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Yvan Richard Posted: Feb 27, 2011 09:22 PM	Moisture between wall and SPF Hello, I have a customer claiming that he is getting moisture between the spray foam and rim joist (only certain areas). We sprayed when it was dry, the substrate was approx. 10 celcius, so no issues there. Could there be gap between the top of the concrete basement wall and the plate? There was also a few days of snow melting outside, perhaps the spf simply could not hold back the moisture? *This is a brand new house* Do you have an idea of of what some of my options are to fix this? If it even should be my concern. How well can spf hold back water coming into a leaky basement? From my understanding eventually the foam will become saturated and begin to fail and not have an opportunity to ever dry out. Thank you.
Posted: Feb 28, 2011 09:39 AM	yes there frequently is a gap between the foundation and the sill plate,, this gap is "sealed" during construction with that foam roll stuff we call "sill seal roll" around here,,,goes between the foundation and the sill plate,,, this is the construction industries answer to this high loss area,,,leaks like crazy,,,who knows whether your contractor put it down or not..heck,,may have heard that the home was gettin that fancy schmazy spray foam stuff and left it out...they do stuff like that,,wrongly i might add,,figured you would seal it up... but then the problem,,, if the basement isnt getting a finished lid,,, you can only apply 3.25" of any foam in the box sill(THANK YOU SPFA)if it is going to be left exposed which means you cant wrap it down over the sill plate and this lovely sill sealer interface to the foundation junction creating a contigious seamless insulation media.... that being said... you do not create a drainage plane inside the building,,lol,,,if there is water getting behind the siding,,the wonderful tyvek building wrap and sill flashing,,the builders got a problem,,not you,, said it before,,i'll say it again,,you do not stop leaks from the inside..water is my ex-wife,, dont matter if it is closed cell,,it will eventulally find its way inside,,,(this goes for metal shop lids too!!!this schtuff aint magic) so,,,take a proactive stance,,,agree that there is indeed a problem with active moisture intrusion,,,identify that your application is patent (that means stuck to the wood as it should be,,and of appropriate depth over its total application),,identify that you have provided your scope of work as contracted,,then help with the identification of the possible areas that could be causing a comprimise in the drainage plane,,, or dont,,,but it could help cement your relationship with the contractor showing you are part of the team,,,looking at yourself as an integral part of the system... hope this helps,,, dude
Yvan Richard Posted: Feb 28, 2011 04:44 PM	Thanks, very much appreciated...I will be speaking with the homeowner in a few days.

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Yvan Richard

Posted: Feb 27, 2011 09:22 PM

Moisture between wall and SPF

Hello,

I have a customer claiming that he is getting moisture between the spray foam and rim joist (only certain areas). We sprayed when it was dry, the substrate was approx. 10 celcius, so no issues there. Could there be gap between the top of the concrete basement wall and the plate? There was also a few days of snow melting outside, perhaps the spf simply could not hold back the moisture?

***This is a brand new house***

Do you have an idea of of what some of my options are to fix this? If it even should be my concern.

How well can spf hold back water coming into a leaky basement? From my understanding eventually the foam will become saturated and begin to fail and not have an opportunity to ever dry out.

Thank you.

Posted: Feb 28, 2011 09:39 AM

yes there frequently is a gap between the foundation and the sill plate,,
this gap is "sealed" during construction with that foam roll stuff we call "sill seal roll" around here,,,goes between the foundation and the sill plate,,,

this is the construction industries answer to this high loss area,,,leaks like crazy,,,who knows whether your contractor put it down or not..heck,,may have heard that the home was gettin that fancy schmazy spray foam stuff and left it out...they do stuff like that,,wrongly i might add,,figured you would seal it up...
but then the problem,,,
if the basement isnt getting a finished lid,,,
you can only apply 3.25" of any foam in the box sill(THANK YOU SPFA)if it is going to be left exposed which means you cant wrap it down over the sill plate and this lovely sill sealer interface to the foundation junction creating a contigious seamless insulation media....
that being said...
you do not create a drainage plane inside the building,,lol,,,if there is water getting behind the siding,,the wonderful tyvek building wrap and sill flashing,,the builders got a problem,,not you,,
said it before,,i'll say it again,,you do not stop leaks from the inside..water is my ex-wife,,
dont matter if it is closed cell,,it will eventulally find its way inside,,,(this goes for metal shop lids too!!!this schtuff aint magic)
so,,,take a proactive stance,,,agree that there is indeed a problem with active moisture intrusion,,,identify that your application is patent (that means stuck to the wood as it should be,,and of appropriate depth over its total application),,identify that you have provided your scope of work as contracted,,then help with the identification of the possible areas that could be causing a comprimise in the drainage plane,,,
or dont,,,but it could help cement your relationship with the contractor showing you are part of the team,,,looking at yourself as an integral part of the system...
hope this helps,,,
dude

Yvan Richard

Posted: Feb 28, 2011 04:44 PM

Thanks, very much appreciated...I will be speaking with the homeowner in a few days.

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