Spray Foam Insulation vs. Fiberglass 

Open Cell foam is a vapor retarder, not a vapor barrier. The reason foam outperforms fiber is it stops convection around the assemblies. That is GOOD, because outside air coming in brings dirt, vapor, insects, etc.

The ventilation is still necessary. Without the proper airflow underneath the decking, the shingles will cook and deteriorate prematurely. Installing baffles prior to spraying the foam is best in order to allow proper airflow. You're still attaining the same R-value by spraying over the baffle and you're still sealing the conditioned air space from the exterior.

Ken Paulsen that's what Styrofoam baffles are for

What about using spaceloft?

Outdated building practices,...you absolutely do not want the house to breath like that...…..these spray foamed houses have been around long enough now that some are getting remodeled, the spray foamed wood is in perfect shape as is the wall. 2 things cause condensation build up like that...….poor vapor barriers and poor insulation, so the old houses needed to breath, new houses do not. New houses also have proper humidity and ERV ventilation control so those issues no longer exist. You need a surface and humid air and a temp variance to form condensation, which does not exist when you spray foam the interior roof surface and seal the attic...…...bird block vents allow moist air in and are not used now and when closed cell foam is spray against the underside of the roof there is no moist air to come in contact with the surface. Also most attics are also conditioned just like the house so it does not draw humid house air to it thru BTU transfer as hot goes to cold, both spaces are the same temp. While a old outdated house might need to breath, it is horrible for efficiency and the last thing you would ever want to build into a new house...….you do not want the house to breath because you lose money in heating and cooling, you want it very resistant to that to lower heating and cooling costs. There is no reason for a properly remodeled old house or new house to breath.,.....it is simply out dated building technics and information.

Foam is made many different ways, none of the current stuff off gasses like you mention,...…...drywall, carpet and many other materials also off gas,.....it was a problem with many materials, but as always off gassing is not a current concern, it is outdated info. Even the flammability concerns have been mitigated now to a reasonable level.

Multiple horror stories of spray foam applied incorrectly. The fact that so much of the process relies on the person applying it, is FUCKING scary. I'll tuck fiber glass or blow cellulose before I have someone spray in this nightmare. It's good to have a house that breathes a bit. Too sealed and your indoor air becomes worse than the outdoor air.

What kind of concept are you promoting? Is it safe?

lol shows your knowledge on the subject. If mixed wrong it can emit hazardous fumes years after installation. also anyone with high school chemistry will tell you that chemicals react differently in different environments "temp, humidity, ect" sooo instead of being a dumbass read up a bit before you comment

Destroyed your House, health and your family.

Bob A Booey you are 100% correct you will smell a fishy kind of smell than you'll get a head ack and then you can brake out in rashes and have joint pain so just stick with the fiber glass rather be safe and ok heated than warm with poison in the air so stick to the fiber glass

Thanks Larry, makes sense. Would love to see more newer videos from you, you really have a great teaching style

You make an excellent point. It is extremely easy to cut corners in fiberglass installs leaving gaps, air pockets, missed corners, crushing it, not properly cutting and or tucking around wires etc, etc, etc. Just like anything else installation is super important to maintaining it's R value

@@theripper121 thanks ripper 👍

If mixed or sprayed wrong especially too thick can cause problems with your health

I was gonna bring up the same thing.

No stink, but it's not effective. Air just leaks in easily and does nothing for hot climates.

Not to mention what environmental thermal changes do to it. I've dug out countless rotten, cracked cavities due to spray foam being installed during season changes.

Hopefully they are smart enough and don't spray in places where wires goes into. Do these on certain walls and ceiling only

Ya, I also have concerns about the lack of venting here. What's up with that?

Angus Crane and its goin to be a lost cause just like asbestos

k vogt comparing fiber to asbestos -___- Due to the occasional toxic nature of poorly done foam jobs, I'd say you're comparing the wrong two.

It should "out gas" to the outside. Vapor barrier will stop it from "ingassing". No vapor barrier? You're screwed.

Why did they not vent your roof? This install is terrible.

Why would you wanna be home when your there doing this haha

Pretty sure thats not the point. The point is that polyurethane gases are so fucking toxic and cause cancer. Idk why you would want all your walls and roof be full of that?

@@eikeksimimea1071 What?! You are only advised to not be home while the foam is curing for the first 24 hours or so. It's like telling a homeowner that they're advised not to be in the house while their concrete floors are curing for a day or two. Not that hard to understand.

I want fresh filtered air brought in my home on my terms. Not through uncontrolled air leaks through my building envelope that cost great deal of money long term in increased cooling and heating costs.

You are correct on many things here...except...you do NOT get ice damming from too much insulation. You get ice damming from a hot attic that causes snow on the roof to melt and run down to the cold eve and freeze. Just thought I'd correct that myth.

