Why Insulate with Spray Polyurethane Foam?

Improve Indoor Air Quality

When you control air infiltration, you greatly reduce or stop the entry of dust, pollen and soil gasses like radon into your building. With a controlled environment in your home or office you can live a more comfortable life, with less cleaning too.

Insulate Band Joist Areas

Band joist areas have always been difficult areas to insulate effectively with traditional insulation products. But because the polyurethane foam is spray applied, effective insulation is easy. Now, the bottom line for you is energy savings, minimized drafty areas and warmer floors.

Add Strength to Your Building

During installation, the polyurethane foam bonds tight to the framing and adds strength to the building. The expanded foam effectively insulates tight areas that are hard to seal - like the space behind electrical outlets. You don't even need 2"x 6" studs to achieve optimum R-values. You save on construction costs and benefit from continued energy savings throughout the life of the home.

Save Money

A building that has good insulation plus air infiltration control:

• Reduces the use of fossil fuels for energy
• Reduces the CO2 emissions that damage the environment
• Saves the owner money
• Reduces the capital outlay for heating and air conditioning

Control Air Filtration

Air infiltration is cause by leaks around windows and doors, or voids, joints and cracks hidden inside the building structure. Uncontrolled air travels through the structure inside walls and ceilings, under basework and along hidden pathways in the plumbing or electrical system. Even the most well-built buildings have seams and gaps that lead to air infiltration.

National energy labs estimate that air infiltration wastes nearly half of every heating and cooling dollar.

What Is Comfort Foam?

Comfort Foam is the answer to the challenge of insulating and sealing the building envelope. It is a sprayed-in-place polyurethane foam (SPF) that is closed-cell, high R-value foamed plastic insulation. It is fabricated by a professional at your home site from two liquid components. COMFORT FOAM brand SPF is used wherever superior comfort is required, and to reduce the usage and total cost of energy.

The primary property of spray polyurethane foam is its superior thermal resistance. As an energy conserver, it has some very important advantages over other insulation materials. Also, when sprayed or poured in place, SPF has the advantage of no seams or joints, thereby eliminating air leakage. Used correctly, the performance-life of the SPF is equal to that of the building to which it is applied.

What It Does

Controls air infiltration

One of the country's most critical home energy problems is air infiltration. United States Government Energy Lab estimate that air infiltration wastes up to 40% of every home heating and cooling dollar. Unfortunately, most residential buildings were constructed before the size of the problem, and the ease of the solution, were so widely known.

Spray Polyurethane Foams have been used as a high performance insulation material for more than 30 years. Investigations by building scientists have shown air leakage to be the main problem, responsible for poor energy conservation performance in buildings.

People call it "air infiltration" but, technically, it's unwanted, uncontrolled air-flow through the house, moving in or out of the architecture. For example, in cold weather, the heated air inside the house flows out. Frigid outside air and moisture leak in, causing rooms to feel drafty.

This uncontrolled air disrupts the temperature, air pressure and humidity of the living space, in any weather. The heating and cooling system has to work harder to maintain your family's comfort. Energy is wasted and that causes higher utility bills.

Air infiltration is caused by leaks around windows and doors, and by the spaces, joints, voids and cracks hidden inside the structure. Hidden is the problem. Once the house is finished, gaps become invisible but they are there. Air penetrates the building shell in one location, flows through interior cavities and emerges at a different location. Typically, this uncontrolled air travels through the house inside walls and ceilings, under baseboards, and along hidden pathways in the plumbing and electrical system. Even the best-built houses have seams and gaps that permit air infiltration.

Unlike other home insulations, the sealing quality of COMFORT FOAM eliminates the need for wind-inhibiting building wraps, poly vapor barriers, tapes and caulking and, depending on the type of design construction, even sheathings can be eliminated.

SPF has many advantages that the designer can exploit when specifying an air barrier for the buildings envelope. A home that is well-insulated and protected from moisture intrusion through effective air infiltration control:

• reduces the usage of fossil fuels for energy
• reduces the CO2 emissions that are damaging the environment, AND
• saves the homeowner money.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recognizes and states that spray polyurethane foam alone "CAN provide an air-and water tight barrier."

Reduces/Eliminates Convection Currents Within the Walls

Intrusion of air into the stud wall cavity causes convection (movement of warm air to the top of the cavity and cold to the bottom). After the insulation is installed, there should not be any air circulation from one side of the stud space to the other. Any cracks or breaks in the system will reduce the effectiveness of the insulation. Unlike other insulations such as fiber, which permit air movement, SPF stops air infiltration and reduces convection.

Minimizes Infestation

COMFORT FOAM has no nutritional value that would attract insects or other pests.

Minimizes Thermal Bridging

Different components of building construction have different thermal resistance factors. This can produce cold areas that lead to condensation inside the walls. COMFORT FOAM covers the bridges on all sides, greatly reducing the transmission of heat or cold.

Fully-adhered COMFORT FOAM replaces the need for adhesives or numerous mechanical fasteners that penetrate the substrate and decrease insulation efficiency.

Controls Condensation

Many homes now are built tighter and with greater insulation than ever before. However, this can mean that moisture from cooking, laundry, and showers can be trapped in attics and other places where it can lead to wood rot, peeling paint, and deteriorating roofing and ceiling materials. In turn, that can affect the insulation value of commonly used home insulation materials.

Used to insulate, COMFRT FOAM insulation systems control both heat build-up and condensation, resulting in a cooler attic in warmer environments and a dryer attic in cold climates. For the homeowner, that means comfort, energy conversation and structural stability.

Keeps Water Out of the Home.

The closed-cell hydrophobic nature of COMFORT FOAM provides extra insurance that your exterior walls will shed water by sealing walls from the inside, where leaking areas may not easily be seen.

Q. What are some other attributes of COMFORT FOAM for the homeowner?

A.

• Adheres to most surfaces
• Contains no urea formaldehyde
• Uses no fasteners
• Adds little weight to building
• High strength -to- weight ratio
• Adds structural strength
• Seamless application
• Insulates hard-to-reach areas
• Resists water
• Eliminates drafts
• Dimensionally stable
• Odorless
• Resists mildew and fungus
• Chemically resistant
• Can be used in a wide range of temps
• No food value for rodents
• Saves space
• Does not shrink or settle
• High R-value

Q. Is COMFORT FOAM approved by the U.S. Building Codes?

A. Yes. The three recognized model code group in the United States all have sections relating to the Approval of sprayed polyurethane foams used in construction. The products are accepted nationwide.