Last week Fuel Ghoul rode along with a mobile spray foam insulation crew and got his eyes and ears filled with good information on how they insulate the exterior walls of upscale houses in Toronto.
Below are pictures and stories of the men and machines of AirSeal Toronto, spray foam insulation mobile appication crew. Here's the Support Tech opening the back door of the truck first thing in the morning. I followed and watched as he started the fifty kilowat diesel generator at the front of the trailer, and then powered up the compressors and pumps and switched on the heaters in the onboard Graco H-40 REACTOR, a two component proportioner that heats the liquids to the necessary temperatures to make perfect foam insulation.
Airseal uses the BASF Walltite Eco system which bills itself as 'the insulation that pays you back'.
Walltite Eco is a medium density polyurethane foam insulation system
designed to improve the energy efficiency of residential, commerical and industrial buildings. Its composition includes some recycled plastic material, and a 'zero ozone depleting blowing
agent' which makes it an environmentally friendlier green option than most other insulation alternatives.
Walltite ECO™ is a made by combining two component liquids, Elastospray 8000A Isocyanate and Walltite Eco v.3 F Resin. These two liquids are heated under high pressure and mix as they leave the nozzel of the applicator's spray gun. The chemical reaction occurs in midair; the two hot liquids combine and expand rapidly to make a rigid foam. As Walltite ECO™ is born, it goes from liquid to foam in seconds, expanding twenty to thirty times its original volume. It is completely dry within seconds, and is fully cured in twenty four hours.
Below is the onboard Graco H40 REACTOR temperature display panel, a two component proportioner which ensures the ingredients of the foam will be delivered at the right temperature and will be in the correct amounts to combine properly as far as fifty feet away from the truck, which is the length of the heated hose. Temperatures of A and B component are set to 115 degrees Farenheit.
They are heated under pressure and spring to life and literally take shape in mid air. By the time the material hits the wall, the reaction has occurred.
Here is the crew starting in the basement of a new home in Forest Hill. They start at the bpttom of the building doing the exterior wall 'headers' and work up and in as they go. The team takes over the jobsite for a few hours each day; they often work lunches and late into the evening to be there when the other contractors are absent. These guys are very careful not to expose any other tradespeople to the noxious gasses often created during the spray foam application process (I had to wear a breathing mask, visor and cover-alls as I followed the applicator around the basement).
Spray Foam Tech Rolls Saran Wrap Around his Hazmat Helmeted Head
To the left, the prime applicator technician applys Saran wrap directly over his hazmat suit
and visor. He wraps his whole head four or five times and will peel away layers as he works. I chuckled as I watched him roll the Saran Warp around hs whole
head. This is because the spray foam material will stick
to his visor and make it impossible for him to see anything after about twenty minutes of spraying. He peels the wrap away as he goes. He will peel away the layers and
eventually he'll need to reapply more which is far easier than trying
to clean the plexiglass visor on his breather mask.
Read this Bizcovering business magazine article, What is it like to be a Spray Foam Insulation Guy? and you'll get a pretty good understanding of what these guys do all day long.
The foam adheres to virtually any surface, providing a gap-free, airtight envelope of low permeability even in extreme hot or cold weather, and Walltite Eco is specially composed so it does not support fungus or mold growth.
The support tech is the truck minder; he keeps an eye on fluid levels and temperatures and pressure. He changes tanks when liquids run low. He also watches the diesel generator in the truck, and helps the applicator move and adjust the long length of heated hose on site. This skilled and charismatic truck driver also keeps an eye on the property during the course of the day. Part of his duties include being a watchdog to keep everyone else away from the house when the spray foam work is being created and applied to walls inside.
Spray foam technicians are well trained by government sponsored health and safety reps, and BASF, and other chemical manufacturers product application training teams. All the same, spray foam insulation businesses and the process itself has been called into question lately, specifically by a recent CBC marketplace documentary news story showing how spray foam can go very wrong by examining the unlivable homes of justifiably some unhappy customers. But these are isolated cases, and even the highest-performing system will not work if it is not installed correctly. Only certified, approved applicators who have undergone rigorous training can install WALLTITE® Eco for example.
The Canadian Urethane Foam Contractors Association (CUFCA) with headquarters in Winnipeg Manitoba, estimates that spray foam insulation is installed in between 300,000 and 400,000 homes across Canada every year, and the numbers grows 30 to 40 percent larger each year.
The initial expense of insulating your building with Walltite ECO™ spray foam insulation is higher than using fiberglass at around $3 dollars per square foot, but it will actually add value to your building and save money on heating in the winter. Here in Canada, the initial costs can often be offset by the ability to downsize the heating and cooling systems and by taking advantage of government subsidies and green initiative building programs.
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