EnviroFoam Insulates Cedar Home With Spray Foam in Nova Scotia

HALIFAX, NS–May 21, 2012–Warmth and modernity are hallmarks of a Lindal cedar home, but just as important is the company's focus on environmental responsibility. A key component of that focus is energy efficiency, which can be greatly improved by the application of spray foam insulation in a home's building envelope.

Indeed, just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a Lindal home constructed by cedar builder A Cut Above utilized spray foam to insulate the building envelope, with EnviroFoam Insulation executing the application. However, the home's implementation of spray foam wasn't set in stone from the beginning.

"The home was actually designed for fiberglass," said Nick Schmidt, Sales Representative for EnviroFoam's Nova Scotia franchise, which is located in Dartmouth.

However, the owners researched SPF insulation on SprayFoam.com, where they also were subsequently linked up with EnviroFoam via the website's Canadian contractor directory listing.

"When we arrived to do our estimate, we saw key areas in the home that just could not be insulated with fiberglass," explained Schmidt.

Specifically, there were several locations where different planes of the roof converged, which rendered the installation of fiberglass batts impossible. EnviroFoam asserted that if the owners truly wanted a home with a building envelope that was wholly insulated, spray foam was the way to go. With that in mind, EnviroFoam ended up with the winning bid on the project, and with contract in hand, the company then had to deal with the sheer scope of the application.

"The home was about 15,000 or 16,000 sq. ft.," Schmidt said. "The spray area total for the walls and ceilings was over 7,250 sq. ft."

The specification called for R-values of 24 and 31 on the walls and ceilings, respectively. To achieve those values, EnviroFoam used Polarfoam PF-7300 closed cell SPF supplied by Polyurethane Foam Systems Inc., which is based out of Waterloo, Ontario. With an approximate R-value of 7 per inch, the walls and ceilings were sprayed with 3" and 4.5" of Polarfoam, respectively, which brought the spray area to a size of nearly 29,000 board feet.

Beyond contending with the size of the application, extra emphasis was placed on overspray protection, due to the nature of the home's design.

"It's a Lindal home, so there are exposed cedar beams," Schmidt explained. "We had to go to great lengths to protect the wood and the windows."

Because foam was to be sprayed directly to the underside of the roof decking, EnviroFoam made sure to completely seal the roof beams with plastic sheeting. The windows were similarly protected from the application's rogue foam particulates. The combination of these protective efforts allowed EnviroFoam to focus on the task at hand: spraying foam.

"Matt, Brad and Danny got the job done." said Schmidt, referring to EnviroFoam's applicators. "The project took us a full seven days to complete."

Despite the project's size–it's EnviroFoam second largest residential application to date–and various precautions, the application had a notable absence of setbacks.

"The project went smoothly; it was fantastic," Schmidt said. "The customers were extremely happy with the job we did."

That kind of response is nothing new for EnviroFoam, which is well into its fourth year in the SPF industry. And that notion goes doubly for residential projects.

"We specialize in residential applications because that's where our key market is," Schmidt said. "But we also do commercial jobs periodically."

That key market is outperforming most other North American locales, which is something that EnviroFoam is excited about.

"The construction industry is booming right now in Atlantic Canada," said Schmidt. "April was our best month ever."

About EnviroFoam: EnviroFoam is an SPF insulation contractor serving the Nova Scotia areas of Halifax, Annapolis Valley, South Shore, Bridgewater and Truro. The company does applications in new construction, renovations, retrofits, with spray foam being ideal for tough to insulate areas like crawl spaces and basement walls. EnviroFoam applicators are CUFCA certified sprayers. For more information, please use the contact details provided below.