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Mike Vaughan Posted: Oct 11, 2011 11:39 AM	Insulation quote for new construction We are building a new home in a suburb of Atlanta, GA. I had my builder get a quote on a sprayfoam. The company is using Icynene as its product. They did not give me a quote for the entire house and after seeing the price I think because it would have scared me off. Their quote was for Icynene (Open cell) only in the attic, then bats in the walls and spyder spray in the basement walls. They are wrapping the house with a whole house wrap and doing an air package to caulk the baseplate, windows, walls, pipes, etc. I talked to the contractor and he says I will be able to tell a huge difference by only doing the foam in the attic. Does this make sense or is this way off?
John Shockney Posted: Oct 14, 2011 09:31 AM	Hi Mike, We normally spray everything (we don’t do fiberglass ever!!) and anyone that would recommend a product that isn’t rated for flood prone areas for your basement is not doing you any favors. We only use closed cell foam in basements. And yes foam is a premium product and will add to the cost to build your house but if done properly it will reduce your heating and cooling cost by one half and should give you a 100% return on investment in about 5years. The most recent large home (3 story & basement) that I priced for total spray was around $20K but to do the same reduction in energy cost your would have to spend $40k in geothermal. As to your builder’s statement that you will see a huge difference with only doing foam in the attic: 1. The roof is the largest heat loss/heat gain area of the house 2. If any HVAC equipment or duct work is in the attic spraying the roof brings that inside the building envelope per energy stare requirements 3. This will all improve home energy performance as long as the R-value is high enough compared to alternate insulation options if you only install R-20 of foam don’t expect it to outperform R-40 of fiberglass or cellulose as these will give you about the same performance. Hope this helps Airpro
Mike Vaughan Posted: Oct 17, 2011 03:54 PM	Thanks Airpro. Where or what state are you located in?

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Mike Vaughan

Posted: Oct 11, 2011 11:39 AM

Insulation quote for new construction

We are building a new home in a suburb of Atlanta, GA. I had my builder get a quote on a sprayfoam. The company is using Icynene as its product. They did not give me a quote for the entire house and after seeing the price I think because it would have scared me off. Their quote was for Icynene (Open cell) only in the attic, then bats in the walls and spyder spray in the basement walls. They are wrapping the house with a whole house wrap and doing an air package to caulk the baseplate, windows, walls, pipes, etc.

I talked to the contractor and he says I will be able to tell a huge difference by only doing the foam in the attic.

Does this make sense or is this way off?

John Shockney

Posted: Oct 14, 2011 09:31 AM

Hi Mike,

We normally spray everything (we don’t do fiberglass ever!!) and anyone that would recommend a product that isn’t rated for flood prone areas for your basement is not doing you any favors. We only use closed cell foam in basements.

And yes foam is a premium product and will add to the cost to build your house but if done properly it will reduce your heating and cooling cost by one half and should give you a 100% return on investment in about 5years.

The most recent large home (3 story & basement) that I priced for total spray was around $20K but to do the same reduction in energy cost your would have to spend $40k in geothermal.

As to your builder’s statement that you will see a huge difference with only doing foam in the attic:

1. The roof is the largest heat loss/heat gain area of the house
2. If any HVAC equipment or duct work is in the attic spraying the roof brings that inside the building envelope per energy stare requirements
3. This will all improve home energy performance as long as the R-value is high enough compared to alternate insulation options if you only install R-20 of foam don’t expect it to outperform R-40 of fiberglass or cellulose as these will give you about the same performance.

Hope this helps

Airpro

Mike Vaughan

Posted: Oct 17, 2011 03:54 PM

Thanks Airpro. Where or what state are you located in?

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