Opinions on polyurethane insulating foam as an encapsulant for remediating and insulation retrofitting older buildings?

[Guest guest]

(This started out as a response to Carl's response on scrubbing things

with soapy water..you can't foam cars, but you can foam old houses.)

What do people think about insulation foam for making getting rid of

mold easier?

A soft or hard brush and scrubbing - the physical movement

and pressure in a soapy/degreaser with liquid carrier..then rinsing

well, then drying, is the crucial thing..

Thats what takes the time, and thats what skews the balance in favor

of demolition/rebuilding in cases of extensive contamination.

If labor is priced appropriately, (considering the difficulty and

potential danger to the health of equipment operators or scrubbers)

this task can end up being a hugely expensive task..

Well designed, relatively task specific, power tools might be able to

shorten that time..

(i.e. dry ice blasting with integrated vacuum) but magic liquids or

oils are HIGHLY unlikely to..

The only " spray on " technology that I think might have potential on a

large scale (i.e. remediating the whole frigging country.. laugh.. old

schools ad housing especially) and be quick as well is highly

expanding insulating foam..

Open cell is cheaper and easier to manage and it still works well.

If a space is well weatherproofed, (NO LEAKS) and cleaned fairly well

first, (but not as well as it would need to be if it was simply left

open)

spraying foam over, for example, rafters or studs completely might

well encapsulate them. It would also provide enough insulation to

prevent them from becoming a condensation point in the future.. Air

couldn't get to them..

Foam retrofits in homes seem to dramatically reduce mold problems -

when we were shopping around for foam, people kept telling us how much

healthier they make homes.. Our attic was not " moldy " but there was

old 30 year old fiberglass up there in fairly good condition. When we

took it down it reeked.. there was mold in places, (where air could

move through it) not a lot but enough to make it smell..

After the foam there was a foam small for a while but it dissapated

fairly quickly, considering..

it doesn't smell at all up there now and its far warmer than the

fiberglass was.. I get the feeling that foam would dramatically reduce

mold issues in a lot of older houses.

The summer is the time to do foaming.. its easy to wash and dry things

quickly, and then spray them completely..

We are hoping to do more this year..