Vacuum for Insulation Industry

Just a quick summary of the job done over the past few days;

- 3brm house, circa 1960’s, “insulfluff” with wool insulation over the top, iron roof

- 16 bags of material collected (approx 12-15kgs per bag)

- Job took approx 8-10 hrs to complete (1 person), although if no wool insulation was present, would take around 6 hrs

Attachments

- The long attachment was useful in getting material out where access was restricted (i.e. internally, behind the gutters), but was less useful in other places due to the low working area available (roof had a gradual pitch, not steep)

- Useful attachments would be a short elbow (90 degrees) to get down corners, also a 2 foot pipe, narrow crush at one end to allow running along internal corners.

- The shorter, handheld grooming tool was only useful for finishing over flat surfaces (not corners or bulk material removal)

- A bracket to hold the tube in the roof would be useful, as with the weight and vibration of removing material, the hose tends to slide out of the roof and back to earth. I used a piece of wire, though a Velcro strap cable tied to the hose should do.

The Vacuum

- The twin vac system worked well and gave fairly constant vacuum, right up until drum was full and compacted

- It may pay to have a sight glass or someother means to determine the drum is full. This will eliminate overfilling of the collector

- Wheelybin bags worked best, as they are lightweight, did not get “vacuumed” into the bottom of the drum and did not split or tear.

- The internal sleeve may need to be slightly lighter, especially in the case of one person work (or for weaker people).

Safety

- I started using a P2 paper mask but found that material seeped in around the mask. I purchased a spraypainters face mask ($12 from mitre10) which has the dual canisters, removes smell and dust particles. This worked much better.

- I advise the use of googles due to the dust becoming airborne when disturbed

- Rubber gloves when handling the material (on bag changeovers) as it does definitely feel “acidic” on any cuts

- Several long (3 foot) planks used in crawl spaces are a good idea, gives you something to lay or kneel on in tight roof cavities, distributing the weight evenly

The job itself is fairly time consuming but has a difficulty factor of around 2 out of 5, so any diy’er can handle it. Fairly dusty and dirty work, but anyone with a pragmatic approach can complete it with a reasonable timeframe. Start at one end/corner and work your way back to the ceiling entry point. In retrospect, it may have been easier for me to remove a section of iron at either end of the roof to provide ventilation, extra light and another entry point for the hoses (hose length was exactly right for my roof to within 3 inches). Hilton Vacuums did a great job in setting the system up and jobsite training, allowing the rest of the job to run seamlessly. I would recommend that anyone wanting to hire or purchase a system for this type of work, should talk to the Hilton Vacuums as these guys know what they are talking about. As a result of removing the insulfluff from my ceiling, the house feels a lot healthier and I know that my family are not being exposed to broken-down insulation material, which are a heath risk. Don’t scrounge on safety equipment, or extra lighting when performing the task, this material is bad for your health and should be treated as such.