Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) is the best way to insulate your home or business and is an investment that will pay for itself in energy savings alone in less then 5 years. It also increases the value of your property. Energy is costly and the price is getting higher and is going to continue to increase.

SPF insulation is the single best way to drastically lower your energy bills because more than 40% of the energy consumed in a typical household goes to heating and cooling.

WHAT IS SPRAY POLYURETHANE FOAM?
Spray polyurethane foam, commonly referred to as SPF, is a spray-applied insulating foam plastic that is installed as a liquid and then expands many times its original volume. SPF formulas can be tweaked to have many different physical properties depending on the use desired. For example, the same basic raw materials can make an insulation foam that is semi-rigid and soft to the touch, also create a high density roofing foam that is resistant to foot traffic and water. Specialized equipment is used to apply the SPF and proper technical training is important in order to get the best results. SPF is the king of building material multi-tasking. In insulation, it can provide high levels of R-value, while providing air barriers and assistance in moisture control in buildings. In roofing, it insulates and eliminates thermal bridging through fasteners or gaps in decking, while providing a long-lasting roofing system that has a life that can be extended by re-coating an average of 15 years.As a result SPF is used in a wide variety of applications including (but not limited to):roofing, air barriers, commercial and residential insulation in walls, ceilings, attics and basements, industrial insulation such as pipes and tanks, cold storage facilities, freezers, walk-in coolers, climate controlled buildings such as mushroom farms or produce storage, clean rooms, flotation for boats, ships, barges, floating docks, etc. and much more. Higher density SPF systems have even been used to increase the structural strength of wings in airplanes. So what is SPF? SPF is a remarkably versatile material that provides proven solutions to a great range of challenges in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Benefits and Features of Sprayed Polyurethane Foam Insulation (SPF)

The Facts
Independent and Government studies indicate that a minimum of 40% of our energy is wasted by inefficient building practices and homes which leak costly conditioned air. SPF applied as a liquid fills the cavity expanding rapidly sealing the studs, sheating, conduit, plumbing pipes, ducts, electrical boxes, completely eliminating voids and channels for air movement within the walls. Fiberglass insulation must be cut and fitted where obstacles exist and seals to nothing. The batt insulation just sits in the wall cavity providing maximum performance only through the center of the batt leaking air around it and through it

Cost Savings
When a minimum of 2 1/2-inches of 2# SPF are installed into the walls the foam achieves a 0.84 Perm Rating eliminating the requirement for a House Wrap such as Tyvek. House wraps are ineffective if not overlapped properly and require proper sealing at door and window frames. SPF can provide R-21 in walls constructed with 2'x4' studs. Most other insulation materials will require 2'x6' stud construction adding 30% to framing costs.

Air Leakage
SPF seals the shear wall or exterior siding to the framing members eliminating air infiltration at these areas. all double studs, headers, door frames, and window frames are sealed with "Can Foam" or Elastomeric non-hardening caulking where the spray gun cannot seal.

Healthy Living
Fiberglass insulation allows air infiltration and moisture into the wall. Moving air and moisture contains dirt and are looking for a place to land and grow harmful mold which fiberglass allows. SPF insulation does not allow air movement within the insulation or a place for growing harmful mold.

Stronger
Testing shows that SPF adds 30-40% racking strength to the building structure.

R-Value
Looking beyond R-Value numbers, which is how insulation materials have been rated since their invention. Building Envelope Engineers and Energy Scientists are concerned with performance of the insulation material beyond R-Value. New tests are being implemented to rate insulation materials according to their ability to prevent air leakage or intrusion, vapor transmission, ability to resist moisture accumulation, mold prevention, and structural integrity. Some of this testing is being performed in full-scale wall and ceiling assemblies thus, these tests are very costly and time consuming. SPF is leading the way in performance on all counts.

HVAC Equipment Downsizing
It is recommended that the mechanical engineer review all information and design pertaining to HVAC equipment in an SPF insulated structure which has an air tight building envelope seal. It is recommended that due to the control of air leakage that the size of HVAC equipment should be reduced to allow this equipment to complete a full heating or cooling cycle, which adjusts interior humidity. Oversized equipment runs inefficiently giving "shots" of cooling or heated air without adjusting interior humidity. Some homes spend the savings in down sized HVAC units on interior ventilating systems to continuously filter inside air and add outside air when needed.

SPF is the only upgrade a home owner will purchase which is not visible, will pay for itself in a short period of time, needs no maintenance or replacement, and month after month provides utility bill relief that can amount to 2 to 3 times the original investment over the maturity of the mortgage.

Polyurethane Foam Strengthens your Home
The walls in your home are the main structural component of the building. In wood frame construction, the weight of the roof, shingles, standing rain water and any snow add weight and exert downward forces on the walls resulting in a compressive force.
Strong winds and gusts from storms also impose lateral forces onto your home's walls. These forces can distort the walls with what is called a "shearing force." Building codes require that your home's walls be designed to withstand these various forces and loads. However, when walls are built to just the minimum standards, while still safe, symptoms of movement such as creaking and shaking during high winds or occupant usage often occurs. Higher density, closed cell spray foam insulation inside your stud walls fully adheres to both the exterior sheathing and the studs, reinforcing both. With this added rigidity, there will be less wall movement due to wind, vibration, and occupant activity. Additionally your walls have greater than code required resistance to "racking events" such as hurricanes or other strong wind situations. SPF also can add structural strength to buildings. NAHB Research demonstrated SPF filled walls could add from 75% to 200% racking strength to walls of OSB, plywood, light gauge metal, vinyl siding or gypsum board.

Racking Test
Shearing forces on a wall tend to distort the wall from its original shape as a rectangle into a parallelogram. To test a wall's resistance to the shear forces imposed by wind loading, engineers use a "racking test." An 8 ft. x 8 ft. model wall is built and placed in a large frame. The base of the wall is secured to the frame and a horizontal (lateral) force is applied at one upper corner. The force is increased in 400 lb. increments until the wall structure fails.

Spray Foam's affect on wall strength
In a series of racking tests, walls with and without spray-applied polyurethane foam insulation were compared. Two exterior facing materials were tested: 1. Vinyl siding over 15-lb. building paper; and 2.Textured plywood siding. All wall panels were faced with 1\2-inch sheet rock on the interior side and used 16 inch stud spacing. For the stud wall panels that were insulated with spray-applied polyurethane foam, the stud cavities were essentially completely filled with foam of 1.5lb/ft density. Stud walls filled with spray-applied polyurethane foam add significant strength to home walls. Furthermore, for each load applied, the foam filled walls deformed less and offered greater resilience. In a second series of racking tests spray-applied polyurethane foam insulation was compared with conventional R-19 glass fiber batts. In one comparison, the wall panels were faced both sides with dry wall. In the other comparison, the wall panels were faced one side with OSB (oriented strand board) with dry wall on the opposite side. In both cases, the wall panels used steel studs spaced 24 inches on center and the average foam density was 2.26 lb/ft3. The spray foam insulated wall system was more then 2x stronger then the system without. Once again the spray foam insulated wall system was substantially stronger then the system without.(At least 2x stronger) .