Froth pak questions

[laynes69]

I'm getting ready to purchase a froth pak to airseal my sils in the basement. My question is, is the propellant used in the packs flammable? The area I need to seal the most lies behind the woodfurnace. It's too cold to shut down the furnace. I've read everywhere, but haven't seen that it's not flammable?? We are getting ready for a bad cold spell and I want to get this done.

 

[maple1]

Sounds like a question for Froth Pak, if you haven't found the answer yet in your searching you might not get a reliable one here.

Keep us posted, curious here also and have a place or two where I might be able to use one.

 

[laynes69]

Looking at the MSDS, it shows nitrogen as the propellant. It does say environmentally friendly, so I'm thinking it's okay. I made the mistake years ago of injecting a can of expanding foam into the wall of our old laundry room (been torn off the house now and rebuilt). The dryer was running (LP), I heard the click of the igniter and all of a sudden I was surrounded my a blue fireball and the wall inside caught fire! Luckily it was paneling, I put my fist through the wall and stopped the fire. Scared the living bejesus out of me! That portion of the house was so bad, it felt like a box fan on high pumping ice cold air into the house. We tore it off and built a 2 story addition in its place.

 

[semipro]

@laynes69 I hate "liking" anything where someone almost dies...
That said I enjoy reading about someone besides me surviving a "change your underwear" moment like that unscathed.

 

[laynes69]

@laynes69 I hate "liking" anything where someone almost dies...
That said I enjoy reading about someone besides me surviving a "change your underwear" moment like that unscathed.

Lol! I panicked to say the least! I'm not a big guy, and I was pretty much in the fetal position in the corner of the room with nowhere to go, but up and out. Here is a pic of permanent marks from the foam and dirt, they are on both the washer and dryer lol. It was on my skin for over a month.

On a positive note, I contacted the local insulation company. They quoted me just short of 800.00 to spray 3" of foam around the entire perimeter of the basement. We would have to sign a waiver and leave the house for 24 hours while it cures. I just need to talk the wife into it. It would cost me more to do it myself.

 

[peakbagger]

FYI, dont apply the foam to cold sills. It may look good when they applied but look at it a year later and it will have shrunk away from the wood in spots.

 

[laynes69]

We dont have sill plates, but large beams. They are warm to the touch, so maybe that would help?

 

[Brian26]

I just started insulating my sill plates and basement walls. I am using a can of spray foam to seal all cracks and am filling with R-15 mineral wool. So much mixed information on what to do. Has anyone else just spray foamed the cracks and cut a mineral wool square for the sill? Seems to be quick and cheap.

I have a flir camera and its literally a night and day difference so there is no doubt its extremely effective.

 

[peakbagger]

The problem with putting rigid insulation in a sill is it does not seal infiltration as well. The big payback for spraying sills is there are a lot o places that air can leak in between the top of the foundation and the sills. Spray foam acts as air barrier to deal with infiltration and also insulated which deals thermal loss. That said its far better than not doing anything and a great way to use up scrap insulation. I have seen places where folks had use rigide foam board in the sill boxes and then sprayed the edges and seams with foam, That take care of the infiltration and saves on the quantity of foam used.

 

[semipro]

I have seen places where folks had use rigide foam board in the sill boxes and then sprayed the edges and seams with foam, That take care of the infiltration and saves on the quantity of foam used.

I did this. It is time-consuming but board foam is substantially less expensive per volume than spayed foam, especially the DIY froth pak.

 

[sloeffle]

On a positive note, I contacted the local insulation company. They quoted me just short of 800.00 to spray 3" of foam around the entire perimeter of the basement. We would have to sign a waiver and leave the house for 24 hours while it cures. I just need to talk the wife into it. It would cost me more to do it myself.

@laynes69 we had a guy come out and spray foam the sill plate and the walls in our house addition a few years ago. Best money I ever spent. I'm not sure if he comes up your way or is still in business but if you want his information PM me. He was a lot more reasonable than some of the other folks I talked to.

 

[Dobish]

i didn't use the froth pack, but I did get into my attic space above my living room/stove room yesterday. I blew in 4 bags of insulation, and completely filled in a wall that had been exposed. The top plate hadn't been insulated, so it was basically outside, plywood, open space. I can't believe we hadn't done it sooner!

Even though it was warm yesterday, and the wife had the stove room up to 78º, i could feel that my "Cold Corner" was not nearly as cold. I wanted to blow a ton more into the attic of our main house, but we are going to be redoing the ceilings in the next year, so it seemed like a waste of money.