When it comes to spray foam insulation, it’s superiority rests in a fully insulated building envelope. That means your spray foam applicator needs to do their due diligence to identify the entire building envelop that requires insulation. And insulating the entire building envelope for maximum energy optimization.
But what happens if your spray foam applicator doesn’t identify the entire building envelope? If this happens, you run the risk of a compromised thermal. And moisture barrier, which can result in excess heat loss and / or gain.
To ensure your applicator identifies the entire building envelope. We recommend the homeowner, or building contractor provide accurate schematics of the floor plan of the home, building, or agricultural facility. As well as any potentially identifiable problem areas that would require extra attention before applying spray foam.
Call today to learn more about industry best practices when utilizing and applying spray foam insulation to your home, business, or agricultural facility. Go Green. Go Foam.
Where Envelopes Break in Oregon Buildings
The gaps are predictable, and they are nearly always at a junction rather than in the middle of a wall.
Cantilevered floors, where a bonus room or a second storey overhangs the floor below, are open to outside air underneath unless someone deliberately sealed them. Rim joists at the top of a foundation wall are another. So are the intersections around dormers and valleys on a complex roof, and the boundary between an attached garage and the conditioned space next to it.
A vented crawl space is the largest one in this climate. The design assumes outside air dries the space out. For much of the Oregon year that air arrives already saturated, so the vents bring moisture in rather than taking it away, and the floor above stays cold and damp.
An envelope is only as good as its weakest junction. Insulating a wall well and leaving the rim joist open does not get you most of the benefit; it gets you very little of it.
Common Questions
What is a building envelope?
The boundary between conditioned indoor space and everything outside it: walls, roof, floor, windows, doors and every junction between them. Insulation only works when that boundary is continuous.
Where do Oregon envelopes usually break?
At junctions rather than in the middle of a wall. Cantilevered floors, rim joists, the garage boundary, dormer and valley intersections, and above all the vented crawl space, which in this climate brings damp air in rather than drying the space out.
Is it worth insulating one part of a building?
It depends which part. Sealing the crawl space or the ceiling plane usually delivers most of the available gain. Insulating a wall well while leaving the rim joist open delivers very little, because the air still moves.
Related: how the building envelope works · residential spray foam insulation
Also worth reading: what R-value measures, roof decks and the dew point.
Talk it through with an installer
Every building is different. Tell us about the property and we will give you a straight answer on what it needs.