Wipsplash Nope.

Wipsplash you couldn't be more incorrect. in fact, it'll make the roof last longer.

Yup. Correct.

A great day to game a smart person!!! Finally!! Only took me 10 mins of scrolling lol

Yup, the only problem is a bad mix, and too much foam at a time. Should be done in two stages. Come back the second day and add more. It's not rocket science, but there are poor installers out there. Do your research and you should be OK.

If they are professional, they would leave space for wiring. Fiberglass is does nothing in terms of insulation when air just leaks from it. Mind as well put nothing LOL

Yeah spay foam doesen't breath so it effects you air guality

Fine. Keep using man-made Asbestos, formally known as Glass Fibers in a pile.

scanjett yea. that's why they make ERV's.... I don't understand your complaint.

@@scanjett Outdated information,,,,,,,houses built today do not breath, which is simplified as air exchanges or in the simplest terms air leaks....not something you want for efficient houses, all modern houses are sealed and use a ERV, which makes the air quality far better than any house no matter how much it leaked air.

Open a window from time to time! LOL Really?

You had a fucking moron for an electrician then !

Spray foam because spray foam is also an air barrier which will prevent inside, warm air from condensing on the rim board behind the insulation. You can also do foam boards and canned spray foam around the edges, but that's very labor intensive.

I was thinking the exact same thing

Rich Link closed cell foam helps, but open cell foam is best for sound dealing. the difference is open cell foam isn't a true air barrier. best for interior walls.

Okay,good to know there is a difference. Thanks.

You can cut it with a steak knife.

stripymccatpuss is not hard to cut at all.

bet he ment they should have used pipes and pulled the wires inside them. thats the proper way to do wires, pure wires like that is just stupid. and even dumber to sprayfoam it without suggesting to the costumer to fix the cables.

Christopher Haugan fr

Rewire the entire ceiling using electrical pipes before installing spray foam, that alone would be costly. When you see class actions in the courts it tells you to stay away from this product,

If you get someone who knows what they are doing there is no risk.

IF

Assuming the one doing the application stands behind the product AND has enough confidence in the product to be willing to REMOVE ALL OF IT from the building if something was done wrong and the product off-gasses in the future making the home unlivable for the home-owner... Since you seem to be acting as a spray foam applicator, based on your apparent Spray-Foam Biased comments...If future off-gassing happens making it impossible for home-owner to live in he building AFTER you have applied the Spray Foam to the building, will your company stand behind the application process enough to remove the problem causing spray foam product your company had sprayed into the home, AT NO COST to the customer who by that stage in the game CORRECTLY feels he was SCREWED OVER or even ROBBED by the applicator of the product that is now making the residents sick???

And by then, they are probably already dealing with breathing problems, asthma skin rashes, joint inflammation, and what not! Better not even start, because even if they come and remove all of it for free, your health and your family member's health is already compromised!

thank you!

They have wireless shit now for you morons who don't know how to plan ahead. Oh, and if people can snake wires through wood studs, a little foam ain't gonna phase them, jackass.

august Your post shows off you low IQ and poor quality education. Intelligent people do not have to resort to profanity to make a point. You lose again.

You have a point but there is so much more into this , they wont tell you anything about. First of all this foam product is made by blending two chemicals as it is sprayed on the surface. This create a chemical reaction creating this foam. If this chemical reaction is not happen 100% correct then there will be created other chemicals and gasses that are lethal to breathe in. This is the reason why so many people getting sick when living in their homes after a sprayfoam job is done. I have foloowed the cases and the use of this foam for longer time and what I can see is that this is cheap and those companies earning very big on this. This material is NOT finaliced in the manufactors place , it's final production is on site in your home. The pink foam plates they are finaliced in the manufactors place and when you buy them all you have to do is cut them into sice and install them. This foams last production / chemical reaction is taking place ON SITE that mean in your home. So if anything goes wrong / the chemical reaction happen too fast / slow and /or mixed wrong ... You get toxic gasses leaking / fumes into your house and this doesn't stop after a few days. Yes I do agree that the thermal insulation is very high BUT there is more than one price for that... First the risk that if it goes wrong then your health is at risk very badly.. This will create a very big expence too because almost every company doing this ' foam job ' doesn't include any guaranty that in case of failure ect then they will remove this again for free... NOPE you pay ... They wont remove it. Second , This foam is very very flammable and when it burn it burn very fast and both melting and burning creating black very toxic smoke and gases. This is for shure not something you will have in your house if you think about fire protection. This is one of the reason why so many houses burn so extremely fast when the fire reach into the attic ect. And last and most important.... All houses have to BREATHE if you insulate to tight/much then the house no longer can breathe natural and moisture and damp / water can no longer escape and you will have a much higher risk of mold and stuff like that. All to many houses need repair in way too short time and those where the insulation is so tight that the house cant breathe they will have mold and rotten wood ect. Just because its new and modern doesn't mean it's safe and good. Remember today it's all about profit. Also a brand new material may not have stand it's time long enough to prove that it's safe to use. When people are talking and asking me about the quality of modern houses/materials ....hm... I always say - they build houses way better back in time - what I mean is that if you look at a 200 year old or even older house , they was built to last generation after generation ... When you look at modern houses they are built as cheap as possible to gain as much profit as possible and they wont last long before you need serious repair if not just tear down. I have to say that I wont use this no matter how much they will defend this ' foam '.... Fire safety , health safety , no no I will go for stone wool insulation it's better than fiberglass, and it is less flammable than fiberglass. Fiberglass it's much safer even it take longer time to install and stone wool is even better. and you have to cut and place ect and those small tiny cracks and that he talk about , WTF the house need to be able to breathe anyway it can be to sealed and give many new problems.

