Does Spray Foam In An Attic

If you want you can even transform a spray foamed attic into a finished space.

Does spray foam in an attic.

Intumescent coatings are not always needed to coat spray foam in the attic in order to meet code thermal barrier requirements. Sealing the top of the house keeps the air you paid to heat and cool inside your home. Using spray foam insulation in an attic is a popular energy saving project. Spray foam attic insulation as we discussed above is a highly popular method used for insulation in homes but like anything else even other alternatives to spray foam insulation there are both pros and cons to the use of this home insulation material.

However in a traditionally insulated attic insulation on the ceiling the attic is vented. It s quick and easy to do. Spray foam attic insulation is used primarily to act as a barrier to limit air movement and reduce the amount of energy loss that homes experience during the season changes. You should never do this.

Normally in occupied areas all spray foam must be covered by a 15 minute thermal barrier such as thick drywall per code requirements in irc section 316 4 and ibc section 2603 4. But a common reason to put spray foam on the roofline is to avoid having to air seal the attic floor. It is made from inert polymers that do not become a food source for mold mildew or fungi when it becomes wet. And the benefits range from much lower utility bills to fewer pests to reduced sound transfer.

You ll also see another safety hazard and code violation. The installer sprayed foam directly on the metal flues. If you leave the insulation in the attic floor after insulating the roofline the attic will be cooler in winter than if you remove the insulation. But in many spray foamed attics it can be hard to manage humidity.

Here s the answer to the question posed in my article title. During the spring summer and fall relative humidity rh in a spray foamed attic often exceeds the comfort threshold of 60. The insulation reduces wildly high temperature spikes and so the attic becomes a conditioned part of the home like any other room. If you look closely you ll see two exhaust flues on the left side.

When we seal the attic with spray foam it s as tight as a butter tub. The attic you see in the photo here is a different home but it does have one feature in common besides the spray foam. As a result you can reduce the temperature in your attic by a lot anywhere from 120 degrees to around 95 during peak summer. Yes using spray foam we have added your attic to the conditioned space.

When spray foam is installed on the underside of the roof deck the attic space is insulated from heat that otherwise would be entering the attic. This spray foam is applied as a low or high pressure two component polyurethane spray foam that can be applied onto walls in unvented attics to ducts and ceilings and in vented attics and crawl spaces.