Ceiling Cavity Cleaning in Melbourne

[Wildman]

Does anyone know of anyone who does this? I have seen a trailer mounted diesel vaccuum cleaner once doing it but dont remember their name. I need some wierd old hard brittle foam insulation (urea formaldehyde) vaccuumed out (it shatters when hit with a vaccuum cleaner) as I want to re-wire and insulate the ceiling and the current run of cool weather is as ideal as possible for ceiling work. I tried a heavy duty industrial vaccuum cleaner and it is too slow and clogs too fast. I need at least a 3"-4" pipe and some serious vaccuum power.

The cheaper the better as well, (have had one quote for $10/square metre)

Cheers
Ben

[echnidna]

Good time to buy a 2hp dust collector (with extra hose).

[seriph1]

yup....have that ***** in the ceiling of my place ..... bloody awful crap! Hope you can find someone to do it cheaper than that total rip-off price! Will be keenly watching ....... I believe this stuff would fill and clog a dust extractor in minutes ...... but I agree - convince the wife that buying one could just do the trick...... when it doesnt, it will just have to be retired to the worskhop. And whatever you do, don't fall for the old "why dont we just try to hire one" Theyre NOT available anywhere in the world so there's no need for her to pick up that yellow pages...... if she persists, suggest building her that thingameejig she has been going on about (not that I have any personal experience iun such things) - suffice to say an outdoor spa is getting built next to our new "revised" extension - you know.... the extra bit on the extension that resembles a workshop

[Wildman]

I found another guy that has a vaccuum truck and a 4" hose, reckons it will take about 6 hours to remove at $8.50/m2 which for the 70m2 that needs doing runs to about $100/hr. I used to be charged out at more than that for IT work, I would need a lot more than that to work in a ceiling cavity so I think I will go for it. The business name is better too, "Vac Attack" sounds like it will do the trick.

[Barry_White]

This is the guy you want. Only trouble is he is in Sydney but he will go anywhere for the right price.

http://www.ceilingsuckers.com.au/

[maglite]

The type of vaccuum you are looking for is called a Mecal.

Head office may know of a company that has a dry hire arrangement.

www.mecal.com.au

Hope this helps
Steve

[GrueMaster]

I'm getting ready to do this myself. My house has blown in insulation. It's kind of like wool, dusty as all hell, and looses it's insulating properties as it settles, requiring more to be blown in.

The suggestions I have gotten, are to use a 2 stage dust collector. Since my dad bought me a dust collector for my Birthday, I had only to make a separator. I used a scrap piece of 3/4" plywood (1.9cm), cut a circle 1" (2.54cm) wider than my large garbage can, cut 2 4" (10.16cm) holes for the pipes, and I'm set. I've tested it out by cleaning my shop (need to do that far more often), and it worked great. Nothing got through to the dust collector blades, not even the saw dust on the floor.

Now, to suck up the insullation, I plan on running some 4" (10.16cm) pipe up to the 2md floor window, and attach a long section of flex hose to it. The collector & second stage will stay outside on the front lawn (in case of catastrophic leakage).


Tobin