Spray Foam Insulation

FYI insulation is about a 30% return on your taxes when the paperwork is done correctly.

If doing spray foam make sure you fish every wire you can possibly think of.

Check overhead before you do anything. Heat goes up and blown in attic insulation makes a cheap difference quickly.

If you can feel air moving, that needs to be done 1st.

Windows/doors are also a tax deduction now with the right certification

 

Is the snake okay? They don't like the cold.

 

I have seen too many moldy attics caused by hack contractors. Insulation contractors not using vent chutes and covering the soffit vents with blown in insulation, or bath fan ductwork either missing, terminating inside the attic, or ran up to, but not connected to a roof vent.

And, somehow, someone in the house is supposedly allergic to mold, even tho they live in western Oregon. It's moldy here at least half of the year.

 

When we built our house in 2015, our builder insisted we do it. Best thing investment I made in this place.

My power bills are $198/month, neighbors with traditional insulation about just a hair bigger (less 150 sq ft) and no 20' ceilings like my place is about $350/month. I can walk into my attic in July when it's 110 outside and not sweat my ass off. I've had some issues with our upstairs HVAC unit....I was able to shut off the system for literally a month without having the kids go nuts cause it was too cold/hot upstairs. HVAC repair guy said I was only noticing the problems because of the insulation....had it not been spray foam, I would've been having issues from like day 4. LOL

Whatever you're doing....spray foam it; it's worth it.

Only downfall I see are leaks and having to move/add wires or pipes. I am full foam meaning ceiling, walls, and crawl space; so doing any of these downfalls means having to hack the foam out.

 

I watched a video a couple weeks ago about how home inspectors and insurance company's hate the stuff because you can't check / detect rot from leaky roofs and won't write policy's. Better check into that, can also affect being able to sell for the same reasons.

 

Let Freedom Ring!!!!

Free at Last!!!!

 

Please port up if you get some info. That looks like a weird foam..not a urethane foam. I would be interested to see what it is and how well it lasts and provides insulation. If you can get a technical data sheet that would be sweet.

Good luck. I assume this isnt a cheap option.

 

This is all super great info, thanks guys. I'll definitely post up reviews and postmortems if I end up going this way.

Genuinely wish I had an update on Tammy. Almost miss the poor girl.

 

I can't give you any info on the longevity of it, but I can tell you most of the commenters here didn't bother to check the link. The stuff he linked is nothing like the two part closed cell urethane spray foam. It comes as a powder that they mix with water, which turns into a slurry that they pump into the walls where it expands and cures. If you hold a chunk of the cured foam in your hand you can easily break it apart. If I remember correctly, one down side to it is if it gets wet again from a leak it can lose it's structure and settle, a bit. Not sure what prices are these days, but 13 years ago it was about $3k to do a 1200 sq ft two story house with 10 ft ceilings. It is nowhere near as expensive as the urethane spray foams.

 

Would foam insulation hold this up?

700 pounds of acorns from a woodpecker

https://nypost.com/2023/02/07/picture-shows-incredible-find-in-houses-walls/

 

Wow.

 

How big is that woodpecker?

 

I assume this was in Cincy? Who did you use please?

 

After some experience in the house with partial use of foam after a fire, I decided to do the whole (detached) garage with the stuff during a big redo. It is like a Yeti cooler now, very impressed. In Florida heat, the temp in the un-ACed side dropped 10 to 20 degrees.

I changed homeowners insurance (this is Florida after all) and I did run into some inspection problems due to the foam, but we were able to work around all the issues.

 

You would be correct. I am pretty sure it was A-1 Ohio Valley Retrofoam, which appears to have gone out of business or changed names sometime in the last 13 years. It looks like Cincinnati Retrofoam may have taken over for them in the area. Seems to be the same logo and same stuff.

 

Don't fuck around if you plan on staying there. You'll make up the expense.

Get the urethane

 

Sounds like any kind of insulation would be a help whether spay foam or blown in. It will be worth the money. I work for a custom builder in Georgetown. We use Bio-Tex insulation for our foam installs. I'm not sure of his work radius, but Jared is very reputable. You might look him up. If you need a number, let me know.

BTW, Last weeks freeze was not as bad as 2 years ago. This was just more ice this time. Sad to see all the tree damage everywhere.

 

I believe that's a "Tri-polymer" type foam, it does settle or shrink a bit once the water dries off. It does not have any of the properties of a urethane foam that FEMA likes.