Wall Spray Cellulose and Fiberglass in Freezing Winter Temperatures
Now that many are currently entering freezing temperatures in the northern US, is it possible to do wall spray cellulose and fiberglass in freezing temps? Absolutely. There are a couple of challenges, but it is very possible.
We have trained companies in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming during the coldest parts of winter. The last blog post already addressed the need to keep wall spray pumps from freezing, this article address doing the actual work.
How Do You Prepare for Work in the Freeze? The night before, we recommend using a heater to warm up the house as much as possible. Use fiberglass to close off the top plates and block off the openings. Other openings need to be covered as well to trap as much heat as possible. Avoid Propane heaters as they raise the humidity levels.
What Spraying Technique Should You Use? We recommend higher pressure and smaller tips so that you are not introducing too much water into the wall. While spraying you should be able to keep the moisture content to 30% or below. After blowing a wall, you will find the house building up with humidity. Open some windows just enough to create a cross-breeze to allow the warm humidity to escape. To install drywall, the moisture level in your material needs to be at 25% or lower. Using this technique, we experience low humidity when done this way, allowing for drywall to be installed as early as the same day or the next.
What Are the Best Spray Tools? The Cool Machine spray nozzles are designed to use up to 30% less water when installing. This is key! You don’t need a lot of moisture. You only need enough water and pressure to make the material stick into the cavity. Many people call this “wet-spray.” Since Cool Machine’s tools use far less water, they consider it “dry-spray.”
Don’t let freezing temperatures stop you from spraying walls. You do not have to wait for temperatures to be higher than 20 degrees. You can easily spray in the single digits if you follow these techniques.