Cellulose insulation · Brisbane, SE QLD & Northern NSW
Cellulose insulation, made by the family that pumps it in.
Recycled-paper fibre, borate-treated, blown in as one seamless blanket with no gaps and no joins. We don’t resell someone else’s product. We make our cellulose in Tiaro and pump it into your roof ourselves. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter, and it lasts the life of the house.
After 40 years on the tools, it’s the only insulation I’d put in my own mum’s ceiling. Here’s exactly what it is, how we install it, and the honest answers to the worries you’ve probably read about.
Australian-made since 1986
we make it in Tiaro, QLD
What is cellulose insulation?
Recycled-paper fibre, pumped in as one seamless blanket.
Cellulose insulation is recycled paper fibre, treated with borate, blown in dry through a hose so it fills every cavity as one continuous blanket with no gaps. It gives about R2.5 per 100 mm (CSIRO’s figure for loose-fill cellulose); we install around R3.0 in a ceiling for our climate. It’s one of the oldest, most proven insulation materials there is, and it’s been made right here in Australia for decades.
Because it’s pumped rather than cut to fit, cellulose gets into the tight corners, covers over the top of the joists, and leaves no joins for heat to sneak through. That matters more than the number on the bag: Sustainability Victoria’s government housing manual shows the effective R-value collapsing as just a few percent of a ceiling is left bare. Even a 5% gap can drop an R3.5 batt’s effective R-value to R2.1, about 40% (Sustainability Victoria, p.63). A seamless blanket doesn’t have those gaps.
Want the full case for the material: sound, sustainability, the lot? Read why we believe in cellulose.
Pale grey cellulose covering a ceiling evenly, with a neat shroud around the manhole.
The bit most of the trade can’t say
We don’t resell it. We make it.
We're one of the very few remaining cellulose-fibre insulation manufacturers in Australia, and the only one we know of still making it here in Queensland. We make ours at our factory in Tiaro, Queensland, so the family that manufactures the product is the same family that pumps it into your roof.
Most insulation companies are resellers: they buy batts off a multinational and fit them. Nothing wrong with that, but it means they’re selling whatever they can get, not a product they stand behind to the factory floor. We control ours from the paper in to the hose out, which is why we can put a Life-of-House Guarantee on it.
Same fibre, two ways to install it
Blow-in for what’s built, wet-spray for what’s open.
People get tangled up in the names. It's the same cellulose either way. The difference is just whether the cavity is closed or open when we get to it.
Blow-in (pump-in): ceilings & closed cavities
Dry cellulose blown through a 40-metre hose into a ceiling, or into a closed wall cavity through small neat holes. This is the vast majority of what we do. It’s how an existing house gets insulated without pulling anything apart. It settles into every corner as one seamless blanket.
Wet-spray: open wall frames on a build
On a new build or a renovation with the wall frame still open, we dampen the cellulose with a little water and binder so it sticks in the cavity, then screed it flush before the plasterboard goes on. You get a dense, gap-free, sound-deadening wall that a batt can’t match.
Cellulose vs batts
A batt has to be cut to fit. Cellulose just fills the space.
Batts are cut to fit every bay, so there are always joins and edges, and according to Choice, even small gaps cut real-world performance hard. Cellulose has no joins and no cut edges: it covers over the joists and fills the corners a batt can never reach. It’s borate-treated so insects won’t live in it, and the full-contact cover closes the cold gaps where ceiling mould tends to form.
The honest answers
Everything you’ve been told to worry about, answered straight.
There's a lot of fear sold about cellulose, mostly by people who'd rather sell you batts. Here are the five I hear most, with the short answer and a link to the full story.
“Doesn’t it settle and sag?”
Only if it’s under-filled to save product. We pump to a measured density and depth, so it holds the thickness, and the R-value, we quoted. In 6,000-odd cellulose roofs I’ve never pulled ours out because it settled.
“Isn’t paper a fire risk?”
It’s borate-treated, which makes it resist fire, and it has no air gaps for a flame to run through the way a loose batt does. Australian cellulose is made to the same fire standard as the rest of the trade.
“Won’t rats nest in it?”
The borate is exactly why they don’t. There’s no food and nothing to burrow a tunnel in. It’s a packed blanket, not fluffy batts. In 40 years I’ve never found a rat nest in our cellulose.
“Is it too heavy for my ceiling?”
No, installed to spec it’s well within what a normal ceiling carries. The horror stories come from one-off jobs that were grossly over-filled, not from cellulose pumped to the right density.
“Doesn’t it off-gas or smell?”
