New Jersey Spray Foam Company Talks About Involvement With Hit DIY Television Show

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ – August 11, 2011 – Steve Richards and Henry Helfman have been lifelong friends and are currently the owners of FOAMpeople. The company recently spoke with SprayFoam.com about their origins and provided details about their recent job working with a television show.

Prior to working in the spray foam industry, Richards and Helfman were involved in several past occupations. According to the company’s website, Richards, the current president of FOAMpeople, has spent the past ten years teaching Technology Education at the middle and high school levels, engaging in the remodeling industry and most recently has become very passionate about energy savings in residential and commercial structures. He has also expressed interest in building envelope science.

“I’ve been working in residential construction for the last 10-15 years,” said Richards. “I primarily focus on energy efficient homes.”

In addition, Richards has allotted quite a bit of his time to educating students and homeowners to the benefits of energy efficient materials such as spray foam insulation.

Helfman, the Vice President of FOAMpeople, has a background as an aerospace engineer. He has spent the last few years working on projects with well-known aerospace organizations including JPL and NASA. Helfman was also involved with surgical instrument design, working with alternative fuels and vehicle technology. Currently, Helfman is a pilot, parachutist and an innovator, passionate about numerous projects and undertakings including his venture to offer spray foam insulation.

Sharing a communal goal to not only educate and spread the message of building more energy efficient homes, Helfman and Richards both want to be more involved with the spray foam insulation industry to demonstrate and practice their beliefs.

“When it comes to constructing new buildings, there are numerous issues: air infiltration, indoor air quality  and condensation problems leading to moisture and mold issues,” said Richards. “I feel that spray foam offers a solution. Many of these issues  can be avoided by taking proactive steps to ensure continuity of the building envelope among various tradespeople working on the project. The ultimate goal is to provide energy efficient homes to stand the test of time, maintain comfort for the occupants and reduce fuel consumption leading to energy savings as well as lower greenhouse gas emissions."

With the idea of opening up their own spray foam company becoming a reality, Richards and Helfman went to work for a spray foam contractor in the Boston area. “It was a spray foam crash course,” said Helfman. “We were working with an associate who helped us gain experience with handling spray foam insulation.”

After spending some time in Boston, and getting certified through BPI (Building Performance Institute), Richards and Helfman returned to the tri-state area and in 2008 and opened FOAMpeople.

“Following the establishment of the company, we were in need of a spray foam rig,” said. Richards. “We decided to build our own.”

“We had limited assets, but Steve and myself are pretty resourceful guys,” added Helfman. “It took us about two months, but we were able to successfully put together an 18 foot truck box made almost entirely out of used parts. We still use that rig to this day.”

FOAMpeople currently works with a majority of their clients in the tri-state area. With homebuilding having slowed down in recent years, Richards and Helfman have found work in old, historical buildings. While collaborating with restoration contractors, FOAMpeople would spray old homes to not only help preserve the buildings, but to make them more energy efficient.

When asked of their most memorable job, Richards states, “We don’t we really have a specific job that stands out. We actually have a wide variety. To us, any job that provides us with a tricky challenge are the ones that stand out the most and since working with FOAMpeople these past couple of years, there have been plenty.”

Not only has FOAMpeople worked for clients in the tri-state area, the company has also worked with clients on television.

Programmed on the Do-It-Yourself Network (DIY), Man Caves is a show that takes a private area of a house and transforms it into an over-the-top room for anyone to escape into their own world of relaxation. Richards and Helfman had the honor of being one of the few contracting companies to work with the show.

“It was an exciting experience,” said Richards. “Working on those man caves were very enjoyable and I’m glad to see all the positive responses from the guys whose ‘caves’ we remodeled.”

Out of the five episodes that FOAMpeople contributed their time and work to, three have featured them on television. The episodes included them spraying the HVAC duct in a corvette themed garage, sound insulating a mechanical room for the Hoboken Police Department’s gym and insulating a free standing garage that was transformed into a western-style saloon. Richards and Helfman were also given the opportunity to spray foam insulation at the home of the show’s host, Jason Cameron.

“After we were done spraying our first job, Jason Cameron fell in love with spray foam,” said Richards. “He loved it so much that he invited FOAMpeople to his home and asked us to insulate his home.”

According to FOAMpeople, they hope to work with Man Cave on a variety of different projects as the show progresses through its latest and future seasons.