Insulation

In part of the second floor of the brick townhouse we will be renovating, we intend to raise the ceiling to the rafters. Our contractor wants to use spray foam insulation between the rafters, both in that room, and above the ceiling in the other rooms. We are opposed because of fears of poisonous chemicals released in case of fire; he says other forms of insulation don’t give the necessary R-value. I read online that the city energy code requires R-25 above the roof deck or R-38 in the attic space. Can we avoid the foam insulation?

Guest User | 3 years and 9 months ago

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ejcarroll | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks

workisfun | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Check out Insulsafe. Federal installed it for us and it seems to work like a charm.

https://www.certainteed.com/building-insulation/products/insulsafe-sp-premium-blowing-wool/

Guest User | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Foam is technically the most effective for air infiltration which is why people use it. You could use rockwool and use spray foam in small areas to supplement where access is limited.There are also ecological options, real wool, wool fiber boards, soy foams etc.

ejcarroll | 3 years and 9 months ago

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Is insulation blown in under roof 4 story brownstone effective in keeping house warmer/cooler and materially save cost of heating/cooling house. Is foam an option in brownstone house.

Guest User | 3 years and 9 months ago

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thanks!

krobertson

in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago

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Depends on how tall the wood beams are up there but almost certainly you should be able to skip the spray foam. Standard fiberglass attic insulation shows R30 @ about 9 inches. Rockwool is a bit denser at R30 @ 7.25 inches. Home depot shows another fiberglass insulation of R38 @ 12 inches. You can’t certainly put in more than one layer to increase the R value if you have the space.

Another thing folks do is if you have a flat roof, you can add insulation to top when you do a tear a replace on the roofing membrane. The roofers can nail special large flat foam boards onto the roof before they put on the roof membrane which should easily give you another R10 or R15 depending on the thickness.

Just to note the other concern I would have about spray foam is if they don’t get the chemical mix right (very rare, but it happens), it won’t foam up and it will smell forever and you can’t get the stuff off since its so sticky. Google online for horror stories about it – folks pretty much end up replacing their entire roofs and beams to get rid of the smell.