# Blown in insulation.



## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

We looked at an interior repaint job yesterday. The HO had blown in insulation done and they did it from the inside (first time seeing it done this way, usually its outside). Any who they put a foam type of cover in the holes they drilled.

My question for the day is has any one had to repair these types of holes? What kind of mud was used? just mud or tape as well.

Since I can't upload pics still I can't show you what it looks like.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> We looked at an interior repaint job yesterday. The HO had blown in insulation done and they did it from the inside (first time seeing it done this way, usually its outside). Any who they put a foam type of cover in the holes they drilled.
> 
> My question for the day is has any one had to repair these types of holes? What kind of mud was used? just mud or tape as well.
> 
> Since I can't upload pics still I can't show you what it looks like.


Sometimes it's easier to work from the inside, depending on the siding type, etc. We don't see it a lot, but it happens. Seems to pretty common where there is brick veneer.

I wish the Admins would fix this site so you could upload pictures! (Censored emoji here!). I'm confused about the foam cover. Did they replace the disks of GWB? How big are the holes?

We've used Fibatape and regular mud. The Fibatape is thin enough that it causes less build-up at the repair. Given your location, I'm assuming that these are smooth walls. That's a bit of a drag, since texture can, and does, hide a multitude of sins.


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## mudbone (Dec 26, 2011)

Gough said:


> Sometimes it's easier to work from the inside, depending on the siding type, etc. We don't see it a lot, but it happens. Seems to pretty common where there is brick veneer.
> 
> I wish the Admins would fix this site so you could upload pictures! (Censored emoji here!). I'm confused about the foam cover. Did they replace the disks of GWB? How big are the holes?
> 
> We've used Fibatape and regular mud. The Fibatape is thin enough that it causes less build-up at the repair. Given your location, I'm assuming that these are smooth walls. That's a bit of a drag, since texture can, and does, hide a multitude of sins.


:yes:Best method!:thumbsup:


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

They put holes in the drywall to blow in insulation? If they did, wow, that's crazy. So they did that for the walls, putting holes between each stud?

Up here, before sheetrock, they throw a fibery membrane over the framing pretty tight. They use a staple gun that shoots faster than a machine gun and then poke a hole in the fiber and shoot in insulation. They don't have to patch holes in the fiber (or drywall), and it's tight as a drum. Every void is visibly filled to the max. Then drywall is installed. Our builder even installs gasket material around the perimeter of each wall and ceiling before drywall and makes the house extremely energy efficient, that is his norm.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

I've only ever seen them go through the hole to get to the attic. Never heard of them poking holes.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

ridesarize said:


> They put holes in the drywall to blow in insulation? If they did, wow, that's crazy. So they did that for the walls, putting holes between each stud?
> 
> Up here, before sheetrock, they throw a fibery membrane over the framing pretty tight. They use a staple gun that shoots faster than a machine gun and then poke a hole in the fiber and shoot in insulation. They don't have to patch holes in the fiber (or drywall), and it's tight as a drum. Every void is visibly filled to the max. Then drywall is installed. Our builder even installs gasket material around the perimeter of each wall and ceiling before drywall and makes the house extremely energy efficient, that is his norm.


Rider, I'm thinking this is a retrofit, not NC with blown-in batt. Especially since it's a repaint....

OTOH, it is nice to read about a careful builder. Just curious, what does he do at the electrical boxes? Are those gasketed as well?


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Guys, this is a REPAINT with insulation being added to an already built home. Sometimes, the exterior wall system makes it easier to work from the inside. Lots of plaster or GWB to patch, though.


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

Gough said:


> Guys, this is a REPAINT with insulation being added to an already built home. Sometimes, the exterior wall system makes it easier to work from the inside. Lots of plaster or GWB to patch, though.


Just caught that it was a repaint, ooops I feel smart now.

I'm not sure if he puts the black gasket material there for outlets or just the white flat ones.
He uses ecoseal on exterior sheeting seams, and inside the framing on the top, bottom plates and most studs to the sheeting.

He has the atmospheric pressure test done on his homes where they seal up the front door to a big fan and computer. They go around and search for any small leaks and address them. Energy star homes have a rating below 4 atmosphere changes per hour, his last two homes came to .81 and 1.01.

Of course they have controlled air intake and exhaust for interior airflow. The homes are so sound they barely need any heat going and stay warm all day with the heat off.


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

No biggie. No reason to complicate and over analyze this deal. I'd use tape or fibertape if the holes are over 2 inches.


