Spray Foam Insulation
We have bathroom located in the annex of our brownstone. When it gets really cold outside the pipes freeze. We’ve tried many different strategies to prevent freezing to no avail. Now we are considering having the walls insulated with a professional spray foam insulation company. Does anyone have any experience or feedback? Several companies have mentioned spray foam versus cellulose. All advice is much appreciated!!
Lincoln
in General Discussion 8 years and 5 months ago
8
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8 replies
utoeid | 8 years and 4 months ago
If cellulose gets wet you would waste your money. You need to have a looksee into how your pipes are situated and as the Bstoner above mentioned have a plumber redirect the pipes away from the exterior wall. Then installing rigid installationor bat installation with a vapor barrier. Howeve if you decide that route you may need to check the integrity of the brick and morter and seal out any drafts.
alicecfoster
in General Discussion 8 years and 4 months ago
The insulation that you wrap around pipes is not to keep the pipes from freezing, it’s to prevent all your hot water/steam heat from being lost before it gets to faucet/radiator. To keep pipes from freezing, you need to insulate between the pipes and the exterior wall, and NOT between the pipes and the heated interior. Often people get problems suddenly when their pipes are against the exterior wall and they add insulation in the walls. While before the pipes were being kept above freezing by the heat leaking out of the room, now the insulation is keeping them from receiving that heat, and they freeze. Rock wool is a good-quality, forgiving insulation – it doesn’t hold onto moisture or mold, and has a good R-value for the cost.
alicecfoster
in General Discussion 8 years and 4 months ago
The insulation that you wrap around pipes is not to keep the pipes from freezing, it’s to prevent all your hot water/steam heat from being lost before it gets to faucet/radiator. To keep pipes from freezing, you need to insulate between the pipes and the exterior wall, and NOT between the pipes and the heated interior. Often people get problems suddenly when their pipes are against the exterior wall and they add insulation in the walls. While before the pipes were being kept above freezing by the heat leaking out of the room, now the insulation is keeping them from receiving that heat, and they freeze. Rock wool is a good-quality, forgiving insulation – it doesn’t hold onto moisture or mold, and has a good R-value for the cost.
murph | 8 years and 4 months ago
Don’t put water pipes against the exterior wall. Move them if they are there. They can’t be touching the exterior wall.
Wrap any water pipes in a crawl space. Open the floor to do this. Preferably when other plumbing is being done.
Heat all rooms that have water pipes.
brooklynbasics | 8 years and 4 months ago
Spray foam is better for walls. We had rigid and felt that it wasn’t as good so replaced it after we used spray foam with better results on other properties. Sometimes you need a vapor barrier if you use open cell insulation. It is incredibly important do proper sealing around all openings and to take thermal bridging in to account in your pre-project planning. I would hire a contractor that is very knowledgable about this process and the best materials, or read up and oversee the work yourself (on-site, even though it is a giant pia) so you can be sure it is done properly.
NeoGrec | 8 years and 5 months ago
We insulated from the exterior using a rigid foam panel covered in brick veneer. It was where a door had been bricked up by a previous owner leaving a recessed area because the depth didn’t match the depth of the wall generally. Our pipes would freeze until we made this fix. Now we’re fine.
brooklynmaterials | 8 years and 5 months ago
I was recently told by our architect and one prospective contractor that spray foam has been called into question more due to shrinkage occurring over time leaving gaps in the spray foam. My architect has recommended rigid foam insulation for our exterior walls. Anyone else have any experience or knowledge to share on the topic?
bk123 | 8 years and 5 months ago
Everyone is using spray foam now. Closed cell is better because it does not absorb water and has a much higher R value- of course it costs more. I would use heat trace on the pipes though.