I agree with the fact its better insulator, but thats about it. You've probably never worked with 2 part closed cell foam but if fucking reeks of chemicals. If the installer doesn't mix it right the chemicals never fully cure and will smell forever. Now you have a house your living in constantly getting high from chemicals. Now for sake of argument we say its installed correctly and there is no off gassing of the foam and you just bought a starter house with foam. If you ever want to remodel the bathrooms, kitchen, and add lighting and outlets ect will be a nightmare and shit ton more work because of the spray foam. Where those cables and pipes are foamed in is going to be a nightmare to access and move or add onto. If your not doing the work yourself, your going to pay a premium because of the additional labor its going to take to run cables , and pipes. For something thats a little better at insulating your home youre really not saving diddly squat on spray foam vs fiberglass, What 10-15 $ dollars a month on heating??

You need to do some more research on spray foam than watching an advertisement

Yea, i can imagine that it sucks for electricians.Btw wouldn't you be cooked in summer in a fully foam insulated house?

+LineoLemon only if you crawl in attics after 9am lol

But what they don't tell you is that spray foam can cause a lot of problems because if you do not do this without the right conditions it can cause a chemical reaction and cause a grocery list of chemicals such as toluene witch can cause blindness and it is also in gas something else they don't tell you is that it is mixed at your home not at the factory but at your house and a lot of people have had a really hard time to live in their homes because of spray foam one case involves a kid who was sleeping at the time and they sprayed it in his bedroom with him in it also it is believed that you can get cancer of all things don't believe me? Well it can release a agent which I forgot the name of can cause cancer also a lot of businesses don't even know how to do the job correctly they usually sparky a whole lot of it at one time but the correct way to do it is that to spray little amounts at a time to make thin layers to build the insulation so don't buy this product unless you want to purposely abandon your home then DONT BUY THIS PRODUCT DONT BELIVE THEIR LIES!!!!!!!

That's what I did. Simple.

Acoustics. I lived in a house with zero internal wall insulation and the noise leakage was horrendous. I was able to follow a conversation from an adjacent room with closed (and sealed!) doors. But for acoustics you wouldn't need a foam anyway. Just a fairly thin but dense material is enough. Mass is key in sound insulation.

Bunny, if your wires are getting hot, YOU BUNNY, YES YOU, did something horribly wrong. Wires, when installed correctly, do not even get warm, so...don't comment on something you have no knowledge of, and You have none.

Bunny First most wires are in the outside walls. They probably aren't insulating the interior walls. Also when I put Spray foam in my house I'll put electric plastic corrugated conduit in the walls. Then put a 5 mil plastic vapor barrier over it using acoustic sealant.

Bunny, Also interior walls are often insulated to have sound and heat control in every room. Like a closet, if you insulate closet walls, you slow down the heating, cooling going into an unlivable space. Or let's say a laundry room which makes a tremendous amount of noise, do you want to hear all that ? It all makes perfect sense.

Not at all they are covered in insulation...

Simple you dig a trench in the foam. Done it many times.

So are you saying that you do not need an air space next to the roof sheeting if it is sprayed right to the top?

@@SternDrive yes. The sprayfoam eliminates that dampness or frost on the wood. Where I live its colder wintertime and the attic usually builds frost on the wood if not insulated good. The foam stops it from happening.

open cell allows moisture to travel through... Also a properly ventilated HVAC system counteracts this effect on closed cell insulation.

SilverBird, you have no idea of building science, it's over your head.

I understand your skepticism, SilverBird. But START by ASKING QUESTIONS, NOT by making assumptions. For example, what is this spray foam made of?

💯 correct! Even wood rots with age, imagine what happens to that cancerous foam, its lifespan is probably 30 years max

@@oreocarlton3343 or probably 5 years or maybe 40 years and how about if people start living till their 100 years old huh huh huh.

@@TrevorEMayo wat