The ceilings, walls, and interior floors of your home should feel warm and dry. If they feel damp or cold, it's a sign that there isn't enough insulation. To find out if you have enough insulation in the attic, measure the thickness of the insulation. If it's less than the equivalent of R-30 (about 10 to 13 inches), you'd benefit from adding more.
Before insulating, seal any air leaks and perform necessary roof repairs and other necessary repairs. If you are in a conditioned part of the house, remember to also isolate and seal the access to the attic. In an existing home, consider using blow insulation, which, when installed with the dense packaging technique, will provide a higher R-value. It can be added to exterior walls without disturbing much of the finished areas of your home.
If you're remodeling and the wall cavities will be open, look for two-part spray foam or wet cellulose aerosol insulation.
If the wall cavities aren't going to be open, you could consider injectable spray foam insulation.
If you're going to do the work yourself, insulation in the form of a blanket (dough and roll), while not capable of providing an airtight seal like two-part spray foam would, can be an affordable option. The insulation of the slab, typically a foam plate, is installed directly against the outside of the slab and the base before filling, or under the slab and along the inside of the wall of the base shank. Therefore, even if it were toxic, any gas left over from the product would not be a drop in the bucket compared to an entire house covered inches deep with spray foam.In Canada, all foam systems that wish to enter the market for sale must be tested by independent laboratories accredited by third parties to demonstrate that their physical properties meet the standards established by the ULC on the comparative performance characteristics of the final cured product.
Aerosol foam insulation
is a liquid that adheres to surfaces (walls with wooden frames, for example), then expands and hardens. I would opt for spray foam in this case, but if you are sensitive to chemicals, first check if you can get a sample of it for an odor test before installing it. Regardless of the adoption of greener aerosol foaming agents, there are still issues related to air quality, durability of buildings, and disposal of the product itself and everything that comes into contact with it at the end of its useful life.The ingredients in aerosol foam typically include isocyanate and polyol, with a handful of expanding agents and additives such as toxic flame retardants. Inner-insulated slab foundations provide more resistance to termites, but some builders in the southeastern United States have even reported termite infestations through foam insulation on contained slabs. I would rather do this than spend a week waiting for the effect of the spray foam to disappear since it practically becomes part of your skin if you come into contact with it. I know what you mean by packing insulation around boxes but it never seemed much more labor intensive and I hated working with spray foam in all but much-needed cases.
Let's suppose best for a moment and imagine a case in which everything worked out perfectly and foam was mixed and sprayed with precision of Michelangelo painting ceiling of Sistine Chapel. As an expert in aerosol foam installations in Toronto, I understand that these are mainly petroleum-based chemicals and that is why it is operated in Canada by well-trained and licensed professional experts in aerosol insulation. So as someone who works in aerosol foam industry in Canadian market I would like to clarify some inaccuracies in this regard.
