Spray Foam

[Jolly]

A few months old, but interesting. Some of the comments are also worth reading...

Link to video

[kluurs]

Thanks, Jolly

[blondie]

Good video @Jolly . What he doesn’t talk about is ventilation, air movement in an attic. Ridge vents, fans, sealing around exit points, soffits, all that. I follow a few local home inspectors on IG. We’re in a cold, very dry climate. What they are reporting of spray foam in attics with new builds is worrisome. Moisture, mold, attic rain. My take is the more spray foam there is, the higher potential for problems.

[Renauda]

@blondie

I don’t think spray foam is used here any more in wood frame houses for the very reasons you describe. There are also other issues that make it less than desirable for homes in this northern climate. It still remains suitable however in certain industrial construction applications.

[blondie]

@Renauda, the home where my kid resides (2023 build) has its soffits spray foamed (Cardel Homes). I’ve seen IG home inspector videos of new homes in YYC with large amounts of spray foam around skylights, bath fans, attic hatches, ridge vents, extending feet way beyond where it’s needed. Home inspectors don’t like seeing it.

[blondie]

This post is deleted!

[Renauda]

@blondie

I was referring to spray foam as primary insulation for walls and attics. Surprised that you’ve seen instances in soffits of newer structures - defeats the very purpose of airflow soffits for attic ventilation. Attics in cold temperature climates like here are all about air flow not entrapment. Temperature in attic should not be above a few degrees above the outside temperature. I know people tried using it back in the 1970’s when it first came on the market as primary house insulation with very disastrous results that were very costly to remediate.

Of course it is used around window and door frames, bath fans and the like. But like many other things less is often best. As one window installer told me the objective is to seal the gap and nothing much beyond. It works much better than rock wool fibreglass. Also works well in RVs and marine applications where movement is a factor.

[jon-nyc]

I’ll take my asbestos any day.

[Renauda]

Asbestos has marginal R factor and is safe so long as you don’t disturb it. So don’t use your attic for storage if it’s there. Asbestos insulation under the trade name Zonolite was the go to attic insulation for much of the 60s and well into the 70s. Worked okay as insulation- moisture had zero effect on it. Not great, but better than the sawdust or wood shavings from 40’s and 50’s. Was really bad though if you had an attic fire - it would pop like popcorn and eject asbestos fibres into surrounding air. Came from a mining and production facility in Libby, Montana - USEPA Superfund site and mesothelioma capital of the USA. I wonder why?

[blondie]

I didn’t know that about Montana. Yikes.
Where I like spray foam … is around and into high crevices of oversized soaker tubs. Keeps that water hot!

[Renauda]

@blondie

Yep that works. What I used was rock wool fibreglass batting in 6 mil contractor garbage bags sealed with Tuck tape and stuffed into the sides and bottom of the tub. Cheap, no mess and a took no time to complete start to finish. Works like a charm.

[blondie]

@Renauda . . That’s a good fix. In our first house, we had this soaker tub no one used because it did not hold heat, wasn’t insulated and we weren’t smart enough yet to figure out a fix. But it did creek terribly when I stepped into it to open the window above. That bugged me so I took off the panel and stuffed my old hard cover statistics texts below it. Problem solved. The text books stayed when I sold the house.

[Renauda]

@blondie

I was initially going to use foam but a friend of mine, a plumber, recommended the fibreglass batting in HD garbage bags -a fraction of the cost of that amount of spray foam, no risk of a mess and equally as efficient at retaining heat. I think the whole exercise cost around $25 for all the material and I was done in a half hour and set the tub back into the drain.

Another friend of mine once got it in his mind he could increase the efficiency of an old plastic Coleman camp cooler by drilling a few holes in the lid and sides then spraying foam into the air space between the outer and inner walls and lid. He said he saw it done on YouTube. Good thing he did it outside on his concrete patio. There was foam everywhere but where he wanted it. Cooler ended up in the garbage. Wasted two aerosol canisters of foam. He had no acetate for clean up either. Luckily I had a gallon of toluene in my garage that I gave him to clean the mess to his patio back door steps.

Around the base of our back door we had an issue of mice getting into the house in the fall. Five years ago I replaced the door and casing. I managed to seal the area under the step with foam mixed with fine steel wool. Haven’t seen a mouse in the house since then.