Ceiling spray foam insulation in Airdrie deals with a feature that is close to standard on this town's housing: the vaulted or partly vaulted great room. It looks well and it removes the attic that a conventional ceiling assembly depends on.
Vaulted great rooms are a standard plan feature here
Where a ceiling follows the roof line there is no attic above it, which means no room for depth and nowhere for the ventilation a conventional assembly relies on. The rafter cavity is shallow, and whatever goes into it has to do the insulating, the air sealing and the vapour control at once because there is no second layer coming. That is the case foam answers on these rooms, and it is why the same house can have a perfectly adequate flat ceiling elsewhere and a problem here.
Where the ceiling plane is interrupted
In a newer Airdrie house the flat sections of ceiling are usually fine. What is not fine is everywhere the plane is broken: the transition from flat ceiling to vault, the top plates of interior walls, the attic hatch, bathroom fans, and every recessed light. Warm moist air leaves through those, and it takes heat with it all winter and carries moisture into the roof assembly where it is not wanted.
Recessed lighting, and how many of them there are
Modern plans use a great many pot lights, and each one is an opening in the ceiling plane. A dozen of them in a great room is a substantial open area in aggregate, operating continuously because warm air rises. Sealing around them is unglamorous work with a disproportionate effect, and on a house of this vintage it is frequently the largest single improvement available in the ceiling.
From above or from below
Where there is an accessible attic the work happens from above and nothing inside the house is disturbed. Where the ceiling is vaulted there is no space above it, so the assembly is reached from below, which means the ceiling finish comes off and goes back. Establishing which applies to which part of the house decides both the cost and the disruption, and on most Airdrie homes it is a mixture of the two.
Ceiling Spray Foam Insulation Airdrie: Common Questions
Our great room is vaulted and always cold. Why? Because there is no attic above it. The rafter cavity is shallow and whatever is in it has to insulate, seal and control vapour on its own, which batts do not do.
Do the pot lights matter? A great deal. Each one is an opening in the ceiling plane, and a dozen in an Airdrie great room adds up to a substantial area operating continuously.
Does the ceiling have to come down? Only where it is vaulted. Where there is an accessible attic the work is done from above without disturbing the room.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Airdrie quote. More on Ceiling Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.
After the foam: the interior finish
Spray foam does not get left exposed in a living space -- it has to be covered, and drywall is what does it. We work alongside boarding and taping in Airdrie, an independent drywall contractor, so the two stages are not left to collide on site.