Avoid these toxic materials | Ep. 30

So spray foam has come out with a couple of variations because it's gotten a lot of pushback from consumers because of its toxicity.

It is not an inert product.

Really nothing in construction is completely inert.

But spray foam has gotten really creative with their marketing.

So there's two main different types of spray foam.

There's closed cell spray foam insulation, and there's open cell spray foam insulation.

So spray foam is used primarily as an insulation for exterior walls or used at the underside of a roof line if planning to do a fully sealed and conditioned attic.

Some of the things that have come out recently that clients have sent me would be a soy-based spray foam or even a sugarcane-based spray foam, and then you also have your just traditional, uh, spray foam.

That does not play heavily into if there is minimal VOCs or minimal toxins.

Almost every spray foam in the US is going to have an added flame retardant, typically around 12%.

Then when you get into the marketing of sugarcane and soy-based spray foams as more green alternatives, once you get into the documentation, there's really only about a 5 to 15% form of this soy or sugarcane.

The rest of the composition still very much contains flame retardants, chemicals, VOCs, and, and other additives.

So I caution if you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of greener alternatives to spray foam because it's not just the chemical composition.

The other concerns with spray foam come from trapped moisture.

In some cases, if using a closed cell variety, it's also acting as a vapor retarder.

There's some concerns out there with spray foam that it's also delaminating, pulling away from framing, and the biggest concern of them all is improper mixture.

So spray foam insulation is on-site chemistry.

There is an A and a B, and it gets mixed together in what should be a perfect mix, and then it is sprayed within the wall cavities.

That is really challenging to get 100% right 100% of the time.

And then lastly, spray foam, it's not coming out.

It is not going to just come out like a fluffy batt insulation.

Spray foam's going to need to be remediated out if there's a problem, if there's a leak, if you have issues with it down the road, or even if you're gonna do a renovation and add on.

So spray foam definitely comes with risks.

It's something that we always talk about pros and cons because instead of just telling you, "This is a giant red flag.

Do not use it at all," I would much rather you be in an informed position to be able to determine if it's right for your project or not.