Friday, January 22, 2010

Spray foam insulation installed in our roof

(Brendan)

During our cost-cutting process after selecting our builder, we switched from using structural insulated panels for our roof to having parallel chord trusses with spray foam insulation. Even though we use SIP's for all of the other walls of the home, it made sense to make this switch for the roof because even SIP's need some additional structural beams in a roof application (at least ours) and this meant there would still be thermal bridges in the roof -- solid wood that would conduct some amount of heat out of the home. Using parallel chord trusses still allowed for the vaulted ceilings we were planning, and using spray foam insulation still provided an insulation level close to what could be achieved with SIP's in our roof, all while saving a significant amount of money.

Before I show you pics of the finished product, take a look at this 2-3 minute video that shows what it looks like when spray foam insulation is applied -- it's kind of mesmerizing.



Here's what it looks like in our house (click any picture to enlarge):

This pic shows the roof of the mechanical room, where they needed to plane off the foam to allow for the drywall to be installed.

Every nook and cranny was sprayed to eliminate any possible air leakage points. This pic shows how the foam was applied all around the SIP joints between the first and second floor.

Walking around in the second floor now feels like there's a big, cozy blanket on top of you!