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## dyneser (Jul 26, 2011)

Very common around here in older homes. Any i have seen they don't use tape & i assume it's 45 or whatever for patching as it seems to shrink quite a bit. I tend to sand & give it 2 skim coats & am usually good to go.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

ridesarize said:


> Just caught that it was a repaint, ooops I feel smart now.
> 
> I'm not sure if he puts the black gasket material there for outlets or just the white flat ones.
> He uses ecoseal on exterior sheeting seams, and inside the framing on the top, bottom plates and most studs to the sheeting.
> ...


Nice. Good ACH numbers, he's clearly paying attention.:thumbup:


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Gough said:


> Sometimes it's easier to work from the inside, depending on the siding type, etc. We don't see it a lot, but it happens. Seems to pretty common where there is brick veneer.
> 
> I wish the Admins would fix this site so you could upload pictures! (Censored emoji here!). I'm confused about the foam cover. Did they replace the disks of GWB? How big are the holes?
> 
> We've used Fibatape and regular mud. The Fibatape is thin enough that it causes less build-up at the repair. Given your location, I'm assuming that these are smooth walls. That's a bit of a drag, since texture can, and does, hide a multitude of sins.


Me too. 



ridesarize said:


> They put holes in the drywall to blow in insulation? If they did, wow, that's crazy. So they did that for the walls, putting holes between each stud?
> 
> Up here, before sheetrock, they throw a fibery membrane over the framing pretty tight. They use a staple gun that shoots faster than a machine gun and then poke a hole in the fiber and shoot in insulation. They don't have to patch holes in the fiber (or drywall), and it's tight as a drum. Every void is visibly filled to the max. Then drywall is installed. Our builder even installs gasket material around the perimeter of each wall and ceiling before drywall and makes the house extremely energy efficient, that is his norm.


Every 16" across every 4-6' up to the ceiling. the holes are about the size of a fist. I have seen some one bore a hole in a wall kind of like what we are seeing. The only diffewrence is they used the piece they drilled out as their filler. This foam plug I have not heard of or seem before.

I know working on my car models they had hot and cold bondos we could use, the hot would warp/distort the plastic. I wasn't sure if this would be the same case for the foam insert they used.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> Me too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I wonder if the best solution is to get a scrap of GWB and make your own plugs. We've done that on exteriors where the insulation guys boogered up the plug so badly.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Gough said:


> I wonder if the best solution is to get a scrap of GWB and make your own plugs. We've done that on exteriors where the insulation guys boogered up the plug so badly.


This was a thought I had last night. The only problem is there is well over 200 holes  Every exterior wall on 4 floors.

T&M definitely for this one.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> This was a thought I had last night. The only problem is there is well over 200 holes  Every exterior wall on 4 floors.
> 
> T&M definitely for this one.


See if your local lumberyard has some "blem" sheets ( damaged pieces ) of the appropriate thickness of GWB. Use a drill with the right size hole saw and make a bunch of plugs.


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## driftweed (May 26, 2013)

What about those metal mesh patches? Why not just use those since the holes are somewhat small. I just did twenty holes in a wall from something similar, slap and go. Saved a TON of time and I can get them looking flawless in 2 coats of mud.


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Gough said:


> See if your local lumberyard has some "blem" sheets ( damaged pieces ) of the appropriate thickness of GWB. Use a drill with the right size hole saw and make a bunch of plugs.


I did this when I was painting out an entire empty apartment building top to bottom and they had a sprinkler system installed. Bottom floor, the hack installer used a hammer to poke holes in places where he had to run pipe through/investigate, etc. Problem was he was mismeasuring everything and made hammer holes in many, many unnecessary places.

I freaked on him and told him to use a hole saw which he eventually did but threw the bloody plugs inside the wall! I'm sure he was just getting back at me for being mad at him. Drywall's pretty cheap. I bought a hole saw for my drill, a couple of sheets and used some scrap 2X4 to plug the holes. Made life easy.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

driftweed said:


> What about those metal mesh patches? Why not just use those since the holes are somewhat small. I just did twenty holes in a wall from something similar, slap and go. Saved a TON of time and I can get them looking flawless in 2 coats of mud.


I would if it was one or 2 holes. There are 200-300 holes, that stuff is to expensive, fibertape is what we will use.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Wildbill7145 said:


> I did this when I was painting out an entire empty apartment building top to bottom and they had a sprinkler system installed. Bottom floor, the hack installer used a hammer to poke holes in places where he had to run pipe through/investigate, etc. Problem was he was mismeasuring everything and made hammer holes in many, many unnecessary places.
> 
> I freaked on him and told him to use a hole saw which he eventually did but threw the bloody plugs inside the wall! I'm sure he was just getting back at me for being mad at him. Drywall's pretty cheap. I bought a hole saw for my drill, a couple of sheets and used some scrap 2X4 to plug the holes. Made life easy.


