Anybody try some of the spray foam you can do yourself that you see in the sidebar on this page, (or any)? How’d it go? I want to fill some soffits and I don’t have a high degree of confidence in the folks who tend to do it professionally. They may not be as thorough as I’d like. Also, I can imagine it might be cheaper.
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All I see in the sidebar is an "f" in a circle.
never used fomo, but i have used dow's refillable kits with disposable gun. you need to find somone close to you that is set up as a diy rental or something along those lines and they can get you everything you need.
depending on how many bdft you are going to spray you may want to look up spray foam rigs for rent and see if there are any close to you.
when ever we spray we hire a guy from Missouri. We purchase the foam from him and pay him a daily fee for his professional rig. He changes the sets when they get empty and we spray away. doing it this way we save about 45-55% of the cost the local foam companys charge around here.
i just sprayed 2'' on the bottom side of the roof deck for a commercial remodel (6000sqft) and a and 3'' on all exterior wall, 1'' on the bottom side of the subfloor, and 5'' on the bottom side of the roof deck of the house we are building right now for the same price the local guy quoted just to do the commercial building. we used a total of 6 set (24000 bd ft).
Its messing, and not easy work but worth the savings.
Thanks for the reply Mark. I was wondering if it was possible to rent a rig. After checking out some of the diy videos it looked like they were too small scale for what I'm after. I'll have a good look around and do the rental thing.
Ever had any issues with off gassing due to improper mixing? That sounds awful. Also, do you like dow's product? (I'm assuming that's dow chemical.) If so, do you have a specific name on that?
Tom
never had any issues with off gasing. it may be worth giving sprayfoamsystems.com a call. they are based in atlanta but do all their business over the phone. They should be able to set you up with some of their packages. check out the site, they have different sizes and price ranges. dow's product line is froth-pak refillable systems.
One more question Mark. I'd like to fill an enclosed space, (soffits), with the foam. Do you think expansion will be a problem if I leave an outlet? I'm hoping it will expand enough to completely fill the cavities then overflow at an outlet port. It wouldn't be good to deform either the roof or underside of the soffit.
i dont think you would have an issue if you have enough places for the expansion pressure to release. we normally block off the soffits with card board, scraps of lumber, osb...whatever we have around.
are you foaming the roof and just want to enclose the soffit area?
Where I'm building in California they have something called the "wildlands/urban interface zone". The fire marshall decided after some big fires in 2007 to make venting a lot more complicated. So, my thinking is to fill the soffits and also shoot the underside of the roof. The attic wouid then technically become interior space thereby eliminating the need for any separate ventilation. Apparently most wildland fires move to homes by embers getting into the attic through soffit vents.
I was quoted $3.50/sq. ft. out here which is why I'm very interested in doing this myself. Plus, I know I'll make sure to get all the bays completely filled. I really like the idea of the soffits being sort of a separate foam filled appendage as opposed to it being an opening into the house. There are numerous life forms running around up there which would be nice to keep out.
Thanks again for the input.
yeah thats somewhere in the ball park the installers in these parts are at. if you can find a rental rig, you will save 50% +
spray foam
Mark,
I'm curious what you are paying in MO - in Southeastern PA I recently have been paying $1 per sf. per inch and when I looked into spraying myself (messy job, and you CAN screw it up) it would actually have cost me more then having my guy show up, plus I don't have to worry about not getting it to foam correctly (e.g.: cold weather), leftover waste, and there is an associated warranty.
im in Tn, the guy i rent the rig from comes in from Mo. He does not charge me mileage if I purchase a certain amount of sets.
there is not much competition around here with foamers so the prices are much higher. if the guys here were at a $1.00/sqft i would not do it myself either!!! the guy who has been around the longest in town is $3.00-$3.50/ ft depending on application.
I think he said $1.00/sq ft per inch. So, 4" thick would be $4.00/sq ft, if I'm not mistaken.
most foam guy talk in bd ft. in the commercial application we used recently it only called for 2''.
I have used a product called Foam It Green - mostly chose them due to lower shipping charges.
I did it myself because no one wanted to do the smaller additions I was doing.
worked fine- pretty straight forward installation.
Now there is enough competition that I sub it out.
Terry
Terry
Foam keeps beer cold.
Fest this year is in Ft. Wayne, In.
Upriver from here.
whatya think?
When I started getting quotes for my last spray foam job, it was in the heat of summer. I got some great quotes, because the foamers were really struggling to keep from laying off workers due to summer slowdown. Estimators where there within a few days and I could get the spraying done right away!
So, wait until summer when everyones looking for airconditrioners and you'll find that the DIY approch is way more expensive than having someone come in, do the work, clean up, and be gone!
Hubris
Having a pro do the job is likely to be quicker, have a better job done, and cost less than any DIY arrangement.
Let's look at the cost factor first of all. For me to foam the underside of my floor, I would require three "kits" and two pails of intumescent coating. My materials cost would be about $2000. A contractor will do the same job for his minimum charge of $1000.
Let's not ignore the skill required to properly do a foam job.It requires a surprising amount of agility and finesse. A skilled tradesman will efficiently lay the foam in several timed passes, which means a better foam cure and less waste. The contractor will have a number of specialty tools - some shop made- to help with application, trim, and clean-up. That powered roller that shaves off excess foam costs wellover $1000.
Foam's blessing, as well as its' curse, can be summed up in one word: expansion. Too little, and you have gaps. Too much, and the foam can pop the drywall right off your ceiling. Only with practice, using a particular product, can you really master the art of getting it right. Something as trivial as humidity can have a huge impact on the expansion. Did you know that in arid areas, contractors will 'mist' or spray an area before applying foam?
It seems to be fasionable these days for folks to just automatically assume they are smarter, better, and wiser than others who have spent their lives to an endeavor. You see it all the time at the pistol range; novices shocked to see just how poor they really are. You can't master anything just by reading a book. I think this hubris is taught in school; howmuch one has seems directly related to how much time they have spent in a classroom - and inverse to time actually spent in the field.
"Cheaper" also seems to be the ONLY factor folks really care about. They seem to forget that the very reason products like foam exist is that someone, somewhere, was convinced there was profit to be had. Yet, some folks will spare no effort, or expense, to be 'cheap.'
The end result of this contempt for learning and miserly penny-pinching? Well, pick any third-world hellhole and admire. Why do you think those folks are stuck in the middle ages?
not necessarly
my most recent example:
6500sqft of roof deck
2300sqft home
all 2'' average closed cell for 5k cheaper than a "pro" quoted for the 6500sqft roof deck.
closed cell doesnt expand the way open cell does and it is very easy to control the expansion.
took 3 days (long ones) but three days for both jobs.
clean up took less the half a day the following morning with a jap saw and puddy knife.
as for the 3rd world country comment, they are not in the state they are in for being cheap. they are mostly in that state because of the corruption in the government systems...
i do agree that the diy kits are difficult to use, the disposable tips get clogged easy, and if you are using a set that requires it to be pressuized you are constantly having to check those gagues to make sure your mixture stays right.