I wish you were in Georgia

Bad idea for stone foundations!

What makes spray foam pull down OSB, making the appearance of a wavy roof? Both houses were new construction.

Very cool. That makes all kinds of sense. The load transfer from the concrete to the structural fill would be way better. What's the compressive strength of this stuff? They build entire overpasses on top of structural foam.

It gets ridiculously cold here in the Dakotas. So winter time is for snowboarding. By January 1 it’s usually pretty crappy and I’m mostly shut down for the next few months. I’ll do the occasional job here and there where it’s like a basement on a home that’s already been heated for months or years at that point, but everything else is waiting for better weather.

So you have an indirect fire heater, but you don’t have the exhaust plumbed outside in this video. So all the combustion moisture and fumes are pumped into the structure. Is that how you normally use that heater or what’s up here?

Everything stinks and off gasses. The carpet stinks for a month. The drywall mud smells to high heaven. The paint. I even bought a purple mattress and had to leave it uncovered with the fan running for over a week before I could sleep in the same room, because it gave me such a headache.

Main reason to use foam and batt is for sound isolation.

You give the facts. And daily others give their opinions because they "know best." I'll go with you on this. Incidentally I live in Florida and I am getting ready to have a spray foam job on my underside of my roof with open cell and lots are talking me out of closed cell but I may do closed anyway. Anyway, this attic will be fully sealed. Would you rec a dehumidifier, ERV or anything other than just sealing perfectly. Ranch home. 4/12 pitch.

Let me be clear: YOU ARE CORRECT. What is amazing is that here in florida they STILL buy into the myth. At least the folks I have had over to my home for spray foam quotes.

I do not know how I missed this video. Bottom line, when the desire to have an extremely insulated residence, you are living in a bubble. The real pros and cons are two factors. The first factor is the amount of money you want to spend on your new build or renovation between to the two categories of insulation and HVAC. With the second factor being how fast is the return investment and long term savings achieved from the first factor? As we learned over the last year, the published R-value of closed cell spray does not do it justice. The effective performance of CC foam has been tested with results of anywhere with a range from 2x to 3x higher. The BTU retention of the interior condition air whether it is heat or cooling will hold its value for a much greater period. Interesting to note, SIP & Nail Base manufactures are now putting that information as well in their technical bulletins with 2x the performance of published R-value. Whereas other forms of insulation would require vast amounts of insulation and a greater overall wall thickness. That also means installing your windows and doors in a proper position to avoid the interior condensation build up. At that point you are now in the high-end passive house category. With coverage from the basement to the roof. Now, you are slowly seeing increase R-values for the basement, or a 1st floor that comes close to the roof requirement. Hence, the bubble effect. As Mike clearly stated now and, in the past, when you make a house extremely tight, you must have the right balance with your HVAC equipment regardless of the type of insulation and thickness of. A house does not breath, rather the need to dry out from moisture. Organic specimen such as us humans, floral, and our beloved pets need to breath. Therefore, the balance in the HVAC equipment must be correctly specified for moisture removal and air quality to keep the interior correctly conditioned in the bubble.

What's a general rule of thumb to set all of my heaters at? I usually set everything at 53 C. But it just seems a little "runny" to me. Especially doing an overhead, I get a lot of drips.

I love Buck Owens!♥️♥️♥️

That's a neat change of pace indeed! Will ya'll be in the credits, Mike? That'd be pretty cool!

Dry drains, I.e. sewer gas may be a problem. Have the homeowner fill a floor drains with mineral oil. It does not evaporate and keeps sewer gas from coming into the house.

Im in the artifical rock business thinking about using spray foam to base out rocks what would you recommend open cell or closed cell we would be spraying outside next to pools

Hides termites and carpenter ants

Do you have comparable efficiency charts to compare “reduction in heat loss” compared to fiberglass and other common insulation types?

The best thing about the movie "Bats" is the end scene in the bat cave, which my company foamed. It was fun.

Love that song!!!

I am looking at doing closed cell on my roof ceiling. I live in Tahoe and this is a new construction house, but it still gets really hot in the summer. There is no AC and the furnace is in the garage which is an embarrassing place to put it. Is putting in closed cell going to really help? I will build a closet around the heater, but I still want to lower my heat load and as a bonus lower my winter bills too. From what I am gathering, it won't be worth it because my hvac is not in the attic.

