Spackling Over Styrofoam Plugs after Insulation Blow-in

A friend has a brick house and had insulation blown into the wallspace through the inside walls. He describes the plugs used as "foam" which I assume means styrofoam. He then proceeded to use lightweight spackle prior to painting. After the spackle dried he noticed that the spackle had turned slightly brown in color, necessitating the use of a stain blocker. Although I didn't ask I assumed this had to be an oil based spackle as water based would not have caused this, but isn't most spackle water-based? What do you think happened? Thanks.

Reply to
frank1492
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Water-based is not the same as water - there's stuff in there, and some of it must have reacted with the polystyrene and bled through. He should bring it up with the insulation contractor. It's necessary feedback for them whether or not they did something wrong.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Water-based is not the same as water - there's stuff in there, and some of it must have reacted with the polystyrene and bled through. He should bring it up with the insulation contractor. It's necessary feedback for them whether or not they did something wrong.

R

Did he try just painting it FIRST or did he just assume it needed stain blocker ?? I have fixed MANY walls after insulation blow in and I've yet to see foam plugs so I'm curious as well...I have always used "butterfly patches" to fix them...A "butterfly patch is a piece of sheetrock that you cut a couple of inches bigger then the hole all around or atleast 2 sides to start , then score the BACK of the plug the size of the hole and CAREFULLY remove the sheetrock while leaving the face paper intact.You should end up with a piece of sheetrock with face paper all around it or atleast 2 sides which gives it it's butterfly look..Mud around the hole getting some into the edges of the hole , insert plug and wipe the paper smooth...Let dry and coat as you would any patch..It is also sometimes referred to as a "California Patch"...Works great for patching discontinued outlet boxes or other small holes with no nailer as well...

Reply to
benick

I think the insulation contractor is trying to help out the homeowner or contractor and give them a leg up. You'd still have to tape the thing, and, like you said, the butterfly patch is almost as quick and you wouldn't have bleed-through problems (though I never heard of that with foam).

There are also those squares of sheet metal with a larger square of self-adhesive fiberglass mesh over it.

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Notice the "pro" doing it with his 2" plastic putty knife. I guess that comes in the package. The hole repair patch itself, and others like it, work fine, but the prices are all over the price. Some are like $6-7 per, but you can get others for less than $2/ea. If you use something like EZ-Sand setting type compound, that's about as fast as it gets. One guy could patch a whole house of blown insulation holes, ready for painting, in a day.

I think you'll get a kick out of this video of a competing product. Could they make it any more complicated or any crappier of a repair? Someone should have told the inventor/marketer, "Hey, that's just stupid."

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tape? Joint tape?! We don't need no steekin' joint tape!! ;)

R
Reply to
RicodJour

R, I've been trying to send you an email. For a couple days it says delivery not completed and then it says delivery failed. Twice. Could you post, or email me, your email address, or fix the one you give here. :) If you email, remove NOPSAM from my email address.

Reply to
mm

Hey. It's not broken - Some years back World Email decided to cancel, of all things, _email_! So I have an invalid valid email address from an email provider who stopped providing email. I love it!

What's up?

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Yet not so invalid that worldemail knows enough to tell my server right away.

It took four days of trying before mine gave up and said undeliverable!

I wanted to send you an email copy of my answer to an old post of yours. I figure it's likely you haven't seen it. I can't even find the thread myself without a lot of hunting.

Reply to
mm

I get no notification, and have no idea if anyone's ever tried to email me before. No one's ever brought it up as an issue.

Okay. Try this one: snipped-for-privacy@hmamail.com

R
Reply to
RicodJour

I think the insulation contractor is trying to help out the homeowner or contractor and give them a leg up. You'd still have to tape the thing, and, like you said, the butterfly patch is almost as quick and you wouldn't have bleed-through problems (though I never heard of that with foam).

There are also those squares of sheet metal with a larger square of self-adhesive fiberglass mesh over it.

formatting link
the "pro" doing it with his 2" plastic putty knife. I guess that comes in the package. The hole repair patch itself, and others like it, work fine, but the prices are all over the price. Some are like $6-7 per, but you can get others for less than $2/ea. If you use something like EZ-Sand setting type compound, that's about as fast as it gets. One guy could patch a whole house of blown insulation holes, ready for painting, in a day.

I think you'll get a kick out of this video of a competing product. Could they make it any more complicated or any crappier of a repair? Someone should have told the inventor/marketer, "Hey, that's just stupid."

formatting link
tape? Joint tape?! We don't need no steekin' joint tape!! ;)

R

Yea I've seen those.I did notice his patch could have used another coat of mud though..LOL....To pricey and I can do the patches just as fast with zero cost for the scrap rock..As you know I use Durabond for ALL my first coats on everything and Easysand for coating...I hate showing up for work the next day and find things are still wet thus losing a day....Those products are great for the DIYer though....I have never heard of foam bleeding thru either but then again I have never seen foam plugs which is why I hope he posts back with answers....

Reply to
benick

=A0;)

I remember the first time I used Durabond. It really was one of those god-I've-been-wasting-a-lot-of-time moments.

The only thing I can think of for the foam plugs is that the insulation contractor had them for exteriors - EIFs type of thing.

In that last link video I still can't get over a company instructing someone to patch a wall with their product and not tape the seams. You're selling them a damn kit - sell them some mesh tape at a 1000% markup! At least it won't crack.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

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