Replies

1. 
   frammer52 | Jan 25, 2008 06:05pm | #1

   styrofoam or polyiso... foam?  i thought foam does not deterirate?

2. 
   Piffin | Jan 25, 2008 06:17pm | #2

   Foil faced foam panels are normally not styrafoam. They are polyisoanurate.

   That can deteriorate from exposure to the elements, especially UV rays. That would be consistent with the foil having gone bad as well. I suspect that possibly this house was allowed to sit exposed to the sun for several months the last time it was open before the siding got finished.
   Is the problem worse on the south and west? That would hint at confirmation.
   Can you gently rub a finger back and forth on the foam itself ( not the foil) and see it dis-intergrate, turning to a crystalline powder? Has it turned a brownish color where exposed and more cream colour in the center or under the foil?

    

    

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1. 
   FastEddie | Jan 25, 2008 07:09pm | #3

   Can you gently rub a finger back and forth on the foam itself ( not the foil) and see it dis-intergrate, turning to a crystalline powder? Has it turned a brownish color where exposed and more cream colour in the center or under the foil?

   And if the answer is yes, what does that indicate?"Put your creed in your deed."   Emerson

   "When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it."  T. Roosevelt

1. 
   dovetail97128 | Jan 25, 2008 08:03pm | #4

   That it is a Cream filled chocolate Bon Bon?
   They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.

2. 
   Piffin | Jan 25, 2008 09:59pm | #5

   UV has cooked the goodness out of it - confirming my suspicion that it should be replaced instead of going over it. 

    

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1. 
   Danno | Jan 25, 2008 10:20pm | #6

   We worked on a house that had some sort of foamed in place foam that looked like poly-iso. Anyway, it had shrunken away from the studs and if you touched it, it just disintegrated into the crystaline powder you described. But this stuff was not exposed to UV, I think it just oxidized. If you were real careful, you could get chunks out without it turning to dust. Old foam in couch cushions would get that way too--especially in houses with smokers.

1. 
   Piffin | Jan 25, 2008 10:59pm | #7

   I demoed a place like that once too. Nasty stuff. 

    

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2. 
   Danno | Jan 25, 2008 11:18pm | #8

   Yeah, that and the old splintery fiberglass insulation covered with black mold. Or plaster and expanded metal lath in a leaky bath where the lath is rusty and the plaster is punky, black and moldy. Sounds like the name of a band. Or a law firm. "Rusty, Punky, Black and Moldy, to whom may I direct your call?" "Umm..none of the above?" [Or the Who's "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy" song name.]

   Okay, it's a boring day. Turned in my proposal for the dragon sculpture this morning. Won't hear back till mid Feb.. Don't go to Mobile till first of March, everything in the house that needs work involves opening things up or outside work that has to wait till spring and the woman who wanted her whole house interior painted hasn't called back. Got all my three works together for the art show that starts Feb. 1--and can't deliver them till the 30th. Shoveled the driveway yesterday and it's freeze dried--mostly bare dry concrete because the little snow remaining has sublimated. I had to laugh at the weatherperson's "warming trend" this coming week--will have a high of 32 next week! Get out the swin suits! Woohoo!

   Edited 1/25/2008 3:20 pm ET by Danno

2. 
   JFord | Jan 25, 2008 11:19pm | #9

   The deteoriation is throughout the entire surface of the house.  When you touch it, it just goes poof.  Whoever put the original vinyl siding on did a fairly poor job.

1. 
   Piffin | Jan 25, 2008 11:51pm | #10

   get rid of it then. It is just standing in the way of you doing a decent job. 

    

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1. 
   JFord | Jan 26, 2008 02:19am | #11

   I was planning on it in the first place.  Do you think I should put housewrap on top for added protection.

    

1. 
   Piffin | Jan 26, 2008 04:34am | #12

   I generally just tape the seams on foam. Some guys run tyvek over it too though 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!