Rim joist spray foam insulation in Fort McMurray addresses the band where each floor structure lands on the wall below it. It is a few inches of framing that most people have never looked at, and in this climate it announces itself more clearly than anywhere else in the province.
Two storeys means two bands
The band is not only at the foundation. In a two-storey house there is another where the second floor lands on the main floor wall, running the full perimeter again, and in a house with a bonus room over a garage there is a third around that. Each one is open framing behind the finish, each one is usually filled with a friction batt that seals nothing, and together they add up to a considerable length of unsealed path around the building.
The symptom shows at forty below
At the temperatures this city holds, air moving through that band does not read as a draught. It produces frost on the inside face of the sheathing, ice at the base of an exterior door, and a floor directly above the band that is cold enough that people stop using the room. Those are the reports that bring somebody to look, and the band is where they usually lead.
What to do if the basement is already finished
Where the utility area is open the work is quick and the band is reachable without touching anything else. Where the basement has been fully finished, reaching it means opening a wall and closing it again, and that reconstruction normally costs more than the insulation. It is worth establishing which situation applies before comparing any prices, because the same job is two very different quotes depending on the answer.
Where it sits in the order of work
On a list of everything that could be done to a house here, this sits near the top for a simple reason: the area is small, so the material cost is small, and it is both the air leak and the insulation gap in one place. Very little other envelope work combines those, which is why it is worth doing on its own rather than waiting for a larger project to justify it.
Rim Joist Spray Foam Insulation Fort McMurray: Common Questions
How many of these bands does my house have? One at the foundation for every storey, plus one around any bonus room over a garage. A two-storey house commonly has two full perimeters and sometimes a third. That holds for most Fort McMurray housing built in the last thirty years.
We get frost inside an exterior wall. Is that related? Frequently. Air moving out through an unsealed band carries moisture into the cold part of the assembly, where it freezes and is found later when it melts.
Is it worth doing by itself? Yes, where the band is reachable. It is a small area with no demolition and it addresses the largest single air path in most houses.
Check the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Fort McMurray quote. More on Rim Joist Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.