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Q: I’m an architect who has also done my fair share of swinging a hammer. I enjoy your column, but once in a while you miss on some details.
In this instance, you recommended fastening shear ply with screws. The California Building Code and other U.S. building codes have always had schedules for shear wall nailing (although they do permit other types of fasteners). My structural engineers have always said that the shear value of nails is far better than the shear value of screws. The screws are far more brittle. This has been borne out in my own construction, where screws have snapped off while being driven.
Because the person writing is in a high-risk seismic area, you were right to recommend plywood and to fasten it to the bottom plate. But he also needs to have the best fasteners for the job: nails.
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I’m finishing my basement in southeastern Wisconsin. This is a poured full basement below grade. We are ready to insulate the walls and are going to use closed cell spray foam.
I’ve had two different contractors come out and recommend different thicknesses for the foam. One said I only need 1″ against the walls, and 3″ in the sills. The other said 2″ against the walls and 3″ in the sills.
What kind of performance gain would I be looking at between 1″ and 2″ sprayfoam?
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I have a 46x38x12 steel building to be used as a home. Estimates varied from $7,800 to $9,600 for the soft foam.
I am curious as to how some of you were able to get it done so cheaply.
atvtech, I would love the name of the company that did yours. At that price, I would be willing to give them $1,500 just to drive to Louisiana and spray. From what I calculated, you paid less than 76 cents per square foot.
GSSFC, again, curious about how you were able to do it yourself for this price. You have any info on what you used and where you purchased? Again by my calculations, you spent around $1.26 per square foot. FomoFoam is $1.16 per 1″ thick board foot. You sprayed about 2000 square feet with 3″ of foam. That is 6,000 board feet and would require 10 600 kits at $700 per kit.
Either I am miscalculating what it would cost to spray my building or I am missing something??? If I am miscalculating then hopefully somebody can correct me and I can reconsider using spray foam.
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Hi – I’ve just put new attic roof trusses on my house and I am looking to maximize the interior conditioned space available (behind the knee-wall), while keeping the costs down. I reside in southern Ontario.
I would like to do 2lb closed cell spray foam, but, the cost is prohibitive for me.
Can someone please advise if the following is an acceptable layering (from the finished exterior roof looking in towards the new attic space):
- metal roof (with underlayment affixed directly to plywood sheeting)
- plywood roof sheeting
- 1″ air gap
- standard rafter vents (to provide 1″ air gap)
- 5.5″ R20 batt insulation (to fill the truss cavity)
- 2″ spray foam insulation 2lb closed cell to give ~R10-12 (to be sprayed onto and adhered-to the fibreglass batts)
- drywall
Many thanks!
Mike
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The house was built in the ’20′s and has no studs on any exterior walls and therefore no insulation. We are looking for a way to insulate it without losing 4″ interior space on all exterior walls and to avoid replacing all interior trim.
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Hey everyone. some of you know me from my crazy roofing project last year. Finally getting around to insulation now! So I have a few noob questions.
1. I am supposed to put in open cell foam under the roof deck. would closed cell be better? contractor says to use open cell in case the roof leaks.
2. the attic is part of the conditioned space. so after spraying the foam, can i just drywall it up or should i add a vapor barrier?
please advise!
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Spray foam insulation contractors use similar equipment for polyurethane concrete lifting
There is however specific material and equipment necessary to start using that equipment for concrete raising. Everything necessary to begin raising concrete with existing spray foam equipment is available from HMI in the Concrete Raising Conversion kit.
Comprehensive training is also available to teach you how to raise concrete, bid jobs, and market this type of business. For those interested in making this transition, training is available without any commitment to buy. more
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I hear bad publicity on spray foam insulation for existing homes. What should we look for?
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Spray foam insulation
I live in a small ranch house with very little insulation in the walls, cedar shake siding,and actual 2″x4″ constructed walls. I was planning on stripping the existing siding, adding 1″ foam insulating board and then vinyl siding.
I was wondering if the exterior shiplap sheathing was removed could spray foam be applied directly to the interior drywall? A friend of mine works for a company that use to do spray foaming in the past and can lend me the equipment.
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Approxiamately 1 year ago, I was involved in a home basement renovation that included spray foaming the headers throughout the basement as well as insulating all the exterior walls(2 out of the 4 were exterior) of a converted storage/cold room(appr. 5′x 12′. In the last month or so, the home owner discovered mold along the entire length of the baseboard and part of the way up the wall, on the longest of the 2 foamed exterior walls, approx. 12′. The ext. walls have about 4-4.5″ of closed cell insulation and there was also a heat vent installed, dropped to just above floor level. The ceiling is not that of a typical cold room where the porch is above rather it is the floor of one of the interior rooms on the main floor, so I can’t see how this room is any different than the rest of the basement. The other baffling thing is that the door is left open all the time and there has been an oscilating de-humidifier running just outside the room(to my understanding it runs all the time). There is also a new window installed in the room that is energy star rated so the room is pretty air tight and not in darkness all the time. I am looking for any ideas on why mold would be appearing. My only guess is that the floor, which is tile on concrete, is a source of cold for condensation to happen. I’ve worked in many basements however and have never seen this to be an issue. I would like to be the hero here and offer my client an answer and a solution.
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