Outfitting your Insulation Trailer/Truck: Wall Spray
This is a companion article to “OutfittingYour Insulation Trailer / Truck for Attics and Dense Pack.” Below are items that help make your job cleaner and more efficient:
Straw broom: A smaller straw broom (approximately 3 feet long) makes an excellent tool to whisk away overspray. The stick end can be ground down into a point like a pencil. This allows you to clear the small corners and angles. You should trim the broom back so that the bristles are stiffer. ALSO, a strand from the broom makes a perfect tool to clean out clogged spray tips.
Canned Foam: Around doors, windows, sill plates and small gaps, canned foam is an inexpensive and excellent compliment to wall spray. Use low expansion foam designed for doors and windows. Protip: When using canned foam, don’t let the foam cure completely then trim. Let the foam cure for a bout 10 minutes, until it loses tackiness, then using a straight edged piece of lumber, press the foam in. Trimming mostly-cured foam usually results in tearing the foam, leaving an unsightly foam bead. There is no need to press the sill plate foam in.
Small Putty Knife: Not everyone wants to deal with foam. Fiberglass and rock wool make for great insulating materials. Use a putty knife to stuff the cracks (you don’t have to smash the material in, nor should you).
Moisture Meter: You should know the percentage of moisture in your wall spray. Walls should not be covered until the moisture has reached 25% or lower. Advertising tip: Cool Machines spray equipment is designed to use up to 30% less water than other brands. We teach a low water usage spray technique which leaves the job with about 28% moisture content when installed.
Small Broom, Push Broom: Since you will be recycling material back into your machine MAKE SURE you clean the perimeter of the house very well. You do not want to send a hurricane strap or nail into the recycling process.
Magnetic Sweeper: The last thing you want recycled back into your machine are steel objects left behind by other trades. A magnetic sweeper is an excellent tool to insure that everything has been picked up.
Trash Can: Used to discard junk during prep clean up. This is also used to manually recycle material back to a machine which does not have recycling equipment. Our CM700 Recycler uses a square shaped trash can. Make sure you get one with wheels to make your job easier!
Flat Grain Shovel: Use this, rather than a dust pan, to clean up during prep-work. These broad shovels make manual recycling fast work. They are also great at dressing the tops of sprayed runs that are gapping at the top plate.
Duct tape: Have plenty of low-tack duct tape to cover electric outlets.
Cardboard: Cardboard makes an excellent shield to prevent overspray on windows and doors. Also, you may find a very wide or tall cavity that causes your material to fall out. Use the cardboard to make blocking to divide troublesome cavities.
Materials that you should consider carrying with you
Dense packing fabric. If you have to spray an open wall, then all you need to do is staple fabric to one side of the wall and then you are able to spray that wall.