Where the floor meets the wall!

[Bob Reynolds]

I'm not a fan of the spray foam insulation in a residential setting. There have been nightmares with those systems. This stuff has been available in one form or another since the 1970's. The first one that had it was Raptco. At that time they found out that although the foam was a great insulation it emitted excessive amounts of formaldehyde which is toxic to humans.

The stuff went away for a while and then was brought back with new formulations which was used in commercial buildings. It was then adapted for residential use and we have problems again which are being blamed on improper installation. People that have had this installed in their homes are having to move out of their homes and spend tens of thousands of dollars to have this removed from their sick house.

Here's a recent one:

Here are the attorneys: Spray Foam Insulation Problems in Florida | Wolf & Pravato

I can't recommend this product to my customers.

 

[Frank]

Looks like they just had it mixed wrong or they didn't know what they were doing but I think the solution itself works really well if done correctly.

 

[Frank]

That's why I believe and sealing up the rim joist and using 2-in foam board on the foundation walls

 

[Bob Reynolds]

I don't know anyone that uses foam board on crawl space foundation walls. I've been taught that it can not be used on foundation walls because of the termite issue and the fact that there can not be any ground contact with foam board.

We ran into a building inspection issue about 20 years ago and the inspector made us remove the foam board.

 

[Jeff Handy]

If the crawl space is that damp, it needs to be addressed.
Either a concrete floor needs to be poured, or heavy plastic put down and sealed at the foundation, or vents need to be added, or a dehumidifier installed and piped to a drain, or sump pump installed, or furnace ducts with conditioned air brought in to change that damp trapped air.

 

[Frank]

There's not any moisture issues but I'm afraid that it could lead to some moisture issues because my foundation is cracked and I don't want to drop $30,000 on a foundation that I can probably fix myself. it's a small crack and I just haven't gotten around to it and I think the problem is hydrostatic water pressure from rain because I haven't put gutters up yet. There's a thousand things I've been fighting with with this house