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In new construction would the blown in /with glue cellulose insulation be the best to elliminate setteling and air gaps in wal

GBA Editor | Posted in Energy Efficiency and Durability on

I am looking for the best type of insulation to use in a new house. The house will have brick exterior, quality windows and doors and 2×6 wood wall studs. The interior will be drywall. The roof will be composition shingles over wood decking. I wish to have a house that is comfortable with minimal cost for heating and cooling, as well as one that will breath and allow moisture to pass to the outside with out damaging the materials. The house will be located in North East Texas so high summer temperatures can be expected as well as high winds. Sometimes humidity can be a problem as well although not as much as other places. The house will be on a slab foundation.

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  1. Riversong | | #1

    There are three techniques for blowing dense-pack cellulose, and all of them are designed to avoid gaps and settling, since the installed density is more than double the gravity-settled density:

    1) damp-spray in open wall cavities
    2) dry-blow behind insulweb netting
    3) closed-wall blow behind drywall

    Your thermal envelope should work well in your climate, though most moisture migration will be from the outside in. It is imperative, then, that you don't use an interior plastic vapor barrier which will become a condensation surface during the air conditioning season.

    Make sure there's a weather barrier and an air gap with weep holes behind the brick cladding.

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