How long did it take you to figure out there is corruption in your industry? You are either funny or niave! The Code is written by the controling members and Y'all pay the price because you do not grease the politicians. Live and learn.

How can I start a business doing this? I and very handy and DIY experienced, but have no experience with this.

I'm a personal builder and have four warehouse type buildings I plan to erect that are about 16,000 sq ft each (footprint). I'm considering buying my own rig. Any schools you or anyone else can recommend? I see them listed on the internet, but don't know which ones are trying to sell a product or equipment, and which ones are truly helping people to learn the trade.

Foam off gases indefinitely; wouldn’t even consider it. Half the chemicals in there aren’t even tested or rated by the epa yet. Ive have a temperpedic bed for the last two years and that thing still smells. The smell gets trapped under the pillow really bad. I don’t care what anyone says, foam is not safe. You really trust the epa or anything government related? Those lobbyists bought n paid for every one of them politicians.

Oh ya ... Closed soffits as per fire code and we have soffit lights

So glad to find these videos before my husband put a huge hole in the gable. Central Alberta's deep freeze produced horrible amounts of attic rain. We are still building (yr 4 ... covid blew our budget.. now we build on time and $ earned) not all the fire taping is done so obviously we had internal penetration just weren't prepared for it to go down all the way from 2nd fl to the basement. Best time to catch it before all is finished, some repairs to do on some main floor window frames. anything else isn't finished anyway so not a huge problem. Hubby tore out some drywall upstairs closet & bdrm, both layers of wall bat were soaked (see below) and ceiling. sub floors water stained. mostly on the north and east walls a bit on the west and none yet on the south. Key features: light grey metal simple a-frame roof (6-12 I think), double wall exterior walls 2x6 exterior bat insulation vapour+ 1" gap + 2x4 interior bat insulation drywalled not all taping mudding done all ceilings are vaulted 2nd floor Trusses ordered 2" heel came as 1' no time to change. added 6' closed cell spray foam from the exterior top plate up the roof deck, then the second wall was installed. (winter was coming yada yada) attic pink blow in fibre over all that a lot of it ! Questions: I assume the ridge vent needs to go for a hot roof? Only one roof penetration for the main vent stack. Attic access is from the outside on the west side gable end, box it in, inside the attic? if we add the closed cell foam to the roof deck all the way, does it have to then meet the interior edge of the interior wall? I wish I had a better contact for you, I would appreciate some input. Thanks for taking the time to make these vids I will send these to our county planning department.

I feel sorry for roofers and homeowners with spray. Most roof decking needs to replaced at some point, a lot of bad roofers out there. How hard is it going to be to rip that ply off there to replace? It’s going to be super expensive and difficult. Then you’ll have to reinsulate. Traditional insulation in areas that need access for service is a better option long term. Plus, I’ve seen a few bad spray jobs that owners were getting sick

I plan on doing a metal roof with zip OSB sheathing. And close cell spray foam insulation underneath on the inside. Do you recommend having a ventilated roof and ceiling off the attic completely with the spray foam?

Blowing agent released

I have a horrible stench from the unmixed foam Retro Foam left in my home, 8 months later and it still reeks. Avoid Retro Foam Franchisee's they're amateurs.

Canadian from Ontario here. Already made the move bro! Make the move already, what are you waiting for 😂. Need help with my new home in Houston, TX.

Would you install closed cell spray foam in a basement in a freezing climate? The basement is old (1920), so assuming no water protection is installed on the outside of the concrete foundation.

All boils down to, can i trust the operator. And considering how much can go wrong and the issues it can cause i would not.

Will it shift and crack over time? Where i live lots of movement

I’m currently building a shed with 2x4 walls 12 feet tall and I’ve decided to insulate the building…I was gonna use 2” ridged foam board but I have decided to go with 2” of closed cell spray foam in the walls and perhaps 2” in the ceiling directly to the roof deck…I called one of my local insulation contractors and they were suggesting 3.5” in the ceiling but I’m not planning on heating and cooling it all the time…2” is R12 and 3.5 is R20 from what they are telling me so maybe I’ll just get 3” in the ceiling at R18…I feel that should be enough…even at that it will be much more insulated than the house I grew up in!..lol!!

