Spray Foam Insulation in Erie, PA

Spray foam insulation is mixed at the spray gun and expands as it goes on, filling cracks and bonding to wood, block and steel. That is the difference from fiberglass batts: foam stops air moving through the space it fills. In an Erie house, cold air sneaking in at the foundation and warm air escaping into the attic cause most of the discomfort and most of the ice dams, so foam is most valuable at the edges of the house where those leaks happen.

Open-cell foam

Open-cell is soft and light. It expands a great deal, so it fills irregular cavities and blocks air well. HomeGuide puts it at R-3.5 to R-3.7 per inch. Because it lets some water vapor pass, in a cold climate it goes where a vapor retarder is handled some other way, or in interior partitions and floors between heated rooms where sound is the concern. It costs less per square foot than closed-cell.

Closed-cell foam

Closed-cell is dense and hard, at R-5 to R-7 per inch. At a couple of inches it acts as a vapor retarder and does not take on water, which matters in the snowbelt. It is our usual pick for rim joists, block basement walls, crawl space walls, pole barn steel and roof decks where there is no room for vent channels. It also adds stiffness to the surface it bonds to.

Is foam right for your project?

Good signs: a basement that feels drafty at the sill, cold floors over a crawl space or garage, a finished attic room that is never comfortable, a steel building that drips in winter, or ice dams every year. A sign another product fits better: a big open attic floor, where loose fill reaches R-49 for much less once the leaks below it are sealed. Pennsylvania's code lists R-49 ceilings for Zone 5, and Erie County is in Zone 5A.

Timing in a snowbelt

Foam needs the surface and the material within a working temperature range. Basements and other heated spaces can be done any time. Unheated attics, crawl spaces and pole barns are easier outside the coldest stretches, so many Erie homeowners book in late summer and fall. We plan the date around the forecast.