Basement spray foam insulation in Fort McMurray runs into an assumption worth correcting early. People expect basement problems to be an old-house issue, and a large share of this city's housing is considerably newer than the provincial average. Newer does not mean finished; it means the losses have moved somewhere else.
Much of this housing is newer than people assume
A substantial part of the residential stock here has been built or rebuilt comparatively recently, which means the obvious gaps have been designed out. There is insulation where the code asks for it and the walls are not empty. What that leaves is a different problem: the assemblies are good and the junctions between them are not, so the losses concentrate rather than spread.
Where a newer basement still loses heat
In a modern basement the wall itself is rarely the worst part. The losses sit at the band where the floor structure lands on the foundation, at the joins around a walkout or a window well, and at the corner where the foundation meets the framed wall above it. Those are small areas that a batt does not seal, and in this climate a small unsealed junction produces a very noticeable cold spot rather than a marginal one.
Extreme cold shows itself as frost, not draughts
Further south an air leak is reported as a draught. At the temperatures this city sees through the winter, the same leak deposits moisture as frost on the cold side of the assembly, and it is found in spring when it melts. Homeowners describe it as a leak; it is condensation that arrived from inside the house through a gap. It is worth knowing because the two get diagnosed and priced very differently, and only one of them is a plumbing or roofing problem.
Water, and what the spring melt does
Grading, downspouts and the route water takes when a season's snow goes at once are all part of scoping a basement here rather than an afterthought. Foam tolerates a small amount of moisture, but closing in a wall over an active water path defers the problem rather than solving it, and the melt is the time of year that finds it.
Basement Spray Foam Insulation Fort McMurray: Common Questions
My house is fairly new. Is there anything to do? Usually yes, and it is concentrated rather than general. The junctions -- the rim joist band, walkout joins, window wells -- are what a batt does not seal, and in this climate they show clearly. On a Fort McMurray house those junctions are where nearly all of the remaining loss sits.
We found damp in the spring. Is that a leak? Often it is frost that formed inside the assembly over winter and melted. It arrives from inside the house through an unsealed gap, which is a different fix from a plumbing or roofing repair.
Does the whole wall need treating? Not always in newer construction. The wall may already be adequate, in which case the value is in sealing the junctions rather than adding another layer to a surface that is working.
Is this checked up here as well? It is checked everywhere. Foam in an occupied Fort McMurray basement needs a thermal barrier over it exactly as it does further south.
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