Our cellulose doesn’t. The off-gassing scare came from one overseas additive years ago that we don’t use. There’s the full story, with the chemistry, in the guide.
Where cellulose goes
The jobs we use it on.
Ceilings
The big one: pump-in cellulose over the whole ceiling, the most cost-effective surface to insulate in a Queensland house.
Walls
Blow-in to existing cavities, or wet-spray into open frames on a build for a dense, quiet wall.
Soundproofing
Cellulose's density and gap-free fill make it a genuine acoustic product between rooms and floors.
Raked & cathedral ceilings
Pumped into the rafters of exposed-beam and raked ceilings that batts can't be fitted to neatly.
Top-overs
Topping dry, clean existing insulation up to the R-value you want, the cheapest fix when your roof's underdone.
Roofs others knock back
Low-pitch, no-cavity and awkward roofs a batt installer won't touch. Pumping gets in where cutting can't.
Where we work
Australian-made cellulose for every Queensland home, from the outback to the coast.
We make our cellulose at the factory in Tiaro and install it right across the region: Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Moreton Bay, Toowoomba and the Lockyer, the Fraser Coast, Gympie and the South Burnett, and down into Northern New South Wales. If you’re not sure we’re in your patch, just ask.
What it costs
A fixed price, worked out before we start.
As a guide, cellulose ceiling insulation runs about $35–$55/m² + GST, depending on your roof type, the R-value you want and how hard the access is. I won’t pluck a single total out of the air on a website. Send me your address and I’ll measure it and give you a proper fixed-price quote within 48 hours for most houses.
Honest answers
Cellulose insulation: the questions I get asked most.
What is cellulose insulation?+
Cellulose insulation is recycled paper fibre, treated with borate, that we pump in dry through a hose so it fills your ceiling as one continuous, seamless blanket. It gives about R2.5 per 100mm, CSIRO's own figure for loose-fill cellulose, and because it's pumped rather than cut to fit, it gets into the corners and over the joists where a batt always leaves gaps. It's one of the oldest and most proven insulation materials there is, and it's been made in Australia for decades.
Is cellulose insulation any good in the Queensland climate?+
It's the product I'd put in my own house, and I've been doing this since 1986. South East Queensland is NCC climate zone 2. The ceiling is the surface that matters most here, and cellulose covers it completely with no gaps for the heat to pour through. We pump to around R3.0 in a ceiling, comfortably over the NCC minimum for our zone. It handles our humidity fine and, unlike fibreglass, it doesn't itch, slump or give the rodents somewhere to live.
What's the difference between blow-in and wet-spray cellulose?+
Same fibre, two ways of installing it. Blow-in (or 'pump-in') is dry cellulose blown into a ceiling or a closed cavity, and that's the vast majority of what we do. Wet-spray is cellulose dampened with a little water and binder so it sticks to an open wall frame during a build or renovation, then it's screeded flush before the plaster goes on. We use blow-in for ceilings and existing walls, and wet-spray for open walls on new builds.
Who makes cellulose insulation in Australia?+
Far fewer businesses than there used to be. The 2009–10 pink-batts grant boom-bust wiped most of the small local makers out. We're one of the very few remaining cellulose-fibre insulation manufacturers in Australia, and the only one we know of still making it here in Queensland. We make ours at our factory in Tiaro, Queensland, and the family that makes it is the family that pumps it into your roof. That's the bit most of the trade can't say: they're resellers of someone else's batts.
Can you put cellulose over my existing insulation?+
Usually, yes. If your old insulation is dry and clean, we can often top over it with cellulose to bring the whole ceiling up to the R-value you want. That's the cheapest, least-disruptive fix and it's what about 90% of 'my insulation isn't working' calls actually need. If the old stuff is rodent-soiled, water-damaged or broken down, it's better value to vacuum it out first. I'll tell you straight which way suits your roof when I quote.
How much does cellulose insulation cost in Brisbane?+
As a guide, ceiling insulation runs about $35–$55/m² + GST, depending on your roof type, the R-value you want and how hard the access is. I don't publish a single total because every roof is different. Send me your address and I'll measure it off Nearmap and your roof type and give you a proper fixed-price quote within 48 hours for most houses, no deposit, and no price rise on the day.
Want the real thing, cellulose from the people who make it?
Send me your address and roof type and I’ll give you an honest fixed-price quote within 48 hours for most houses. Australian-made cellulose, pumped in by the family that manufactures it. Servicing Brisbane, SE QLD & Northern NSW.
Peter Johnson
Owner / installer · Comfort Zone Insulation Team® · Since 1986
In the trade and want to install it yourself? We make cellulose in Tiaro and run exclusive territories, franchise with the family.