You may ask... Why insulate with spray foam?
It's a great question; and these days with soaring energy costs and uncertain supplies, there is an obvious answer. We believe you should harness the insulating power of foam for use in your home. Not only is it a wise decision, but it is also practical to accomplish with a 21st Century state-of-the-art sprayed foam insulation. You already know how well foam insulates. Think about the effectiveness of some common foam products that we use on a regular basis:
The Foam Coffee Cup for example...
...Just 1/8" of Foam with an R-value of less than one.
Go to your favorite fast food restaurant or 711 and buy a cup of coffee. Hold the foam cup in one hand and pour yourself a cup of steaming hot coffee with the other hand. Go ahead... you won't burn your hand. The foam cup will only be warm to the touch. In fact, if the foam was a bit thicker, it is doubtful if you could feel whether the coffee was hot or cold. Only the steam would give it away. We think you'll agree that just 1/8" of foam is a pretty effective insulator. Wouldn't you say?
The Foam Picnic Chest as another example...
...Just 1/2" of Foam with an R-value of only about two.
This is another classic example of the insulating power of foam and a great illustration of the importance of air sealing the area you want to heat or cool. Consider a foam picnic chest; you can learn a great deal about insulating your house from its' performance. You buy one at your local store for a couple of dollars, and you entrust it to keep your beverages cold for the weekend. Put in the drinks and a bag of ice on Saturday morning, and put the lid on tight, and it's pretty likely that you will still have ice left on Sunday night. Whether or not there are drinks left is another question!
You have just proved the insulating power of about 1/2 inch of foam with a relatively low R-value resistance to heat flow of only about R-2. Think about it; if your house was as efficient as this foam chest, you'd be ecstatic!
Here's an age old riddle about insulation:
Q. Which is more important; obtaining a high R-value or stopping air infiltration?
This is an extremely important question. Let's say for example that you put in the sodas and the ice in the foam chest above, but didn't put the lid on tight. The ice would only last a few hours at best, and your drinks would probably be lukewarm (or hot) by mid-day on Saturday.
What happened? The R-value didn't change... It's still an R-2! So why did the ice melt? Because you allowed air to leak into the picnic chest.
What should we learn from this example? The efficiency of the foam chest does depend on the insulating power of the foam (its R-value), but its insulating ability is somewhat irrelevant if you don't also control air infiltration.
The answer to the riddle in our example is that CONTROLLING AIR INFILTRATION HAD MORE TO DO WITH KEEPING THE DRINKS COLD THAN THE R-VALUE DID!
What does all this have to do with your home? We think the same is true for your home, and we believe that your experience with a foam chest is the most convincing argument that you should insulate your home with foam.
Why? Because foam not only insulates extremely well but it also stops air infiltration far better than fiberglass insulation products.
