Sprayed Foam Insulation

[BadGirl]

Anybody have this in their house, particularly a basement environment? Was a do-it-yourself job, or done by a professional?

Any feedback on level of difficulty, expense, contractors to use and/or avoid?

More importantly, would you use the same product again in future work?

 

[Vince]

Definitely not a do-it-yourself project unless you can rent the machine. A friend of mine had a business doing this. Of course, the machine he had was an industrial type. The only drawback is if you have to get into the wall to run new pipe or elect. The you have get the old stuff out.

 

[Freefaller]

Be aware

Anybody have this in their house, particularly a basement environment? Was a do-it-yourself job, or done by a professional?

Any feedback on level of difficulty, expense, contractors to use and/or avoid?

More importantly, would you use the same product again in future work?

There are two main types of sprayed in foam. There is open cell foam and closed cell foam. They are an apple and an orange in comparison.

Open cell foam averages about R-3.5 to 4.5 per inch of thickness. It expands greatly when applied. It is soft to the touch when dry and you could easily crush this material if you held it in your hand.

Closed cell foam averages about R 6.5 per inch of thickness. At 2" thick it provides a complete air barrier. It does not expand at near thew rate the open cell foam does. It can be installed as this as 1". It is so dense that you could take a small 4"x4" piece and stand on it and you will not compress it.

You need to have a professional install this material. It does a great insulation job but you don't want to fool with it yourself.

Davenport insulation in Upper Marlboro just did a job here in St Marys where I was working. Job was Victory Square (I think) and it was an apartment building behind Kohls. They did the walls and the attic. It was pretty cool to see it done. The sales rep was David and his cell # is 240 375-4440. He could at least answer your questions in more detail.

 

[BadGirl]

There are two main types of sprayed in foam. There is open cell foam and closed cell foam. They are an apple and an orange in comparison.

Open cell foam averages about R-3.5 to 4.5 per inch of thickness. It expands greatly when applied. It is soft to the touch when dry and you could easily crush this material if you held it in your hand.

Closed cell foam averages about R 6.5 per inch of thickness. At 2" thick it provides a complete air barrier. It does not expand at near thew rate the open cell foam does. It can be installed as this as 1". It is so dense that you could take a small 4"x4" piece and stand on it and you will not compress it.

You need to have a professional install this material. It does a great insulation job but you don't want to fool with it yourself.

Davenport insulation in Upper Marlboro just did a job here in St Marys where I was working. Job was Victory Square (I think) and it was an apartment building behind Kohls. They did the walls and the attic. It was pretty cool to see it done. The sales rep was David and his cell # is 240 375-4440. He could at least answer your questions in more detail.

I appreciate your feedback, particularly with describing the specific type of material that I should use for our project. Thanks!

We see this product (the closed cell one) used all of the time on the HGTV channel, most often used by Mike Holmes. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for us. As a matter of fact, the barometer of our work is "would Mike Holmes approve?".

 

[ericmyers]

My big bro just started up a spray foam company this year. One thing i must warn is spray foam is extremely expensive. But it pays for itself in a few years. Open cell at 10" is about 1/2 the price of 2" of closed cell. My bro quoted me $3G in materials for 1800 sq ft of 10"open cell, labor is at least 100% materials cost. The only extent of doing it yourself would get some industrial cans of foam similar to"great stuff. Then seal all your joints like where your foundation meets the wood and use regular insulation for the walls. From what i understand applying spray foam to a solid concrete wall wouldn't be as effective as for example spraying your joists and creating a vapor barrier.

Another aspect of spray foam is how fiberglass is nasty stuff and can cause lung cancer.

Vince made a good point. Be sure you like all your plumbing and electrical before spraying. Running new wires would be next to impossible with a foam filled wall.