Spray foam insulation problems
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4 years ago
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spray foam insulation and health hazards
Comments (13)It looks like almost all the available public info comes from the insulation companies or sites with insulation company sponsors. I don't know about you but I certainly completely trust my health and my life to the chemical industry. Closed-cell spray foam is the most expensive residential insulation. When installed well it performs better than any other insulation. It is an excellent air barrier, is impervious to moisture, is an effective vapor retarder, and adds structural strength to a wall. ItâÂÂs made of a mixture of isocyanate, a petroleum-based chemical, and a catalyst, polyol resin, a surfactant, and a blowing agent. Spray foam comes in many varieties: high density, low density, medium density, polyurethane, phenol formaldehyde, and urea formaldehyde. It is plastic, it will not burn, but it will melt and the fumes will kill you, but the main problem is off-gassing formaldehyde, a chemical that can cause a variety of health problems and is listed by the EPA as a possible carcinogen in humans. Urea-formaldehyde is found in some pressed wood products, such as particleboard, hardwood plywood paneling and medium density fiberboard. Urea-formaldehyde foam insulation installed during the 1970s resulted in high indoor concentrations of formaldehyde but outgassing declines with time. Phenol-formaldehyde formulation proves better at lowering outgassing in foam and in wood products. After Polyurethane foams have cured, VOC emissions are extremely low and the foam should pose no problems to all but those who have chemical sensitivities. In any event, they don't off-gas formaldehyde....See MoreNow a basement spray foam insulation question
Comments (9)Ha! Diaper.. Thanks for that link Worthy. Its a great one for sure. The physics are certainly not the same though. From a strictly building science point of view, insulation is best on the exterior which keeps the dew points high (walls warm) and reduces thermal bridging. It also brings the thermal mass inside the conditioned space which definitely boosts energy performance. From the link; "Exterior insulation best location from physics perspective, has practical problems with protection, thermal bridging and insects." Iam surprised they are taking this newer stance of recommending insulation to Interior. Their main issue is the most surprising to me right now.. Protection: Exterior basement insulation is not exposed very long during the building process and not particularly vulnerable once its up in my opinion. Once its backfilled, what sort of damage will it incur? What am I missing here? Thermal bridging: Ive always thought thermal bridging is usually less and was very surprised to see that one researcher found the brickledge location to be a major issue. If no brickledge, no issue as I see it. Even with a brickledge, a first course of foamglass would be ideal but realize the logistics and possible price increase is questionable. Insects: Tough to argue with this one down south. There are insect resistant foams available. Best practice leaves a gap before wood framing which is a fairly challenging detail to get right in the field and of course this leaves a significant thermal bridge if not accounted for from the Interior. This is another reason I love pre-cast concrete panels for basements because I dont have a choice in the matter, they only come with Insulation on the interior. Still, if pre-cast panels werent available and there was no brickledge I would probably spray foam to the exterior if the price was right and treat for termites which is required anyway. While I dont think the inspection strip would account for nearly the heat loss of a brickledge its probably significant enough to follow BSCs advice if building in termite country which is ever expanding these days....See Moreinsulated basement with spray foam...problem??
Comments (5)Good. Right now I don't have any real good ideas about why the humidity would have increased dramatically beyond the fact that you will might not be running the heat and cooling so much. Both of those factors would lead to increased humidity. The fact is, I don't think that insulating the basement walls would have led to that much of an improvement in heat transfer. Usually the ground temp is moderate enough that insulating underground walls is not the first thing on the list to energy efficiency. Note that insulating exposed wall just above the foundation is often overlooked. How long did you live there before you did the spray foam? What was the humidity level running before you added the dehumidifier? I hope others might have some additional ideas....See MoreFoam Board Insulation after framing.. Place it and spray foam edges?
Comments (18)No such machine was used... They poured the entire garage at once which lasted from 8:15am-8:45am.. From that point until 1pm they were working the concrete by hand.. This is a quick shot of what they were doing: I just really can't believe that this company would allow this.. They are a higher end company and they do most of their work in high end neighborhoods.. I am actually getting a little concerned that its not even.. I went over while at work to take a quick pic but got their late and it was already dark.. I left the headlights of my car on and took a pic.. I can't tell if its the lighting combined with the trowel marks, but it almost looks like ripples.. This is what it looks like: At this point I don't know what to even do.. I feel like every time they get to the next stage I have to question what my options are because it wasn't done right.. I know I am not building a mansion or some multi million dollar home, but I just feel like I probably could have done a better job myself and I have absolutely no experience.. I know it's easy to second guess people, but I feel like this is not an acceptable finish.. I talked with a few people and they said there is no real way to "repair" this.. They would have to hammer it all out and pour again.. I had contemplated doing an epoxy finish but I don't even know if that would solve this.. Im sure it would help the finish look, but if this floor is in fact not level I am not sure an epoxy coating will level it out.. I am nervous to even go down to the basement.. I only saw a small portion from the upper level (no stairs installed yet) and everything was covered.. I can only assume the basement slab looks the same.....See MoreUser
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
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4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoUser
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4 years agoCharles Ross Homes
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4 years agomike_home
4 years agoCharles Ross Homes
4 years agoCharles Ross Homes
4 years agoJoseph Corlett, LLC
4 years agoCharles Ross Homes
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