Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [spray-foam]

88 questions
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Why don't people use rigid or spray foam insulation in attics?

I'm looking to upgrade the insulation in my attic bumping it from an R-6 to R-30 or better, and while looking into things I realized I've never seen anyone use rigid or spray foam insulation in an attic. Is there a particular caveat to these, or is…
anthonyryan1
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How can I store canned spray foam insulation for reuse weeks or months later?

The nozzle of the spray bottle hardens quickly which makes it impossible to use after a few days and even hours.
JinSnow
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Looking for a non-stick space-filling foam

I'm looking for a material that will expand to fill a cavity of an irregular shape, and then solidify into a permanent shape. I am not using it primarily for insulation purposes. Polyurethane spray foam would be otherwise perfect if it were not for…
goweon
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How do I insulate the ceiling in my crawlspace?

I'm desperately looking for some advice on how to properly insulate the crawl space. I live in eastern Massachusetts where it has recently been in the teens and 20s for low temps in winter. I have a large crawl space under my kitchen and 3 season…
MrsPowerTool
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Why would you ever choose open-cell spray foam?

I've been researching spray foam for the attic in my Maryland house built in 1901. Currently it's a vented attic, and we've decided to spray foam the bottom of the roof deck, turning the attic into un-vented conditioned space. The insulation…
TCK
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How can I remove cured expanding foam from floorboards?

The girlfriend and I bought an old house and the floorboards are in brilliant condition so we've decided to sand them, stain them, and varnish them. As soon as we took up the carpets we noticed expanding foam everywhere. The problem we now have is…
mickburkejnr
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Why don't conduit fill rules apply to cables encased in closed-cell foam?

I have a question that is more theoretical in nature. I know that when you have 14/2 cable and put it in a 1/2 conduit you are above fill (or just at max fill). The NEC cites that this is in part due to heat dissipation. 300.17 Number and Size of…
Alex
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Plumber set my bathtub on top of Great Stuff foam. Do I need to pull the tub?

My floor was about 1/16” off level so the plumber said he couldn’t set the tub into a mortar bed. The tub is acrylic. He sprayed a can on great stuff foam on the subfloor then set the tub on top of that and used shims on the side to bring it up to…
Niko
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Would sprayed insulation under the roof deck cool down a hot attic?

Typical 4-br type 80s-ish build suburban house in the south: downstairs ac is super-powerful; upstairs ac is fair. Hard/impossible to keep the upstairs below about 75 say in summer. The problem is the attic gets INCREDIBLY hot. I installed a…
Fattie
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Pro foam gun leaks at can adapter

The can appears to be seated correctly and screwed in firmly. And yet it is leaking foam around the adapter - I saw it starting to slowly ooze out along the mating surface immediately after screwing in the can. Is this a problem with the gun, or…
alexw
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How do I raise my garage ceiling after spray foaming?

I'm starting to add central vac to my house, which mostly involves pipes in the garage. I cut a hole in the garage ceiling (drywalled) to check things out, and found there's an 18" up to the bottom of the joists on the second floor (There is a room…
gregmac
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Does 2" of spray foam mean 2", or are measurements like with finished lumber?

I just had (and paid for) 2" of spray foam on my crawl space walls. I checked the thickness today and it is rarely 2" thick, usually just under 1.5", and sometimes just 1" thick. Is this normal? Or should I be requesting a 25-ish% refund?
mankoff
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Okay to seal the gap between concrete foundation and sill plates from the outside using caulk or spray foam?

My house doesn't have any gasket between the sill plates and the concrete foundation, so there's some gap between the two (see red circle on the photo, which was taken from the ground facing up). I frequently see spiders in the house, and this gap…
James
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Open cell spray foam offgassing 2 years later. How to fix?

My home was built in 2017 and has Accella open cell spray foam in the unvented attic. In spring & summer 2018 we noticed a mild chemical smell coming from the attic on hot and/or humid days. It would enter the 2nd floor living space through the…
bradforj287
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Is a thick, unvented hot roof a good candidate for spray foam?

Upon removing some drywall from an unvented hot roof I noticed two serious issues: 1) The roof sheathing is not a taped or sealed ply but a 2x8 T&G 2) There is no vapor barrier and the cavity is discolored and moist This particular hot roof is…
Matthew
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