With about 66% of Raymond homes built before 1991 and lots deep enough to extend into, the typical house here has grown. What that does underneath is the part people discover late. Basement spray foam insulation in Raymond frequently turns out to be a basement plus one or two completely separate under-floor spaces that were built later, at a different depth, and were never brought inside the heated envelope.
One house, several things under the floor
The original core sits on a full basement. The kitchen that was pushed out in the fifties sits on a shallow foundation with a crawl under it. The family room added later sits on piers with skirting around them. Each of those was a separate build with a separate idea of what the floor needed, and the only thing joining them is an opening somebody cut through the old foundation wall to run ducts and plumbing. Air moves freely through that opening. The furnace sits in the warm basement, the ducts run through a void that is effectively outside, and the room at the far end of the house is cold no matter how long the fan runs.
The old foundation wall is now an interior wall with a hole in it
That cut-through is the single most useful thing to find and treat. On one side is conditioned basement, on the other is a vented crawl or a skirted void at close to outdoor temperature. The opening is usually ragged, usually larger than the services passing through it, and usually stuffed with whatever was handy. Closing it properly means deciding which side of it is inside. Either the crawl becomes part of the house, which means sealing and insulating its perimeter and closing its vents, or it stays outside, which means the opening and the duct runs crossing it get sealed and wrapped and the floor above gets treated. Both are legitimate. Doing neither, which is the common state, is what makes a house like this expensive to heat.
Water comes before foam, always
Foam is not a waterproofing product and we will not sell it as one. If there is a stain on the wall, efflorescence on the block, a damp patch on the slab after a wet spring or a sump that runs often, that is dealt with first: grade, downspouts, discharge away from the wall, and whatever drainage work the house actually needs. In an irrigated district the ground around a house is watered through the season by choice as well as by weather, and lawn irrigation set against a foundation wall is a surprisingly common source of a wet basement. Spraying over a wall that is still wetting is a way of hiding a problem for a few years.
Why closed-cell goes straight to the wall
A stud wall with batts built against a cold concrete or block wall creates a cavity with warm humid room air on one side and a cold surface on the other, which is a condensing surface with wood against it. Closed-cell foam applied directly to the concrete removes the cavity, bonds to the wall, and becomes its own vapour control at roughly two inches, so there is no cold face for moisture to reach. Framing can then go in front of it and the finish goes on the framing. On the kind of irregular, patched, partly parged wall these houses have, an adhered layer also follows the surface instead of needing the surface to be flat.
The order that gets results
Deal with water. Seal and insulate the rim joist all the way around, including the stretches that face into a crawl rather than outdoors. Decide in or out for each under-floor space and act on it. Then insulate the basement walls themselves. Done in that order, each step makes the next one worth more, and the first two are the cheap ones.
Who does the work
On basement spray foam insulation Raymond, the people who quote the work are the people who do it. We insulate it ourselves and we answer for the result.
Basement Spray Foam Insulation Raymond: Common Questions
Why is one end of the house always cold? Usually because it is not sitting on the basement. It is over a crawl or a skirted void that is outside the heated envelope, with your ducts running through it.
Should the crawl space be inside or outside the house? Either, decided deliberately. Inside means sealing its perimeter and closing the vents. Outside means sealing the opening into the basement and insulating the floor above it.
Can foam fix a damp basement? No. Drainage and grading fix a damp basement. Foam goes on afterwards, against a wall that has stopped wetting.
How much does basement spray foam insulation cost in Raymond? Priced per board foot over the sprayed area at the thickness specified. On a house with several under-floor spaces the setups add up, so settling the in-or-out question before the quote keeps the scope honest.
How do I choose a basement spray foam contractor in Raymond? Ask what they found under the additions. If they only looked at the basement they have seen part of your house.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Raymond quote. More on Basement Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.