Art Mulder
Member
- Messages
- 3,383
- Location
- London, Ontario
Hey folks,
Back in February, this foam kit was on sale at Lowes
It was $100 off, and after some thought, I grabbed one.
Well I finally got to the point that I was ready to spray on Friday night + Saturday. I bought this to re-do the insulation in the header space of my basement shop. My house dates from 1984, so it did have fiberglass up there, but only bare fiberglass and no vapour barrier. When I ripped out the insulation, a lot of it had black on it, which I believe is from moisture?
I chatted on the phone with another WW'er I know, about his experiences. I knew that he had tried out a tigerfoam kit and he passed on some good advice.
First, you need to tarp/sheet everything!
Second, you need to carry a rag in your second hand. This is because every time you release the trigger, the gun will form a blob of foam at the tip which will fall off. Check out all the blobs on my plastic sheeting:
He was right. EVERY SINGLE TIME you release the trigger, it blobs, and since I was spraying into header space, I was releasing the trigger a lot. I caught a lot on the rag, but even so a lot of blobs hit the plastic, which would have made a mess if I hadn't tarped.
Third, you need to cover up. The instructions warn you about this also. My kit did not come with a coverall, but I have read that some do come with a tyvek coverall. Instead I wore old clothes, tucked into socks, and a respirator, goggles, and a bandana over the back of my head, tucked under a hat. There really wasn't that much bounce-back of foam onto my person, but I still got a blob on my wrist the first time. So the second time I made sure to duct-tape my sleeves to the gloves.
I sprayed in two sets. Here are the results after the first session:
You are only supposed to spray about 2" at a time, due to the heat generated (exothermic reaction) as it hardens and dries. I think they are being VERY cautious in the instructions, as I did not really notice the foam being much more than a few degrees warmer than room temperature. It does dry FAST - I was touching the foam with my bare hands within five minutes of spraying.
Still, at the end of the room, where the joists are parallel to the wall, there was a 10-12" pocket up there, so I was careful, and sprayed in two sessions.
Here are the shots after that, with the header areas pretty much full up:
Note the wiring that disappears into the foam? Yeah, that. DO make sure that any wiring you want to do is done FIRST. Once that foam hardens, getting in there to do renovation work is going to be a lot harder than when the bay was wide open.
Oh yeah, the stink... I was wearing a respirator, so I noticed almost nothing. I had two windows open in the basement, each one with a fan. One was blowing in, one was blowing out. After spraying when I stepped out of the room and took off my respirator I did notice a smell, but really not bad, and it cleared out entirely within 90 minutes. It might have been worse if I was spraying more rooms? Or maybe this kit just uses a "nice" propellant? I'm not complaining! (My friend had reported that the tigerfoam was really bad, and that I might want to vacate the premises after spraying.)
[aside: really weird to see the shop so empty. It hasn't been this empty since we moved in back in '98.]
Back in February, this foam kit was on sale at Lowes
It was $100 off, and after some thought, I grabbed one.
Well I finally got to the point that I was ready to spray on Friday night + Saturday. I bought this to re-do the insulation in the header space of my basement shop. My house dates from 1984, so it did have fiberglass up there, but only bare fiberglass and no vapour barrier. When I ripped out the insulation, a lot of it had black on it, which I believe is from moisture?
I chatted on the phone with another WW'er I know, about his experiences. I knew that he had tried out a tigerfoam kit and he passed on some good advice.
First, you need to tarp/sheet everything!
Second, you need to carry a rag in your second hand. This is because every time you release the trigger, the gun will form a blob of foam at the tip which will fall off. Check out all the blobs on my plastic sheeting:
He was right. EVERY SINGLE TIME you release the trigger, it blobs, and since I was spraying into header space, I was releasing the trigger a lot. I caught a lot on the rag, but even so a lot of blobs hit the plastic, which would have made a mess if I hadn't tarped.
Third, you need to cover up. The instructions warn you about this also. My kit did not come with a coverall, but I have read that some do come with a tyvek coverall. Instead I wore old clothes, tucked into socks, and a respirator, goggles, and a bandana over the back of my head, tucked under a hat. There really wasn't that much bounce-back of foam onto my person, but I still got a blob on my wrist the first time. So the second time I made sure to duct-tape my sleeves to the gloves.
I sprayed in two sets. Here are the results after the first session:
You are only supposed to spray about 2" at a time, due to the heat generated (exothermic reaction) as it hardens and dries. I think they are being VERY cautious in the instructions, as I did not really notice the foam being much more than a few degrees warmer than room temperature. It does dry FAST - I was touching the foam with my bare hands within five minutes of spraying.
Still, at the end of the room, where the joists are parallel to the wall, there was a 10-12" pocket up there, so I was careful, and sprayed in two sessions.
Here are the shots after that, with the header areas pretty much full up:
Note the wiring that disappears into the foam? Yeah, that. DO make sure that any wiring you want to do is done FIRST. Once that foam hardens, getting in there to do renovation work is going to be a lot harder than when the bay was wide open.
Oh yeah, the stink... I was wearing a respirator, so I noticed almost nothing. I had two windows open in the basement, each one with a fan. One was blowing in, one was blowing out. After spraying when I stepped out of the room and took off my respirator I did notice a smell, but really not bad, and it cleared out entirely within 90 minutes. It might have been worse if I was spraying more rooms? Or maybe this kit just uses a "nice" propellant? I'm not complaining! (My friend had reported that the tigerfoam was really bad, and that I might want to vacate the premises after spraying.)
[aside: really weird to see the shop so empty. It hasn't been this empty since we moved in back in '98.]