Bit of a "wild card" question. How best to Hoover up polystyrene insulation from a roofspsce

[openspaceman]

7 minutes ago, doobin said:

Why collect it in a field? We just used petrol blowers. 

I don't think they were readily available in 1974

[Peasgood]

My loft was full of vermiculite and my brother "hoovered" it all out with a big industrial sawdust collector.

I don't think it would be too difficult to make your own. A powerful hoover piped into a 45 gallon drum with a flexible hose up into the loft. The hoover sucks it out into the 45 gallon drum.

[difflock]

Petrol, polystyrene, and a blower.

Ignition!

Perhaps I should consult that mad plumber wot built the jetbike et Al.

His name will come back to me.

AhHa!

Colin Furze!

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by difflock

[Squaredy]

Assuming your measurements are correct, that is 15 IBC containers full of polystyrene and vermiculite.  What a nightmare to have to deal with.  Even tipping it on a commercial basis is fraught with problems.  How much of that will just blow around as it is being handled by the waste disposal station?  How many millions of bits of contamination will eventually end up in the landscape from this one job?  Almost impossible to avoid.

 

This problem sort of highlights how important it is for the full life cycle cost of materials (including disposal) to be built into the initial price.  If it had been, the guy who installed it years ago might have chosen a less problematic material.

 

How many millions of houses have cavity wall insulation made up of loose polystyrene beads?  Imagine the mess when any of these houses are demolished.....!

[Doug Tait]

1 hour ago, difflock said:

Gary,

Was my first thought, but what size is the collector bag?

Since there could be 15m3, say 1500sq ft at 4" deep. =150m2/10=15m3, so 60 No fills of a standard wheelie bin.

Since my other notion was to use a domestic vaccum  and a clean wheelie bin, with our  15m long wander hose.

But the plastic bin and the bloody static and polystyrene beads and wind and neighbours, AAragh!

 

You'd want to be careful with the fumes from a petrol blower used in a confined space too

[difflock]

2 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

You'd want to be careful with the fumes from a petrol blower used in a confined space too

Yup!

Job for a 'leccy wan innit!

Edited December 4, 2021 by difflock

[Doug Tait]

This topic has caused me to suffer a minor flashback! Anyone that has experienced a bean bag bursting incident will appreciate the scale of your task difflock.

[Khriss]

13 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

This topic has caused me to suffer a minor flashback! Anyone that has experienced a bean bag bursting incident will appreciate the scale of your task difflock.

Indeed, but i did find the sex was good ( worth the after hoovering) K

[doobin]

31 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Assuming your measurements are correct, that is 15 IBC containers full of polystyrene and vermiculite.  What a nightmare to have to deal with.  Even tipping it on a commercial basis is fraught with problems.  How much of that will just blow around as it is being handled by the waste disposal station?  How many millions of bits of contamination will eventually end up in the landscape from this one job?  Almost impossible to avoid.

 

This problem sort of highlights how important it is for the full life cycle cost of materials (including disposal) to be built into the initial price.  If it had been, the guy who installed it years ago might have chosen a less problematic material.

 

How many millions of houses have cavity wall insulation made up of loose polystyrene beads?  Imagine the mess when any of these houses are demolished.....!

Yup, and the use of polystyrene forms for raft foundations etc is another issue! Demolition of these structures will cost a fortune as it’ll all have to be treated as ‘contaminated’

[Doug Tait]

3 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Indeed, but i did find the sex was good ( worth the after hoovering) K

My incident was definitely caused by a mischievous dog and nothing to do with sex, although I confess I once hoovered in an attempt to get 'it'