I need to insulate between the floor joists over my crawl space. The area
involved is 24' x 40' (or about 960 square feet).

I had a guy come by from an outfit called ThermRseal. They use expanding
foam, a product called Sealection500.

He looked in my crawl space. The floor is dirt and is inclined. At the
deepest point it is about five feet. The dirt floor rises over a distance of
24' (the width of the house) so that at the shallowest point it is only
about one foot deep (dirt floor to bottom of joists).

This expanded foam product appears to be a good form of insulation and
better that traditional fiberglass. Many reports attest to its safety and
efficacy in insulating properties.

The guy gave me an estimate of $2,975. Said the job would take about a day.
Said my crawl space is a difficult job because of how it narrows down to
about a foot deep and will be hard, but not impossible to work in.

I understand that this type of insulation is more costlier than traditional
fiberglass, as much as 2.5 times the cost of a fiberglass installation.

My question is, does this estimate seem reasonable? I'd like to negotiate
downward a bit and am wondering how low I should be able to get the price
down to within reason.

Also interested in anyones thoughts on this type of insulation.

Thanks so much.

Jack

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 23:14:43 -0400, "John"
wrote:

[cut]
I had a guy come by from an outfit called ThermRseal. They use expanding
foam, a product called Sealection500.
[cut]
This expanded foam product appears to be a good form of insulation and
better that traditional fiberglass. Many reports attest to its safety and
efficacy in insulating properties.

The guy gave me an estimate of $2,975. Said the job would take about a day.
Said my crawl space is a difficult job because of how it narrows down to
about a foot deep and will be hard, but not impossible to work in.

If this is the icynene stuff, it really is great, and its expense
results from specialized equipment needed to spray it in plus the
icynene itself. There's not enough sales volume yet to get the price
down, but it really works if you can swing the cost. I doubt you can
get the price down given the scarce competition and the difficult
parameters of the job.

Hi John,

Sealection500 is a half pound density open celled foam according to
their literature. I believe it is about R-3.5 per inch.

I have two problems with this deal.

One, I personally don't believe you should use an open celled foam in a
potentially wet space that may or may not have high humidity. Open cell
foams are not water resistant. They can wick water.

Second problem is the price, although I do understand the contractor's
dread of tight spaces...

Why don't you just do it yourself? Get two 600 board foot foam
insulation kits and spray a solid inch of seal(you have to order them
online because they aren't stocked in stores) which would cost you
about $1,300 including shipping and you would have a closed cell, water
tight foam with an r-value of 6 or 7 per inch and it now is available
in E-84 fire rated formula.

Even if you don't want to do it yourself, you could hire a nimble buddy
to get into the small places...

Since open cell foams generally cost less to manufacturer than closed
cell foams, most of your quote is labor as the contractor sees a day in
a tight space and doesn't really like that kind of work, buy will do it
if you pay him enough.

Entreprenuers can do that.

Whatever you do, just an inch of closed cell or full cavity of open
cell will do wonders for your utility bills and stop a lot of drafts
and cold floor problems...

If fuel prices get too high this winter, I do have blueprints for a
furnace that runs on dollar bills. The way people are talking, it may
be cheaper to heat with them than oil. ;0)

abi


John wrote:
I need to insulate between the floor joists over my crawl space. The area
involved is 24' x 40' (or about 960 square feet).

I had a guy come by from an outfit called ThermRseal. They use expanding
foam, a product called Sealection500.
clip
The guy gave me an estimate of $2,975. Said the job would take about a day.
Said my crawl space is a difficult job because of how it narrows down to
about a foot deep and will be hard, but not impossible to work in.

I understand that this type of insulation is more costlier than traditional
fiberglass, as much as 2.5 times the cost of a fiberglass installation.

My question is, does this estimate seem reasonable? I'd like to negotiate
downward a bit and am wondering how low I should be able to get the price
down to within reason.

Also interested in anyones thoughts on this type of insulation.

Thanks so much.

Jack

abi wrote:
Hi John,

Sealection500 is a half pound density open celled foam according to
their literature. I believe it is about R-3.5 per inch.

I have two problems with this deal.

One, I personally don't believe you should use an open celled foam in a
potentially wet space that may or may not have high humidity. Open cell
foams are not water resistant. They can wick water.

Second problem is the price, although I do understand the contractor's
dread of tight spaces...

