wrapped together. The workers cut the plastic shrink wrap at the "30 bags" mark and pushed the whole bunch into my brother's pickup. That worked great as I am not sure 30 bags and the blower would all fit if each bag had to be loaded individually. With the shrink wrap the bags that were higher than the sides of the pickup stayed in the pickup.
My brother fed the bags of cellulose insulation into the blower. Fortunately the blower came with a long cord so I could also control in the attic when the blower operated. I found that blowing cellulose is very dusty (see photo below) and when blowing the insulation against the eves I had to stop to let the air clear to see that I wasn't overfilling the area. The good news is that, unlike fiberglass, cellulose insulation does not itch. One just gets very, very dusty. While cellulose is made from recycled newspapers, it didn't look or feel like it. It felt soft.
3 hours later I finished filling the lower attic with insulation. It was now 3 pm and I felt I had time to add insulation to the upper attic. Back to Menards my brother and I went. Because of the wet spot I had found during my insulation preparation, I decided to leave that area and a path to that area free of added insulation. I calculated I needed another 32 bags of insulation to fill the upper attic as it was slightly larger than the lower attic. I decided to buy 30 bags.
Again the Menard's worker cut the plastic shrink wrap at the 30 bag mark and together we pushed the bundle into the pickup. Without the blower behind the bags I worried a bag may fall out the back. At the first intersection I jumped out of the pickup and moved four bags from the back of the bundle into the pickup's bed. Wouldn't you know it a line of cars quickly came up from behind so I had to act quickly.
Halfway through town, as we stopped at a red light, another pickup pulled up beside us in the left turn lane and the woman passenger told us we had lost a bag two intersections back. What?! We turned around and drove back but could not find the bag. It was only minutes later but someone already picked it up. The police station was nearby so we stopped and I let the police's lost and found department know we had lost a bag of insulation. No... make that two bags as I recounted and found we had lost two of them. *argh!!*
Back at home more problems: I couldn't find the flashlight I had been using to provide extra light when blowing against the eves. Eventually I found it buried in the lower attic's insulation near the opening to the attic. I only found it by touch as the insulation felt warm near where the operating flashlight was located. The flashlight was on but I couldn't see any light from it buried in the insulation. Then I couldn't find my dust mask. What is going on here?! I only had one mask so I had to look high and low before I finally found it.
Time was wasting and I was an hour behind where I expected to be. Even though I had a trouble light to see I appreciated the extra light that came in from the attic's vents and gables. The upper attic is the 'smaller in height' attic so moving around was slower. Then the blower blew a fuse. *argh!* Near the end I lost the flashlight again. I know, I know, how could I lose the flashlight? I don't know, but I did. This time it took longer to locate as I had a larger area to search before finding it.
In the end I found that with two more bags of insulation I would have completely finished insulating the upper attic. The wet spot on the roof was now dry so with the two extra (lost) bags I would have blown them in to finish insulating the attic. *sigh* I guess the path to the wet spot was meant to be clear so my brother can check it later this summer to see if the roof leaks when it rains.
It was now 8 pm and I wanted to return the blower before Menards closed at 9 pm. I brushed off some of the insulation that had clung to me and went to Menards looking similar to the photo below. After I got home I finally was able to take a hot shower to clean up. It felt great.
The next day I was very stiff and sore from all the work, the crawling around and sometimes laying on studs. It was painful to move. It took me more than two days to recover. But it was worth it to insulate mom's house.
Click on the photos if you want a larger view.
The blower and some of the insulation in bags. Also what the cellulose insulation looks like before it goes through the blower. A rotating bar at the bottom of the blower breaks up the chunks, and after traveling through 100 ft of hose the insulation comes out in fine particles.
The lower attic with a foot of cellulose insulation. I guess I didn't get it completely level at the one foot height. And did I mention that blowing cellulose is very dusty?
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