I sprayed attic bonus room sheetrock. It’s incredibly efficient. The next problem came from the hvac duct work is in the attic. Trying to blow conditioned air through 150 degree duct work. Shooting all the ducts in 2” cc sealed them and keeps them cool. Ac unit actually works way better

Great content...as always. Thank you Mike!

Hello Mike and thanks for your very informative videos which were just recommended to me. We have a 30 year old home on Lake Michigan. It has a formed on site standing seam copper roof. The underlayment is Grace Ice & Water Shield (directly under the copper and sticking to the sheathing decking (7/8th plywood). This building has cathedral cedar ceilings and a non vented roof using blown in cellulose. Lightning rods on the ridge cap recently started leaking (broken calk seal) and some of the lightning rods had penetrated the Grace Ice and Water Shield under the ridge cap. This caused black mold on. the interior ridge beam. The fire retardant in the cellulose limited the mold - but the ceiling cellulose near the ridge was wet from condensation. The temperture at the copper was measured at 140F wile interior a few inches away was at 80F. We are removing all of the ceiling cellulose and replacing it with closed cell foam. The insulation contractor wants to install 6" of closed cell foam (icynene) directly to the underside of the roof sheathing. This would create decking encapsulated by Grace on one side and closed cell foam on the other. There should be no moisture in the plywood but also no way for any trapped moisture to get out. In one of your replies you indicated that this situation should be dealt with using "sheathing membranes". I did some research on sheathing membranes and it looks like they are just an impermeable vapor barrier? deltaacademy.dorken.com/resources/the-fundamentals-of-sheathing-membranes-and-air-barrier-protection/ Can I have my contractor spay closed cell foam directly to the bottom of the sheathing? Or we need to stick a sheathing membrane on first then the foam over the top? I really don't want to cut holes in the house to vent the roof because we live right on Lake Michigan and often experience high winds and driving rain and snow (and 18 foot waves) Lots of information, some want me to create a vented roof by cutting holes in the house and venting the ridge cap because they say the sheathing must be vented to dry and cool. I'm a licensed engineer (not a building engineer) and find conflicting advice. Thanks for your help.

Ok, i agree with ypur explanation, butni get more like 10-15 drgrees in an old southern home with spray foam roof.

Great Video! As an HVAC contractor in Texas, we notice that evaporator coils begin to leak refrigerant MUCH sooner than traditionally insulated homes.

So if you had a bad spray foam install will it ever be rid of the smell?

I’m currently building a shed in my yard that I want to insulate…I don’t want to use pink fibreglass because it won’t be lived in and I’m not going to heat it all winter…only when I’m in there working…I was going to put 2” rigid foam in the walls, but I put 12’ ceilings in the place and it’s a lot of cutting and fitting and many cans of window and door foam to seal everything so I’ve decided to get the spray foam guys in…I’m currently getting quotes now!

Smells.. I have thought about it only a little, but closed cell foam can't help but reduce air changout just a bit. I bought a computer desk many years ago made of partcle board, and the outgassing of that went on for about a year. The more a building gets tightened, the more we notice all sorts of things. Beyond that, love the consumer tips this channel brings - not many folks give a nuts & bolts level perspective on products/applications this well.

My builder uses open cell in the roof in South Florida. What’s your opinion on that, because I still have time to address it. Home almost complete, Spray would be next month.

Any experience with housewalls made of aerated concrete and closed spray foam from the inside on a steel frame mounted on the walls? Here in Denmark a lot of houses are made of AC. I just had my floor construction made out of 10 cm closed spray foam, heating system clipsed on an covered with 5 cm of floating putty, all made by professionals. Now I'm consideting putting it on my 19 cm from 1958 AC walls. I have central ventilation system with heat recovery in all of the 98 sqm house.

You're doing amazing work! Enjoy your success! You're not marketing your business, or even your product, you're becoming the face of an entire industry

Does this mean I shouldn't buy barrels on ebay.....?

I'd like to do an adobe look over an interior closed cell foam in a geodesic dome. Could I add drywall mud or thinset over wire to make it look flat like drywall? Would the cement affect the foam from a chemical standpoint? Maybe coat it with paint and then add the layers of.paint?