Expanding Foam Insulation Benefits for Your Home

Home insulation is often thought of in terms of its ability to reduce heating and cooling costs. However, this same ability is only one of the many perks of expanding foam insulation.

Expanding foam insulation is applied by spraying it on the desired surface. The foam then expands to fill small spaces in gaps that can cause air to be exchanged between the interior of a home and the outside environment. This prevents air convection from carrying heat between the interior and exterior of a home. In turn, this results in lowering the expense of heating and cooling a house. However, smaller heating and cooling bills is only the first advantage of using this technology.

The fact that air is inhibited from entering from the outside into the house also means that this remarkable substance is capable of improving the quality of air inside the house. Thus, expanding foam insulation can reduce the concentration of allergens, ash and pollutants within a building's interior. This may be an important consideration if one or more residents suffer from allergies or respiratory conditions.

The ability of this technology to prevent the exchange of air between the interior and exterior of a building has yet another benefit. In particular, it is part of the solution to a problem known as ice damming.

Ice dams are walls of ice and icicles occurring on the lower portion of a roof. These walls of ice are produced by the melting of snow or ice further up on the roof. As additional ice and snow continues to melt, water begins to accumulate behind the ice dam. In turn, this accumulated water can leak into the roof damaging the structure of the roof and sheathing as well as the ceiling and walls of the structure.

Two of the four most common causes of the ice dams include "insufficient insulation or thermal bridging and a source of heat in the roof such as a poorly insulated duct or hot water pipes". Providing sufficient insulation to the underside of the roof can prevent heat from being transmitted to the exterior of the roof. The smaller the amount of heat transmitted to the exterior of the roof the smaller the volume of snow that will melt reducing the likelihood that an ice dam will form.

The leakage of air into the space below the roof is a third cause of ice dams. As a result, it is important to seal the air barrier of the ceiling as much as possible. Expanding foam insulation prevents such leakage by filling small gaps and holes through which air can pass.

Small gaps and holes within the walls of a home can act as a conduit for which sound may pass. Therefore, expanding foam insulation can prevent sound from traveling from room to room as well as preventing outside noises from entering the home. Additionally, many foams have a high STC (Sound Transmission Class) rating which means that they are very effective in absorbing acoustic energy.

Expanding foam insulation is extremely versatile in the wide range of issues that it is able to address. Whether it is maintaining the temperature of a home, soundproofing a house and/or reducing the likelihood of the formation of ice dams, almost every homeowner will be able to find a beneficial use of this technology.