About 39 percent of Fort Saskatchewan homes were built before 1991, which means this city is close to an even split - and which half your house falls into changes the right answer completely. Before getting a quote, it is worth working out which one you have. Residential spray foam insulation in Fort Saskatchewan therefore has two right answers, and which one applies depends on which half your house is in.
How to tell which half you are in
The date is a proxy, not the answer. Three checks tell you more:
Is there a polyethylene vapour barrier? If the basement is unfinished you can usually see whether one was installed. Assemblies built around poly behave differently from ones that were not.
Are the rim joists insulated at all? Look where the floor meets the foundation around the perimeter. Stuffed batts, or nothing, both indicate an assembly that leaks.
Do the upstairs rooms hold heat through a cold snap? If they do not, the problem is almost always air movement rather than R-value.
If you are in the older half
The productive work is sealing, in this order: rim joist, attic ceiling plane, crawl space. Those address the air path. Only after that does adding attic depth make sense, and at that point the cheaper foam at greater depth usually wins - R-38 is about eleven inches of open-cell against six of closed-cell.
If you are in the newer half
The house is probably fine thermally and the recurring jobs are development rather than repair - finishing a basement, or a bonus room over the garage that will never be warm until the floor beneath it is sealed. Below grade, use closed-cell: it resists moisture rather than absorbing it, which is a durability argument before it is a thermal one.
The one that applies either way
Foam facing occupied space needs a thermal barrier over it, normally 12.7 mm drywall or an approved intumescent coating. If a basement is being sprayed now and finished later, say so at quoting stage - it changes what is required and it is far cheaper to build in than to correct.
What a quote should say in writing
Four things, and if any are missing it is worth asking for them before comparing numbers:
- The thickness, per assembly, in inches. Not "to code" - the actual number.
- The product, per assembly. Closed-cell and open-cell are different purchases.
- What comes out first. Existing insulation, vapour barrier, panelling.
- What covering is included. Foam facing occupied space needs a thermal barrier.
A quote with those four is comparable to another quote with those four. A quote without them is a figure, and two figures side by side tell you nothing about which is the better job.
Residential Spray Foam Insulation Fort Saskatchewan: Common Questions
How do I know which kind of house I have? Three checks: is there a poly vapour barrier, are the rim joists insulated at all, and do the upstairs rooms hold heat through a cold snap. The build date is only a proxy.
What if I finish the basement later? Say so when it is quoted. Foam facing occupied space needs a thermal barrier over it, and building that in now is far cheaper than correcting it after.
Where does the money go first? On the older side of the stock, the rim joist and ceiling plane. On the newer side, whatever is being developed.
Work out the volume with the spray foam calculator, see how a quote is built, or get a free Fort Saskatchewan quote.