Icynene – Can it be done badly?
Hi All.
Made some calls and have an Icynene installer due to stop by to look at the job and give me a quote. I plan to be here when the work is done but was wondering if there is a way for them to do a “bad” job. For example, the concrete supplier can short you on the cement; the concrete crew can do a crappy job getting the slab flat; etc. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Steve.
Replies
I recently had some knee-walls cut open to have Icynene sprayed behind and totally insulated the underside of the roof. Messy job! In a retro-fit situation, the key seems to be to get all of the old insulation out before the new stuff is sprayed in. Otherwise, the foam won't expand everywhere it's supposed to. It does do a good job of insulating tricky roofs and expands to fit in those nooks and crannies. So far, I love it. No signs of ice-damming this year (so far)!
Having said that. I did notice some small spots under the roof where the product didn't quite seem to get into. I can't say whether it's a problem with the product or the installer. I will say, however, that I met a guy recently who does thermal imaging with an infrared camera on a lot of newer homes to check for voids and air leaks in insulation. He said he sees quite a few problems even in new homes insulated with Icynene. I don't know whether other similar products (Demilec, etc.) are any better.
Edited 1/2/2006 12:38 pm ET by Toolfanatic
Yes!! On the same day just before Xmas, I got two calls from folks with complaints about their retrofit insulation jobs-one was an Icynene job. This was definitely an installer problem:
The job was to spray the upper low slope roof section (3/12 slope with trusses) of a gambrel roofed townhouse. They probably should not have done it in the first place due to lack of space for movement and all the truss struts to impede movement. For about $4/sq ft ($2,400 total), they did the worst spray job I have ever seen!!!!
The single older lady was referred to Icynene by her sister in another province. The company had to come 400 miles to do the job so they waited to tag it onto a much larger job in our city. When the job was done, she checked and could see problems and refused to pay. The company sent a truck back the 400 X 2 = 800 miles to touch up the spray. When I was called, I still easily found areas with only 1/2 -3/4" of foam on the roof sheathing and attic fire separation wall between units. One area that I could not crawl to due to restrictions appears to have barely 1/16" material- just enough to appear covered!
The bottom of the finished attic hatch (a stained/varethaned G1S plywood) had about 1/16 covering on about 1/2 the good side! No mention was made about cleaning/replacing the hatch. They were supposed to remove all fiberglass batts from the floor of the attic but did a poor job of that by leaving little pieces here and there.
I don't know why the installer would have anyone on staff that did such a poor job. Could it just be one job done this poor?? I don't think so!!! Must be a relative. This is the only company doing Icynene in the Altlantic Provinces.
Edited 1/2/2006 8:32 pm ET by experienced
there was a post on journal of light construction 2 weeks ago with a bad icynene job. It was pulling off the studs, looked pretty bad. I think the consensus was that there was a problem with the 2 part mix.
eric
Yes it can...
They need the heated trucks, etc. for a reason and some crews are better than others. In general, I am very happy with our insulation job, though there are a few sections where the Icynene pulled away from the surrounding joists and sits there with a gap. We'll simply retrofit more insulation when the time comes.
Voids are bad. Can be tough to tell in existing walls. Takes a careful (and sometimes clever) installer to get full coverage.