Odor from 3 year old foam | Ask Mason Knowles - SPF Consultant | Spray Foam Technical Questions and Answers | SprayFoam Magazine Q&A Forums

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Posted: Jul 13, 2010 04:18 PM	Odor from 3 year old foam We built our house in 2007. We used urethane spray foam in the entire house. Now on hot days (basically from June through September) the house has a foam odor. I assume it is from the heat making the foam give off some sort of fumes? Is this toxic to my family?? I have asked the guy who installed the foam to look at it, and he has been here several times and says there is no problem. He has tried to tell me we need to get an air conditioner...? We have a very dark colored metal roof, so I think the attic space gets very hot. I was told that the roof should not get hot enough to cause a problem with the foam. But if it isn't the roof, what could be causing this problem? The rest of the year, when it is cold, there is no odor.
mason Posted: Jul 14, 2010 03:31 PM	SPF should not have a detectable odor within a few days after installation. However, the odor while objectionable is typically not a health hazard uless you or your family is highly susceptible to odors. For example, folks with chronic asthma cannot tolerate strong odors well. Things like strong coffee can cause a seizure for those folks. Having said that, the foam should not be giving off an odor 3 years later. As part of my consulting practice, I have been hired to investigate the source of strong odors in buildings to determine if the odors are coming from the foam or other sources, plus provide a recommendation for remediation. The air can be tested to determine if the odor is a health hazard or just a nuisance. You can hire an industrial hygenist to test the air quality and a foam expert to determine if the foam was installed correctly. You can call me a 571-239-5221 or email me at masonknowles@aol.com to discuss further.
Jason Fowler Posted: Jul 17, 2010 08:40 AM	My roof was sprayed with Apex brand foam 2 years ago and it still has a very distinct smell to this day.
mason Posted: Jul 17, 2010 02:48 PM	Again, a cured SPF product should have very little if any odor after a few days much less a few years.
Jason Fowler Posted: Jul 18, 2010 04:00 PM	Does this mean that the foam is potentially uncured? If so will it ever cure? Is there a simple way to check and see if it's cured?

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Posted: Jul 13, 2010 04:18 PM

Odor from 3 year old foam

We built our house in 2007. We used urethane spray foam in the entire house. Now on hot days (basically from June through September) the house has a foam odor. I assume it is from the heat making the foam give off some sort of fumes? Is this toxic to my family??

I have asked the guy who installed the foam to look at it, and he has been here several times and says there is no problem. He has tried to tell me we need to get an air conditioner...?

We have a very dark colored metal roof, so I think the attic space gets very hot. I was told that the roof should not get hot enough to cause a problem with the foam. But if it isn't the roof, what could be causing this problem?

The rest of the year, when it is cold, there is no odor.

mason

Posted: Jul 14, 2010 03:31 PM

SPF should not have a detectable odor within a few days after installation. However, the odor while objectionable is typically not a health hazard uless you or your family is highly susceptible to odors. For example, folks with chronic asthma cannot tolerate strong odors well. Things like strong coffee can cause a seizure for those folks.

Having said that, the foam should not be giving off an odor 3 years later.

As part of my consulting practice, I have been hired to investigate the source of strong odors in buildings to determine if the odors are coming from the foam or other sources, plus provide a recommendation for remediation.

The air can be tested to determine if the odor is a health hazard or just a nuisance.

You can hire an industrial hygenist to test the air quality and a foam expert to determine if the foam was installed correctly.

You can call me a 571-239-5221 or email me at masonknowles@aol.com to discuss further.

Jason Fowler

Posted: Jul 17, 2010 08:40 AM

My roof was sprayed with Apex brand foam 2 years ago and it still has a very distinct smell to this day.

mason

Posted: Jul 17, 2010 02:48 PM

Again, a cured SPF product should have very little if any odor after a few days much less a few years.

Jason Fowler

Posted: Jul 18, 2010 04:00 PM

Does this mean that the foam is potentially uncured? If so will it ever cure? Is there a simple way to check and see if it's cured?

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