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Author	Comments
Ralph Salisbury Posted: Jan 09, 2008 07:40 PM	Poor spray foam installation I had a new home spray foamed with a .5 soy/castor oil based spray foam. The contractor was supposed to apply 6 inches everywhere including the soffit area because the attic was to be sealed and a conditioned space. The company only applied 2 inches on many areas especially high up wher it would be very tough to confirm. I had the home tested and the infra red pictures tell the whole story, Heat loss! I have the worst case of ice damming throughout the soffit/gutter area. The contractor will not come back and I dont have the money yet to sue him at this time. I will when I can afford it. Would it be alright to insulate the floor of the attic with conventional fiberglass or cellulose insulation or will this cause problems with my conditioned space attic. It kills me to have to install fiberglass but I just cannot afford to have this attic spray foamed again. Down the line would it be possible to spray a closed foam over the open foam product that I currently have installed? Thanks for your input.
mason Posted: Jan 10, 2008 03:39 PM	Without looking at the job, I would hate to offer an opinion, but you would not want to spray closed cell over open cell foam. Good luck with your situation. Try calling the foam supplier for help. They may have be able to look at it or at least talk to the contractor.
philip mullins Posted: Jan 14, 2008 09:14 PM	let me guess, lowest bid, right? this is a problem that i fear we will see more and more of as more untrained peeps get into this buisness. and not only the new guys but, old hands as well will saqcrifice quality so they can lower thier bids. if you get a bunch of bids at around $1.00 an inch, and one or two at around $0.70, well... you will prob get what you pay for. there is always somebody cheaper.
Ralph Salisbury Posted: Jan 15, 2008 01:18 PM	Wrong, this job was the same price as another bid and this company had 14 years experience.There was another bid which was three times more expensive than the both of the other bids. Would it be okay to spray foam the attic floor and seal up the soffits correctly? This would be less sq footage and thusly less money. My sheet rock is getting damaged at the top corner of some rooms on the exterior walls. I believe this is because the heat loss areas are meeting with the cold outside air which is causing tons of condensation and soaking the sheet rock. If this is doing this to the sheet rock does anyone know what may be occurring to the plywood under the asphalt roof? I am very concerned with the long term damage that will shorten the lifespan of my roof system. Thanks
mason Posted: Jan 16, 2008 07:34 AM	When insulating the floor, you want to vent the attic. This would separate the attic space from the interior space while having the attic the same relative climate as the outside (both in humidity and temperature) I have SPF installed to the floor of my townhome in Virginia and it is effective at stopping ice damming but is not as energy efficient as doing an unvented attic. (builidng codes at the time prevented me from installing the foam to the underside of the roof deck in an unvented attic configuration.

Author

Comments

Ralph Salisbury

Posted: Jan 09, 2008 07:40 PM

Poor spray foam installation

I had a new home spray foamed with a .5 soy/castor oil based spray foam. The contractor was supposed to apply 6 inches everywhere including the soffit area because the attic was to be sealed and a conditioned space. The company only applied 2 inches on many areas especially high up wher it would be very tough to confirm. I had the home tested and the infra red pictures tell the whole story, Heat loss! I have the worst case of ice damming throughout the soffit/gutter area.
The contractor will not come back and I dont have the money yet to sue him at this time. I will when I can afford it. Would it be alright to insulate the floor of the attic with conventional fiberglass or cellulose insulation or will this cause problems with my conditioned space attic. It kills me to have to install fiberglass but I just cannot afford to have this attic spray foamed again. Down the line would it be possible to spray a closed foam over the open foam product that I currently have installed? Thanks for your input.

mason

Posted: Jan 10, 2008 03:39 PM

Without looking at the job, I would hate to offer an opinion, but you would not want to spray closed cell over open cell foam. Good luck with your situation. Try calling the foam supplier for help. They may have be able to look at it or at least talk to the contractor.

philip mullins

Posted: Jan 14, 2008 09:14 PM

let me guess, lowest bid, right? this is a problem that i fear we will see more and more of as more untrained peeps get into this buisness. and not only the new guys but, old hands as well will saqcrifice quality so they can lower thier bids. if you get a bunch of bids at around $1.00 an inch, and one or two at around $0.70, well... you will prob get what you pay for. there is always somebody cheaper.

Ralph Salisbury

Posted: Jan 15, 2008 01:18 PM

Wrong, this job was the same price as another bid and this company had 14 years experience.There was another bid which was three times more expensive than the both of the other bids. Would it be okay to spray foam the attic floor and seal up the soffits correctly? This would be less sq footage and thusly less money. My sheet rock is getting damaged at the top corner of some rooms on the exterior walls. I believe this is because the heat loss areas are meeting with the cold outside air which is causing tons of condensation and soaking the sheet rock. If this is doing this to the sheet rock does anyone know what may be occurring to the plywood under the asphalt roof? I am very concerned with the long term damage that will shorten the lifespan of my roof system. Thanks

mason

Posted: Jan 16, 2008 07:34 AM

When insulating the floor, you want to vent the attic. This would separate the attic space from the interior space while having the attic the same relative climate as the outside (both in humidity and temperature) I have SPF installed to the floor of my townhome in Virginia and it is effective at stopping ice damming but is not as energy efficient as doing an unvented attic. (builidng codes at the time prevented me from installing the foam to the underside of the roof deck in an unvented attic configuration.

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