[Greenbuilding] Spray Foam Over Loose Fill Attic Insulation

Stephen Collette stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca
Wed Jul 20 15:53:47 CDT 2016


Hello everyone,

So I did a job today where the very old house had loose fill insulation (ok it was vermiculite, and I was testing to see if it may contain asbestos, but that’s besides the point). The house is going through a full gut and remodel and the GC had the insulation spray foamed. The spray foam installer, sprayed over the loose fill insulation. They did an absolutely terrible job as an aside, it was lumpy, bumpy, gappy and over 6” thick in some spots, with what was apparently a single pass spray. So poor workmanship all around in my opinion by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.

That’s all background.

Has anyone ever heard of spray foaming over loose fill insulation? It seems like a really bad idea to me. I’m thinking settling of the loose fill and air gaps, the stuff isn’t bonded to anything as I just went up and cut out bits to take my vermiculite samples here and there. Seems silly and specifically from a thermal performance perspective I have concerns.

Thoughts out there in GB list land?

Thanks

Stephen

Stephen Collette BBEC, LEED AP, BSSO
Your Healthy House - Indoor Environmental Testing & Building Consulting
http://www.yourhealthyhouse.ca <http://www.yourhealthyhouse.ca/>
stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca <mailto:stephen at yourhealthyhouse.ca>
705.652.5159



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