Just got an opportunity to get tons of packing foam, the kind that comes in computer boxes. Now I’m thinking that I’ve got a lot of my time (cheap) and not a lot of money.
If I could grind up the foam, and fill it in walls, it would be half decent insulation, not great, but cheap. All it would be going into is my old shop with a wood stove.
Is this just plain stupid, or has this been done before? I hate see all this foam fill a landfill when I could put it to use. If I wanted it I could get a ton more in the future.
Replies
I saw some of the same today, and I wondered likewise. I concluded that chewing it up would result in very coarse particles, with a lot of air voids in it. While it could be dumped into a wall cavity or in the attic, I suspect there would be so many voids that the overall value wouldn't be any better than a fiberglass batt or loose fill chopped FG. Still, perhaps you could mix it, say 50/50, with cellulose to fill the voids and put it into the attic or dense-pack it into a wall cavity with a strong blower.
Simple answer, don't do it. The packing foam pieces shrink over time, subject to air infiltration performance problems and when you get tired of it you will have quite the mess to clean up. Not to mention the fire hazard. I did this one time about 30 years ago, when I closed in a shop area inside an unheated metal pole building. Blown in cellulose works good and is of fairly reasonable cost. Roger