Spray Foam Insulation Improves Interior Enviroment of Canadian Town's Entertainment Venue

DELBURNE, AB – May 7, 2013 – The sound and inner climate inside a small Canadian town’s entertainment venue was improved significantly due to spray foam insulation. The Delburne Arena, which opens its doors to the public during 330 days of the year, is used for different types of leisure activities such as ice-skating and ice hockey to bull-riding rodeos and concert events.

Cold Guard Roofing and Insulation Systems took part in the restoration of the 30-year-old steel structure, which included an SPF insulation application with a total spray area of 32,000 square feet.

The project involved the application of two inches of Lapolla’s Foam-Lok FL 2000, a 2 lb. closed-cell spray foam, to the underside of the roof and walls. The foam was then applied directly to the previous insulation, which was 2.5 fiberglass batt insulation held in place by steel mesh.

Ken Kneller, president of Cold Guard, said that the major problem with the arena was that it had lots of thermal bridging issues and leakage caused by melting of ice on the roof which then caused water to come through and drip off the beams. In order to prevent this from happening further, a skim coat of SPF was installed to all the exposed steel beams in addition to the spray foam that was applied to the original insulation.

“It was the best way to solve this problem without doing an inner roof, which would’ve been costly for the owners,” Kneller said. “With the spray foam, we accomplished to stop the thermal bridging from the screws going through the roof into the purlins.”

On top of the SPF insulation, the Cold Guard crew covered the application with Benjamin Moore KP59-01 latex fire-retardant white paint, which added a layer of brightness to the arena.

“It’s twice as bright as what it was before,” Kneller said.

Kneller believes that this project will prove cost-effective, noting that the temperature regulation of the arena changed so much that he thinks the owners will save a substantial amount on energy bills.

Kneller said that the dynamic by the SPF application provided that owners of the Delburne arena were most impressed with was the improvement of the acoustics of the building.

“We had a little radio in there while we worked… and it sounded so loud in that building that you would’ve thought it was hooked up to a really big stereo or sound system,” said Knell. “By the time we were done, the sound was still loud, but it was tuned: it was a lot more comfortable to the ears and there were no echoes.”

Because the arena has a huge PA system, Kneller says given the change in the acoustics everything will sound better during their events.

“It’s going to be a luxury,” Kneller said. “The acoustics will change how people feel by not hearing chatter or echoing.”

With a crew of four people, Cold Guard was able to complete the job in 12 days using one rig on site equipped with a Graco Reactor H-XP3 proportioner and Fusion spray gun. The job was completed using 13 sets of foam and 100 gallons of flame paint. Cold Guard’s prep work mostly involved overspray protection. Specifically, covering the bleachers and the glass protection that separates spectators from the events. All crewmembers wore jumpsuits and respirators supplied with fresh air.

During the time of completion, Kneller said that the temperature went down to -10 at times – even in Canada that’s cold.

“We had to keep it at 75 degrees inside the trailer to keep our product warm,” Kneller said. “We had six sets of foam that we could hold inside our trailer and there was no heat in the building.”

The crew also used two tube heaters, which were situated over the bleachers; they were put on at night for four or five hours for the painting crew to be able to work effectively.

Kneller said that by the time they were halfway done, the temperature in the arena was about 65 degrees with no heat. As more spray foam was installed, the building better retained heat.

“The owners were definitely impressed with that,” Kneller said. “Moreso, however, of how good sound is going to be.”

About Cold Guard: Cold Guard Roofing and Systems is based in Camrose, Alberta and service the entire province. Their services include spray foam insulation and roofing applications. During their 10 years in business, Cold Guard has applied 500 million sq. ft. of spray foam roofing per year. For more information, please use the contact details and links provided below.