Residential spray foam insulation in Lacombe covers the whole house rather than one assembly: the foundation, the band, the walls where they can be reached, the ceiling plane and anything with a shallow roof over it. On this housing stock the survey matters more than the product does.
What a century of renovations leaves behind a wall
A house that has been lived in for a hundred years has been improved many times by people with different budgets and different information. Behind one wall there is original material, behind the next there is batt from the seventies, and somewhere there is a plastic sheet installed with good intentions on the wrong side of the assembly. None of that is visible and all of it changes what should be done, which is why nobody should be given a number for a house like this without opening something first.
Three eras of house on the same street
The stock here is not uniform even within a block. There are pre-war houses with continuous wall cavities, post-war bungalows built conventionally, and infill and newer phases on the edges of town. They fail differently and they are worth different work. Saying which one you have when you enquire saves a visit, and being wrong about it is the commonest reason a quote turns out not to match the building.
The order that matters on an older house
Sequence is most of the value here. Water and drainage are established first, because sealing a wall that is taking water hides a problem behind a finished room. Then the band at the foundation, then the tops of the wall cavities and the ceiling penetrations, then depth, then anything with a shallow roof. Done in that order a modest budget changes the house. Done in the reverse order a large one frequently does not.
What foam does in these walls that batt cannot
The reason this product suits an older house is that it is applied as a liquid. It gets into a joint that has opened as the building settled, it follows a cavity that is not square any more, and it stays stuck to a surface rather than resting against it. Fitted materials assume the building is the shape the drawing said. On a Lacombe house of any age that assumption stopped being true a long time ago.
Residential Spray Foam Insulation Lacombe: Common Questions
Do you need to open a wall to quote? On a house this age, usually yes. What is behind the finish varies wall to wall and it changes the scope.
What comes first? Water, then the band, then the tops of the wall cavities and the ceiling. Depth after that.
Why not just use batt? It cannot seal a joint that has opened or follow a cavity that is no longer square, and both are normal here.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Lacombe quote. More on Residential Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.