insulation: spray in foam vs. cellulose

[Karl Card]

I figured spray in foam was going to be a little more but sheeeeeeet not 10x more in cost than cellulose. 200 dollars for cellulose vs. 2000+ for spray in foam.

Okay now i am asking if anyone on the forum has used spray in foam and what were the results and were they that great of results in the areas of heating and cooling and sound deadening?

thanks for the info

PS. i hope i put this in the best category but if not feel free to move it

[Tom Godley]

The performance of spray foam is unbelievable -- nothing comes close when you factor in the ability to seal out any air leaks.

The figures you are talking about sound like you are doing a small area -- so I am a bit confused

[Scott T Smith]

I have used it in a portion of my shop as well as in a small farmhouse. Nothing beats it.

A good estimate around here to use is $1.60 per square foot for open cell foam. I think that the closed cell is slightly more expensive. I like the open cell for shop applications because it offers excellent sound deadening as well as thermal insulation.

[Bruce Volden]

I had my shop foamed with the closed sell stuff 3 years ago. I asked about the open cell foam and was told it was also a good insulator! The closed cell stuff added rigidity to the structure as you can't "punch" through it as it is quite dense when it dries. My shop size is 36' X 29' and I just had the walls sprayed, cost was $2300 :eek: but I went for it anyway---wouldn't have it any other way now!!

Bruce

[Lee Schierer]

My parents spray foamed their house 20 years ago. Since it was an existing house they had to fill wall cavities. It made a significant difference in their heating bills. They had no odor problems.

As I understand it there are different densities of foam products that can be sprayed on. Some are open cell and some are closed. The differences are R-rating and price. Low density foams don't stop air flow and have low r-ratings. You don't get high R-ratings for a low price. Also you can't stuff 6" fiberglass bats into a 3-1/2" deep cavity and get the full R value, so if you have space limitations and want high R-ratings go with the foam.

[Craig D Peltier]

I thought I just read in Poo Meachanics last month that cellulose was a better insultaor?

[Karl Card]

my house is 25 x 50 with 9 foot ceilings. so I admit that I am not up on how to accurately see how many sq ft I have to spray. Seems the guy at home depot figured it up and said ineeded 35 bags of cellulose @ 5.xx a bag. If i did it right I was looking at 2150 for one inch of foam. I do have tru 2x4, not the 1.75 x 3.5.
the site i was looking at says that 1 inch of foam gives r7. 2 inches r14. etc..

[Ed Griner]

My shop is a former train station,that I had moved to my place.Once I stripped the interior walls,daylight would show right through the siding.Icynene was sprayed in the interior walls,ceiling,and under the floor.It is now the warmest building on the property.I heat it like toast with a very small electric heater.The shop is 30'x17'x17'all long leaf pine.Cost me $3500 to insulate.In the future I wouldn't do it any other way.Since then I have found several other types of spray foams.Be patient,look around. Good luck/Ed

[John Coloccia]

I was cheap and insulated my shop with fiberglass and foam board(on the cement walls). If I had to do it again, I would do spray foam.

[Ed Griner]

Karl, One more thing,if you go with spray,make sure they mask everything you don't insulated.The over spray is tough to remove.My shop floor is pine,so after the spray I had it sanded. Ed

[Dave Schreib]

My new house is 2x the size of my old house. New house has spray foam and is very comfortable. Old house had FG and was drafty and uncomfortable. Heating bill for the old house was higher than the bill for the new house. And we are much more comfortable. If you can fit it in the budget, do it.

[Jim Becker]

Properly installed spray foam insulation, especially closed cell, results in super insulation and much greater performance over time. Yes, it's more expensive to install, but it really does a good job. It also adds structural rigidity which can benefit many buildings and offers an excellent vapor/infiltration barrier, too. When we added our addition not quite two years ago, we went with the spray foam and it's been outstanding in every way. Our HVAC energy usage would be much greater if we had gone with more "traditional" insulation products.

[Bill Leonard]

Make sure the installers have the "know how" to make the install correctly. We had it done on new construction and the dopeheads that made the install, blew in more than the wall studs would contain. The foam obviously expands to fill the void, plus overflows the stud "boundary". The sheetrockers were not pleased with the final result. Long story short, the insulation contractor spent more time fairing the walls than spraying the foam. I expect that the two "installers?" are now flipping burgers, if they are lucky. It took two kids about 8 hours to blow the house and five men 4 days to "clean up".

[Brian Elfert]

I regret not having my house spray foamed although my energy bills are pretty low as it is.

The cost of spray foam was maybe $2,000 extra up front. My house is the smallest one the builder had ever done and he speced fiberglass instead of foam to save on the cost. Normally he would just do spray foam as someone spending $750,000 isn't going to care about $5,000 for better insulation. My house was $190,000 not including land.

My house is comfortable and not drafty at all, but energy costs will keep going up.