Wall spray foam insulation in High River is unusual because on a great many of these houses part of the wall has already been opened and rebuilt and the rest of it has not, which makes the building two different jobs stacked on top of each other.
One storey rebuilt, one storey untouched
Where a High River lower level was taken back and put together again, the wall up to a certain height is recent work with a known assembly. Above that line the wall is whatever it was when the house was built. That is worth establishing before anything is priced, because the two halves have different problems: the lower one is a question of what was used and how carefully, and the upper one is the ordinary question of a wall of its age.
The line where the two meet, which is where the air moves
Anywhere new construction meets old there is a joint, and on these houses that joint runs horizontally around the entire building at the height the work stopped. It was made by somebody working from inside, against an existing wall they could not see the far side of, at a point where the framing, the sheathing and the membrane all change. That is a genuine air path and it is frequently the reason a house that has been substantially improved downstairs still does not feel right, and it is not visible from either side.
Above the line it is an ordinary house of its age
It is worth saying plainly, because households here reasonably expect their building to be a special case throughout and above the rebuild line it is not. The upper storey is a house of its decade with the assemblies of its decade: a cavity that already contains batt, junctions that were never treated as a system, and a ceiling plane full of penetrations. The ordinary order of work applies to it completely, which means the ceiling plane and the junctions come well before the wall, and the standard advice on this site is the right advice for that half of the building.
When the wall genuinely is worth opening
Two situations. A re-side, which makes the whole assembly reachable and the junctions sealable continuously for a fraction of what it would otherwise cost. And any room that is being renovated anyway, where the wall is coming apart for other reasons. Outside those, drilling and filling a cavity that already contains batt fills some space, seals nothing, and leaves holes to make good, which is the most common thing offered on these houses and rarely the right answer.
Wall Spray Foam Insulation High River: Common Questions
Why does the lower level still feel draughty after it was rebuilt? Look at the horizontal line where the new work stopped. That junction is a real air path.
Can you drill and fill the upper walls? There is usually batt in the cavity already, so there is nowhere for anything to go.
When is a wall genuinely worth doing? When the siding is coming off, or when the room is being taken apart for another reason.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free High River quote. More on Wall Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.