Cochrane sits on the edge of the foothills and gets the wind that comes with that. About 16 percent of homes here predate 1991, so this is mostly newer housing in a location that is harder on a building than its age suggests - and wind is the reason. Residential spray foam insulation in Cochrane is bought for the air seal first, because wind is what moves the heat out.
Draughts are a pressure problem, not an insulation problem
Sustained wind against a wall pushes air through every unsealed joint in it. That is why a well-insulated house on an exposed lot can still feel draughty: the insulation is slowing conductive heat loss while air moves straight past it. Spray foam is useful here specifically because it seals as it insulates - under Alberta section 9.25 it counts as part of the air barrier when applied to a continuous depth and sealed at every edge.
Where the wind actually gets in
- The rim joist. A continuous gap around the entire perimeter where the floor meets the foundation. On a windy site it is the single most productive thing to seal.
- The attic ceiling plane. Not the insulation on top of it - the pot lights, top plates, bath fans and plumbing stacks through it. Wind-driven pressure differences push warm air out through those all winter.
- Bonus rooms and cantilevers. Exposed on several faces, and the exposure is worse when the wind is loading one of them.
Which product, and where
Closed-cell at roughly 2 lb per cubic foot goes below grade, on exposed floors and in shallow cavities - R-6 to R-7 per inch, moisture-resistant, and a vapour retarder at about 38 mm. It also adds rigidity to what it bonds to, which is a modest secondary benefit under repeated wind loading. Open-cell at roughly half a pound is interior-only and is the better buy where the goal is quiet rather than warmth.
The older core
The town centre has genuinely older stock, and those houses behave like older houses everywhere - unsealed penetrations, assemblies that are not what the drawings said, and rim joists that have leaked since framing. On those the sequence is the same but the prep is larger, and a contractor who opens something up before quoting is giving you a number that will hold.
How to find the draughts before you pay anyone
On the first genuinely windy day of the autumn, walk the house with the furnace off and the windows shut, and hold the back of a wet hand near the places air gets in - along the baseboards on the windward side, at the top of basement walls, around attic hatches and at the rim. Cold air moving over damp skin is obvious in a way it is not to a dry hand. Doing that once gives you a short list to hand a contractor, and it turns a general quote into a specific one.
Residential Spray Foam Insulation Cochrane: Common Questions
Why does my house feel draughty despite good insulation? Wind. Sustained pressure drives air through unsealed joints, and insulation only slows conductive loss. Sealing the assembly removes the mechanism.
How do I find the draughts myself? On the first windy day, with the furnace off and windows shut, hold the back of a wet hand near baseboards on the windward side, the top of basement walls and the attic hatch.
Is the older part of town different? Yes - those houses carry prep. Old insulation and a failed vapour barrier usually come out before foam goes on.
Size the work with the spray foam calculator or get a free Cochrane quote. More on residential foam province-wide.
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 Cochrane, an independent drywall contractor, so the two stages are not left to collide on site.