The holes are plugged already. I had never seen it done from the inside and never seen foam plugs either.


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

Little trick I'll share. Get some window & door spray foam( be sure to get the window and door it expands less ) fill each hole 50% full let expand and cure then cut the foam flush with surface. Get yer mud knife & pan and get ta filling one man can do those 200 holes in less than a day with this method...


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

Originally posted by *Delta Painting*
_Little trick I'll share. Get some window & door spray foam( be sure to get the window and door it expands less ) fill each hole 50% full let expand and cure then cut the foam flush with surface. Get yer mud knife & pan and get ta filling one man can do those 200 holes in less than a day with this method..._

Sounds good until you try it in the real world. What will it stick to in the hole, there's no backing?... when you attempt to cut it, it will break and fall apart into the hole.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

Again these holes are already plugged and we are not changing the plugs.


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

ridesarize said:


> Originally posted by *Delta Painting*
> _Little trick I'll share. Get some window & door spray foam( be sure to get the window and door it expands less ) fill each hole 50% full let expand and cure then cut the foam flush with surface. Get yer mud knife & pan and get ta filling one man can do those 200 holes in less than a day with this method..._
> 
> Sounds good until you try it in the real world. What will it stick to in the hole, there's no backing?... when you attempt to cut it, it will break and fall apart into the hole.



Don't be a negative Nancy! :whistling2: If you tried it you would know it works I have done this many times with great results..Hell I have seen people use it on rust holes on cars then fill with bondo..

It sticks to the plaster drywall what ever the wall board is. The stuff sticks to anything!


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> Again these holes are already plugged and we are not changing the plugs.


Then why are you asking how to fix it?


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## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

Delta Painting said:


> Don't be a negative Nancy! :whistling2: If you tried it you would know it works I have done this many times with great results..Hell I have seen people use it on rust holes on cars then fill with bondo..
> 
> It sticks to the plaster drywall what ever the wall board is. The stuff sticks to anything!


alright alright


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## TheRogueBristle (Mar 19, 2010)

I would use/have used fiber tape and durabond for first coat, then whatever your preference for topcoat of mud. The durabond is a lot less likely to crack and has the advantage of setting in a certain time, meaning multiple coats in one day.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

cdpainting said:


> We looked at an interior repaint job yesterday. The HO had blown in insulation done and they did it from the inside (first time seeing it done this way, usually its outside). Any who they put a foam type of cover in the holes they drilled.
> 
> My question for the day is has any one had to repair these types of holes? What kind of mud was used? just mud or tape as well.
> 
> Since I can't upload pics still I can't show you what it looks like.





Delta Painting said:


> Then why are you asking how to fix it?


If you read the post I said the holes were already plugged. My experience with any type of foam is zero. I know some muds and bondos dry hot (maening they heat up as they dry) this could distort some foam products. I was asking what kind of muds and tape people had used that had repaired foam plugs.



TheRogueBristle said:


> I would use/have used fiber tape and durabond for first coat, then whatever your preference for topcoat of mud. The durabond is a lot less likely to crack and has the advantage of setting in a certain time, meaning multiple coats in one day.


We will be using durabond and fibertape for the first coat, then mud for final coats.


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## daArch (Mar 15, 2008)

Dave,

When I insulated my office and son Jake's room, I blew in from the interior (aluminum siding wasn't gonna repair easy :no: ). But it was a couple dozen holes and the house is lathe and plaster. I patched them by backing up the holes and filling with plaster patch (essentially plaster of paris) and skimmed with mud.

For your job with hundreds of holes, I assume the plugs are not that far recessed into the holes. Can't you just fill with JC, hot mud, plaster patch, or whatever a couple of times ? I do not think the heat of setting type of plaster will negatively affect the foam plugs, but perhaps you should test one first.


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## Delta Painting (Apr 27, 2010)

cdpainting said:


> If you read the post I said the holes were already plugged. My experience with any type of foam is zero. I know some muds and bondos dry hot (maening they heat up as they dry) this could distort some foam products. I was asking what kind of muds and tape people had used that had repaired foam plugs.


I did read your post the way it reads is you asking how to fix the holes... I offered a solution..Some people have a hard time embracing new things I get that...Hot mud distorting the foam....lol


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## PremierPaintingMa (Nov 30, 2014)

If the holes are plugged already, just mix some 20 with 5 and do quick first coat that will dry in less then one hour and you can come back with 20 or 45 and do the second coat, the only place i will use a mesh tape is the ceiling.
Good luck, Dan


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