Why don't you just do it yourself? Get two 600 board foot foam
insulation kits and spray a solid inch of seal(you have to order them
online because they aren't stocked in stores) which would cost you
about $1,300 including shipping and you would have a closed cell, water
tight foam with an r-value of 6 or 7 per inch and it now is available
in E-84 fire rated formula.

Even if you don't want to do it yourself, you could hire a nimble buddy
to get into the small places...

Since open cell foams generally cost less to manufacturer than closed
cell foams, most of your quote is labor as the contractor sees a day in
a tight space and doesn't really like that kind of work, buy will do it
if you pay him enough.

Entreprenuers can do that.

Whatever you do, just an inch of closed cell or full cavity of open
cell will do wonders for your utility bills and stop a lot of drafts
and cold floor problems...

If fuel prices get too high this winter, I do have blueprints for a
furnace that runs on dollar bills. The way people are talking, it may
be cheaper to heat with them than oil. ;0)

abi


John wrote:
I need to insulate between the floor joists over my crawl space. The area
involved is 24' x 40' (or about 960 square feet).

I had a guy come by from an outfit called ThermRseal. They use expanding
foam, a product called Sealection500.
clip
The guy gave me an estimate of $2,975. Said the job would take about a day.
Said my crawl space is a difficult job because of how it narrows down to
about a foot deep and will be hard, but not impossible to work in.

I understand that this type of insulation is more costlier than traditional
fiberglass, as much as 2.5 times the cost of a fiberglass installation.

My question is, does this estimate seem reasonable? I'd like to negotiate
downward a bit and am wondering how low I should be able to get the price
down to within reason.

Also interested in anyones thoughts on this type of insulation.

Thanks so much.

Jack

Well, I went ahead and had the Sealection500 expanding foam installed.
cost me $2,300. They got here yesterday at 10 a.m. and finished up by 4
p.m.
I'll say one thing, the crawl space does now certaily look airtight.
It's a strange sight, though, looks like white billowing clouds between
the joists. Most of the stuff comes down to the bottom of the joists,
and some hangs a little below the joists.

I took into account your comments about using open cell foam in a
potentially wet space. But I've never in thirty-five years had any
wetness in the crawl space.

Hoping I now achieve some significant fuel oil savings. We'll see.

The guys were quite accomodating and thorough, although the stuff, when
spraying overhead, is a bit messy with some foam dripping down onto the
dirt floor. Not a problem, though, I just raked it up.

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate your help.


abi wrote:
Hi John,

Sealection500 is a half pound density open celled foam according to
their literature. I believe it is about R-3.5 per inch.

I have two problems with this deal.

One, I personally don't believe you should use an open celled foam in a
potentially wet space that may or may not have high humidity. Open cell
foams are not water resistant. They can wick water.

Second problem is the price, although I do understand the contractor's
dread of tight spaces...

Why don't you just do it yourself? Get two 600 board foot foam
insulation kits and spray a solid inch of seal(you have to order them
online because they aren't stocked in stores) which would cost you
about $1,300 including shipping and you would have a closed cell, water
tight foam with an r-value of 6 or 7 per inch and it now is available
in E-84 fire rated formula.

Even if you don't want to do it yourself, you could hire a nimble buddy
to get into the small places...

Since open cell foams generally cost less to manufacturer than closed
cell foams, most of your quote is labor as the contractor sees a day in
a tight space and doesn't really like that kind of work, buy will do it
if you pay him enough.

Entreprenuers can do that.

Whatever you do, just an inch of closed cell or full cavity of open
cell will do wonders for your utility bills and stop a lot of drafts
and cold floor problems...

If fuel prices get too high this winter, I do have blueprints for a
furnace that runs on dollar bills. The way people are talking, it may
be cheaper to heat with them than oil. ;0)

abi


John wrote:
I need to insulate between the floor joists over my crawl space. The area
involved is 24' x 40' (or about 960 square feet).

I had a guy come by from an outfit called ThermRseal. They use expanding
foam, a product called Sealection500.
clip
The guy gave me an estimate of $2,975. Said the job would take about a day.
Said my crawl space is a difficult job because of how it narrows down to
about a foot deep and will be hard, but not impossible to work in.

I understand that this type of insulation is more costlier than traditional
fiberglass, as much as 2.5 times the cost of a fiberglass installation.

My question is, does this estimate seem reasonable? I'd like to negotiate
downward a bit and am wondering how low I should be able to get the price
down to within reason.

Also interested in anyones thoughts on this type of insulation.

Thanks so much.

Jack