Polystyrene beads as insulation

[Alanmcd]

Hi my house has  no insulation at  all ! I was contemplating removing all the plasterboard from the internal walls and then insulating the walls and re lining with plasterboard. But I'm just sat here looking and thinking that's a lot of work. So I have formulated a cunning  plan.

Using a  stud locator to cut a hole high up in the plaster board  between the battens and somehow fill the gaps with polystyrene beads then to repair the holes with some sort of filler.

Any  thoughts would be useful

Thanks

[andyh4]

Just random thoughts against what on the face of it looks like a cunning plan.

 

1.  Where will you source the PS beads?

2.  Will they be fire retardant?  PS is very inflammable.  You might consider fire retardant cellulose fibre (AKA shedded and treated newspaper) which is designed for the job.

3.  Will they be rodent proof, or will they just become a nice cosy home for every Loir in the country?

4.  How will you get the beads out of the delivery container (I assume a sack) and through the hole in the plasterboard?  If you are tipping then the holes will need to be at least the height of the sack below the ceiling - and then what about insulating above the holes?  If you are blowing them in you will need to think about venting the blowing air somewhere, otherwise you will be back to plan A - removing all the pasterboard (or a least a big chunk of it).

 

 

I suspect this will not be as cheap, easy or quick as it at first appears

 

http://www.askjeff.co.uk/cavity.html  This suggests that the beads should be bonded together with an adhesive and says that PS is not widley used becasue of cost.

[Val_2]

Polystyrene gives off toxic fumes that could kill in the event of a fire even before the flames got you.

[Anton Redman]

Point P used to stock beads for use as agregate in concrete mixes. I bought a sack to try out, only one they ever sold. Balls went every where.

[Chancer]

Doublage is just polystyrene beads stuck together, if you ever remove it from a damp wall like I did you will see that they have all seperated making a hell of a mess.

When I have ran cables in wall cavities in the UK many of the then new builds had polystyrene beads as insulation, my UK property has just had cavity wall insulation blown in but from the debris it looks more like cellulose fibres.

[nomoss]

This system will work just as well on interior walls, but will create some dust in the room, unless you could put a filter over the outlet hole, or if that creates too much restriction, run a similar pipe from the outlet hole into a trap of some sort, such as a vacuum cleaner type filter sack/bag

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20047052,00.html

I recently insulated the whole of our loft floor with 30cm of Ouaté de cellulose. I rented the blower unit, which was very easy to use, but it did make a terrible cloud of dust. A proper breathing mask with removeable filters, not one of those silly paper things the Japs wear in smog [:D], and goggles are essential.

Edit: You could use the same blower unit for almost any loose insulation material, including polystyrene pellets, but they do seem to be a problem, becoming statically charged and sticking to everything. The suppliers of the cellulose I used also stocked other materials.

[Chancer]

What depth of vide do you have behind the placo and what are the studs made of?

If they are wood  then there will probably be noggins preventing the insulation from falling and filling the cavity.

If they are steel (montants and rails) then are you sure there isnt any insulation there? Maybe someone liberated it knowing the owner was in another country when the work was carried out.

Re the depth if you only have 50mm the depth of montants then any gaines running in the vide are going to hinder the fill dependant on the material.

Final possibilty you have doublage collé in which case forget all about getting insulation in behind.

[fisherman]

Maybe think of leaving the wall as is and cover with insulated plasterboard panels. The name escapes me just now but you can simply stick them on with an adhesive. You will gain additional insulation from the air gap behind the original boards. We used 75mm insulation and it works a treat. Possibly the least mess method.

[Chancer]

Doublage.