Costs for icynene insulation

[Wes Billups]

Can some of you tell me what the approximate going rate is for the spray in icynene insulation? I've gotten two quotes to insulate my basement. The first was $1.50/sq ft for 3.5" while the second was $1.60/sq ft for what they call random fill (2.5-3.5"). Just wondering what others have paid. I don't think I'll bother with any more quotes if these are in the ball park.

Thanks,
Wes

[Ken Garlock]

Wes, I had the Icynene put in when we built. I looked for my costs spreadsheet, but didn't run across. You didn't say, but I infer that you are insulating the side walls of your basement, right? Will they be spraying the Icynene between wall studs that you plan to cover with wall board? If you will have studs, there is no reason for not having an even 3.5 inch layer because one person will run the spray gun and another follow up with a wide knife cutting the foam even with the studs.

Good stuff, I would use it again.

[Rob Russell]

If you're talking about the expanding, spray in stuff - I was quoted about $1 per sq foot per inch of thickness 6 years ago when we were doing our addition. We would have needed a 5" spray, so it would have been $5/square foot.

At the time, I passed on that because of the cost. In retrospect, it would have worth the extra cost because of the time and hoops I went through to use conventional insulation - but that's another story.

[Jim Becker]

The closed cell foam I had installed under out great room costed out at $1.50 per square foot for R-19. I'm so glad we did it...noticeable difference in the room and floor over the winter and even now in the cooling season things are noticeably more comfortable. The floor is also more rigid as the stuff adds nice structural benefits, too. We plan on using it in our addition...2x4 walls with spray in rather than 2x6 walls with bats. Cost is about a wash and the spray in is much, much more efficient for both insulation and envelope.

[Hunter Wallace]

Hey there Wes,

I've recently received prices on two prospective projects.
The icynene, which is an "open-cell" foam, was NOT
recommended by the installer for basement walls, unless
there was a break between what could be damp walls and
the foam. The cost on that was about $1 per s/f per inch.
The urethane foam, which is closed cell, can be used on just
about any surface and, as Jim said, has a bit of a structural
component to it (they use it between structural-insulated-panels).
and was about $1.50 per s/f per inch.
As a matter of fact, the price was so high that it wasn't used
on either project. I would (and have!!!) argued that with rising
energy prices it's almost foolish to NOT use the best product
one can. As a reference I spoke to a business here in my town
who said they went from 4 tanks of oil a winter for heating
down to one. At $3 a gallon thats over $800 a winter in savings.
Take that out over 10 years and the foam starts to look
pretty darn good!!!

[CPeter James]

Why not use the urathane foam insulations seets between the studs and strapping on the floor. It has a "R" value of 7.2 to the inch. The last that I bought at the BORG was about $.75 per sq ft at 1 3/8". Really works great.

CPeter

[Ed Labadie]

I'm not familiar with the Icynene foam insulation, so I can't judge it.
I have used the Urethane foam for many years, it's worth every penny!!
Many years ago my grandfather had an apple orchard, the cooler was appx 20x30 with a 10' ceiling. All the walls were 8" thick with fiberglass insulation. He had 1" of the Urethane foam sprayed on the interior, ceiling included.
It cut the yearly cooling bill in half.
That was enough to sell me on it. Had my shop sprayed with it before I finished it.

Ed

[Jim Becker]

Why not use the urathane foam insulations seets between the studs and strapping on the floor. It has a "R" value of 7.2 to the inch. The last that I bought at the BORG was about $.75 per sq ft at 1 3/8". Really works great.

Yes, it provides good insulation value...where it covers. But using any rigid material between studs generally means there will be gaps just due to the variability in construction.
------

Wes, I completely overlooked the fact that the stuff you asked about was open cell. I looked at both. No question, the closed cell product is much better in many ways including providing it's own vapor barrier and the increased structural strength it affords. Here's the stuff/folks I used: http://www.spray-foam.com/ The "compare" page is interesting.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

On a slightly side note......I put R-19 fiberglass batts in my shop walls and had R-40 fiberglass blown into the ceiling. The builder put a house wrap over the sheathing and under the siding when he built it. I took the time to seal my electrical boxes so no air flow out of the boxes and overlapped the plastic barrier I put up over the fiberglass and under the plywood on the inner walls....cheap thermo pane windows and an insulated garage door. This week...twice I had the opportunity to go in there. We are having our normal "warm" spell for this time of year. When my outside thermometer read 95 on Monday...it was 77F in the shop. On Wednesday when the carport thermometer read 89F...the shop showed 73F. The conclusion...anything you do to reduce the transfer of heat or cold and air circulation will pay off in cheaper heating and cooling and a more pleasant environment to work in!

[Ken Garlock]

For those that might be interested, the Incynene website has the full story. The biggest advantage to it is that it completely seals the surface it covers.

[Ken Garlock]

Wes, I talked with the company that did my Icynene about the quotes you were given. They say that your numbers are 'in an acceptable price range', whatever that really means.

[Wes Billups]

Ken, thanks for all the input. With everyone's responses I am now wondering if I shouldn't be looking at the polyurethane insulation. It sounds like it would be a better option on the concrete block walls as it's closed cell. I'm still debating on just having the insulation sprayed into the ceiling/floor joists and then using a combination of styrofoam and fiberglass for the walls.

Anybody know of a polyurethane insulation supplier in central Ohio. My web searches are coming up blank.

Thanks,
Wes

[Brett Baldwin]

Closed-cell will be better than open-cell on this application. With Open-cell, moisture transfer is still a problem and since this a basement that would mean that mold and mildew would be an issue. Closed-cell will essentially seal the concrete as it is applied. Structural rigidity is a nice benefit to closed-cell but in a basement application, that won't really be an issue. Closed-cell does cost more but it is the right one for this job.

When looking for contractors, you'll want to look for insulators obviously but you'll also want to look at roofers since most sprayfoam operations do both.

So you know, the company I work for makes open and closed-cell foam as well as other roofing/insulation products. My main experience is in making the products but I put in a few years out on the Phoenix roofs before I got smart.