Eco Pray Insulation has been installing both injection and spray foam insulation in homes across Toronto for more than 10 years, as well as the Greater Toronto Area. We know both products are superior to traditional insulation, and we also know the differences between the two.
In our efforts to educate homeowners, we are going to break down the differences and similarities between spray foam and injection foam insulation.
What is Injection Foam?
Injection foam is an insulation and air barrier that seals enclosed cavities such as existing walls against the movement of the air.
Injection foam never loses shape in the cavity, unlike conventional insulation materials such as fiberglass and cellulose. When installed, injection foam completely fills the cavity with cracks and gaps. Over time, it’s not going to settle, compress, or sag.
How Injection Foam Insulation Works?
- If your home is heated or cooled, your insulation should keep the house temperature constant without the furnace or air conditioner working overtime.
- This system keeps your energy bills down and maximizes the comfort of your home.
- When insulation works, conduction (heat transfer) and convection (airflow) will have an impact, both affecting the comfort and energy efficiency of your home.
- More traditional forms of insulation – fiberglass, and cellulose – are resistant to heat transmitted through conduction. During the winter months, this heat transfer is from the inside of your home to the outside and vice versa during the summer months.
- Airflow allows you to move air in and out of your home through gaps in the walls, as well as the attic, crawl space, rim joist, doors, windows, and electrical outlets.
- This air leakage contributes to a critical source of energy loss in the home. It also contributes to discomforts, such as drafts coming through walls, windows, and outlets.
- Foam insulation works best to reduce this air leakage by providing thermal resistance and air seal.
- The added benefit of injection foam insulation is that it also has sound damping properties. This means that your home won’t be completely soundproof, but it can greatly reduce the sound transmission coming from outside.
What is spray foam insulation?
As the name suggests, spray foam insulation is a liquid foam that is sprayed into position and placed in an insulating layer. You can use it to insulate your roof, loft, walls, floors and more.But it is more important than traditional types of insulation, such as mineral or glass-wool, polystyrene slabs or expanded polystyrene (EPS).
There are two types of foam spray insulation to choose from:
- Closed cell spray foam
- Open cell spray foam
If spray foam insulation is right for your home and budget, the type you choose will depend on what you want to do. Keep reading in order to find out more about the different types.
How Does Spray Foam Insulation Work?
- Open cell and closed cell spray foam to insulate your home while creating an air seal.
- The insulation has many benefits, including the ability to dampen the sound, deter mold growth, and reduce airflow while stopping drafts and cold floors.
- Spray foam insulation affects the conduction (heat transfer) and convection (airflow) that affect the comfort and energy efficiency of your home. The overall job of insulation is to resist heat flow in or out of space. It keeps your house warm in the winter and your cool home cool in the summer.
- Think of the traditional insulation – fiberglass and cellulose – as a comparison between a wool sweater and a windbreaker.
- A wool sweater on a cold day of fall is warm and welcome. The same wool sweater doesn’t help you keep warm when the wind blows and flows through it. A windbreaker is going to be much more effective in keeping you warm, much like spray foam.
- Air leakage is a problem for many homes, and this contributes to the loss of energy at home, as well as to the discomfort of drafts, cold floors, and ice dams. Some homes can leak enough air every day to fill two blimps, so imagine the impact it has on heating and cooling bills.
- With traditional insulation – fiberglass and cellulose – spaces and gaps that are not filled can lead to air leakage.
- Using spray foam can lead to a clean, energy-efficient home.
Injection foam insulation vs Spray foam insulation R-value and Air sealing
Injection foam and spray foam insulation have the same air sealing properties, while the R-Value may differ.
The air seal prevents the passage of air or steam. Creating an air seal with foam insulation can work to block the movement of air into and out of your home, whether it is spray or foam injection.
The creation of an air seal is important because around 30% of home heating and cooling costs come from air leakage. The ability of spray foam and injection foam to fill all the nooks and crannies in the attic, walls, crawl space, and rim joist can reduce energy losses in your home, reducing your monthly energy bills.
There are a number of other reasons why creating an air seal is good for your home. Are you or someone in your family suffering from allergies or asthma? The foam insulation air seal will keep those allergens out, making your home healthier.
Another thing you need to consider is moisture in your home. The foam insulation air seal will keep moisture out of your home, especially in places like the crawling space, the rim joist, and the attic.
Now there’s the R-Value foam insulation.
Reducing the number of insulations does not tell the whole story. It’s great to know the R-Value of your insulation, but it’s not the revered determinant of all the insulation you might think of. This is because foam insulation creates an air seal that stops the movement of the air.
But you’re trying to know the numbers.
The open-cell foam insulation has an R-value between R-3.6 and R-3.9 per inch. Closed cell spray foam is R-6 to R-7 per inch. Once the injection foam is in the wall, it lands at about R-18 in total, but this varies depending on the size of the cavity.
Injection foam for enclosed, existing walls
Injection insulation for homes is pumped into wall spaces in a liquid form with the consistency of shaving cream, where it flows freely throughout the wall cavity – passing behind wires, pipes, electrical outlets, cracks and cracks that other insulations cannot reach – and then hardens into a solid, but light barrier to retain valuable air conditioning inside your home where it is located. Your home stays warm in the winter and cooler in the summer!
Spray foam for open walls and crawl spaces
Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) is a high-density, high-performance insulation foam. It is applied as a liquid and extends to many times its original size to create a solid thermal barrier that keeps air conditioned inside the home. The spray application makes it ideal for interior walls that do not have an enclosed space to hold injection foam and are in direct contact with the exterior, e.g. in crawl spaces or attic spaces. Spray Polyurethane Foam serves the purpose of a number of products, including insulation, air barriers, sealants, vapor retarders, and weather barriers.
