Luan and Insulation Garage/Outbuildings
Since getting a couple of narrow crown staple guns, we've been having a lot of fun insulating shops, garages, and outbuildings. The technique is simple, 1/4 inch luan stapled up with pneumatic and cordless narrow crown staplers, trimmed with ripped strips of luan, 3 inch holes cut with a hole saw, and cellulose blown in, dense packed in walls and loose filled in ceilings, where settling is not an issue. Then staple a hexagon or square patch of luan over the holes, and you're done.
The pros of this technique:
1/4 inch luan is one of the easiest and quickest materials to work with, it is light, cheap, cuts effortlessly with any saw, can even be cut with shop shears when in a narrow strip. It has got to be the easiest sheet good to work with, bar none.
Drywall cuts easier, but it is heavy, and the finishing process is quite laborious.
Luan generally has a pretty side and a nice light wood grain pattern, reflecting light and brightening up a space without paint.
The cons of said technique:
Luan is not fire resistant like drywall, period.
It is too thin to attach things to directly, as you can do with 3/4 inch plywood.
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