Home Construction Discussion

[Blob Mckenzie]

Which is why I use fibreglass.

I have tomorrow off and today I and the neighbour decided to crack open a 60 of rye.... CLOWN Royal.


You've been warned . I already pissed off the one non pot smoking neighbour I have by lighting a dube at 9 AM .

[Vpete]

RD I am doing basement walls and not wall cavities or attic, so we obviously have different issues going on.

Problem with spray foam is that there is no going back after. You are locked in and can't run bugger all in you walls after.

[BCExpat]

Which is why I use fibreglass.

I have tomorrow off and today I and the neighbour decided to crack open a 60 of rye.... CLOWN Royal.


You've been warned . I already pissed off the one non pot smoking neighbour I have by lighting a dube at 9 AM .

Another reason not to use urethane foam insulation - it catches fire easily and gives of toxic fumes (even more toxic than that BC bud you're smokin')

[Topper]

What is the opinion on Roxul insulation? Molten rock spin like cotton candy. Melts at 1500C, does not burn.

[BCExpat]

What is the opinion on Roxul insulation? Molten rock spin like cotton candy. Melts at 1500C, does not burn.

I really like Roxul. I specify the semi-rigid Roxul (Cavity Rock) on most of the commercial projects I work on. Many of the Architects I work with, have switched from the polystyrene insulation on exterior walls for commercial buildings, to the Roxul product. Unlike rigid polystyrene, the semi-rigid product is plyable and can fit around protrusions, etc., maintaining the thermal barrier. Extruded polystyrene has an R value of 5 per inch; semi-rigid Roxul has an R value of 4.3 per inch. So, to get the same R value, you need a bit more thickness. It is also cheaper than polystryene (the extruded type - not the expanded polystyrene).

I also specify the regular batt Roxul for between stud or framing member applications (Roxul Plus Batt or Roxul ComfortBatt).

[Arachnid]

RD I am doing basement walls and not wall cavities or attic, so we obviously have different issues going on.

Problem with spray foam is that there is no going back after. You are locked in and can't run bugger all in you walls after.

Rice hulls

r2/" spray in, moisture/pest/fire resistant, non-toxic, non-petrol, renewable source, readily available in the US

Fack'n amateurs

[Vpete]

Iirc Roxul is great for noise dampening.

Fire is of so little concern to me, my house is 82 years old, it'll go up like a dry piece of tinder.

[BladesofSteel]

Roxul is the preferable type of insulation whenever I use it. More expensive than fiberglass batts, but better R-value and yes, much better fire retardend (mind you, if the fire reaches you wall cavities, your house is toast anyway). If you're doing it yourself, be sure to wear gloves and long sleeves, as its the itchiest shit on the market. You also don't wanna be breathing that shit in either.

And yes, works great for dumbin' down the farts n shits in your bathroom walls.

[Chef Boi RD]

Just one thing to note about urethane foam in place or sprayed insulation - it is being banned in some countries now because it may be hazardous to your health. I work on a lot of commercial projects, and I have specified it for miscellaneous locations - ie - tie ins of air/vapour barriers to underside of slabs, around windows, doors, etc. I could see this being banned in Canada eventually (or the urethane will be reformulated to be less hazardous). My point is, stay away from it in your home. Otherwise, you may end up like those who use Urea Formaldehyde spray insulation in their houses (ripping it all out at great cost).

RD - as for venting and what needs to "breathe" the simple rule is, whatever is outside of the air/vapour barrier needs to be able to exude any moisture which enters the wall (including condensation). The air/vapour barrier has to be on the warm side of the dew point in the wall (usually on the inside face of the insulation).

The thing about the polyurethane foams, is that they can be both insulation and air/vapour barrier. So, RD, you are right, urethane insulation does not "breathe".

Nice read on the potential dangers of urethane foam. It's new territory for everybody, but you have to wonder about the off gases and it's affect on the people living in houses that went overboard on spray foam.

I know a fair bit about building envelope, air/vapour barrier, moisture, condensation rainscreen, dew points, warm side etc. How it all works Been dealing with Building Envelope Engineers for a while. Regarding venting, I was talking about a crawl space issue on a house I'm reno'ing where the existing crawl space is vented to the outside. The issue being that it's OK to do this but you have to shut these vents off for the winter in which 99.9% of the time, homeowners don't which lead to moisture problems in crawl spaces. I just find it quite amusing the different kinds of opinions you get for dealing with crawl spaces. Had one known local insulator who I have worked with in the past whom I consider pretty knowledgeable suggest I spray foam the underside of joists/floor in crawl space. All fine and dandy, but people seem to forget about the dirty word 'BUDGET'. It's an issue, the crawl space in existing has no concrete skim coat over ground, homeowner wants us to poly and skim coat over dirt, problem being, crawl space only has a depth of 2 feet.. But it's making more sense to turn the underside of floor into the building envelope and treating the rest of crawl space as 'outside'. Problem is, economics is playing a big part in all of this. Currently weighing the pros and cons.

[BladesofSteel]

^^^
Yes, the benefits of spray foaming are indeed terrific (as long as you run the necessary conduits through the walls/floor before hand) but it is sooo not cost effective at all.

[Vpete]

As you can see all spray foamed and so silent and dry in what is normally a musty basement. It was 3k for the job and I wouldn't change a thing.


So here are a few updates:



Looking into the utility room. Furnace guys came today to do some measurements and such for next week's install.



The future bathroom



This is looking down at the wall where the media centre will be. Put in the plywood behind for extra strength for the wall mount and a conduit to run cables. It's already pre-run with cable and cat 5 for media.



This is looking into the bedroom and you can see onto the floor the old lead pipe that had to be replaced. The electrical ground is tied in there but being moved and then onto the new line.



This is the guys doing the directional boring right before they brought the machine in.

[BladesofSteel]

Did you do 2x6 partitions as well??? What's the square footage of the basement Pete?

[Vpete]

Did you do 2x6 partitions as well??? What's the square footage of the basement Pete?

There are 2x6 partiion for all walls with utilities running through them. The exterior are all 2x4. The basement is just over 750 square feet.

[BladesofSteel]

Nice.

So what's the R-value of spray foam for 2x4 walls?

[Vpete]

Nice.

So what's the R-value of spray foam for 2x4 walls?

R24 IIRC. I am having more blow in added to my attic as I'm going to electric boiler heat and due to panel size (even with 200 amp) I need to be sure I won't get cold.