Spray Foam Insulation

Spray Foam Insulation Services in Southeast Michigan

Increase your home's energy efficiency and ensure you're ready for the various weather throughout the year with the help of Blanket Insulation Services. We specialize in spray foam installation services that'll improve your home's ability to regulate temperatures throughout the different seasons.

Home insulation has come a long way from previous generations, stepping up energy efficiency and comfort levels with each advance in technology. In days past, sawdust was sometimes poured into walls to diminish heat loss. The next contender was vermiculite, which is composed of porous, lightweight pebbles that look and feel like kitty litter.

Most homes today still use traditional fiberglass batts that are composed of spun glass fibers. None of these types of insulation compares to the versatility and effectiveness of our spray foam and its closed-cell polyurethane composition. Some benefits of spray foam to consider include that it:

• Stops conditioned air from escaping from your home
• Air-seals insulated areas without any extra steps
• Won't settle or sag like fiberglass, ensuring continual performance
• Is waterproof (if using closed-cell spray)
• Easily fills hard-to-reach or irregular areas

With a spray foam installation from Blanket Insulation Services, you’ll be able to maximize your home’s comfort and minimize your energy expenses. We're your local resource for all spray foam insulation services, including in the crawl space, attic, and basement, in southeast Michigan! We also offer a comprehensive home energy audit to diagnose the major contributors to your home's energy issues. Request a free estimate from us today to get started!

Important Things to Know About Spray Foam

Advantages of Spray Foam

• High R-value: Polyurethane spray foam has some of the highest thermal value when compared to other commonly used insulation. It has an R-value of 6.2 or higher depending on the formulation
• Air sealing technology: Spray foam insulates and acts as an air barrier all in one application. Since it has impressive expansion capability, it fills and seals cracks and gaps, staying where applied due to its super-adhesive properties. Spray foam is frequently spot-applied and used for air sealing before an attic is filled with blown-in insulation. When used in greater amounts, it can actually eliminate the need for other types of insulation
  
• Waterproofing power: Polyurethane spray foam stops water in its tracks, unlike fiberglass and cellulose insulation. The closed-cell structure of the foam prevents water from permeating the material in any way
  
• Foolproof applications: An area of missing insulation, even just 5% of an insulated area, can diminish the overall performance of the insulation by as much as 50%! With the difficulty involved in installing fiberglass insulation, voids can easily be a possibility. This is where spray foam shines! It’s expansive, highly adhesive nature eliminates the possibility of voids, and since it cures firmly, it won’t shift or settle like cellulose or fiberglass.

The Two Varieties of Spray Foam Insulation

• One-part foam: This is the most common type of spray foam and can be found in pressurized cans sold in many hardware stores and home centers under brands like GREAT STUFF™. This is an extremely sticky single-component type of spray foam that expands immediately after being applied at varying rates depending on the type purchased. This product seals and insulates, and as such, is often listed as “insulating foam sealant.”
• Two-part foam: For larger projects, such as a basements or attics, contractors will typically select two-part polyurethane foam that comes in two separate containers. The resin and catalyst are mixed at the nozzle, creating the foaming chemical reaction that causes spray foam to expand

Leave Spray Foam Applications to the Experts

When you decide to upgrade your insulation to spray foam, it's important for you to leave the application to the experts. One reason for this is because of the difficulty of this application. Getting the hang of applying spray foams, particularly two-part foams, take a significant amount of experience. Since they have different rates of expansion and other unique characteristics, they are problematic for an inexperienced individual to get the most out of the material.

Highly expansive foam can potentially damage a window jamb or door, but with our skilled specialists, we can prevent something like this from occurring. Spray foam installation can be messy and wasteful, but our fully trained experts will get the job done well the first time! 

Another reason to have the professionals at Blanket Insulation Services do the work is because of the temperature sensitivity of spray foam. Cold temperatures will affect the chemistry of the foaming action. It’s very important to keep spray foam cans or the two-part foam canisters in a small temperature range to ensure proper application.

Choosing Spray Foam Insulation

What's Your Choice?

Spray foam insulation is in the news a lot these days. With energy costs on the rise, people are paying more and more for heating and cooling. Maintaining comfortable interior temperatures demands electricity, gas, and fuel oil to run HVAC equipment, such as furnaces, boilers, heat pumps and, air conditioners.

Most homeowners understand that improving home insulation is a surefire way to cut the cost of heating and cooling, and that's where spray foam comes in. While homeowners see spray foam in the form of small pressurized cans available at home centers and hardware stores, foam insulation contractors are busy doing large-scale spray foam operations that include filling the spaces between studs, joists, and rafters with the insulation that expands on contact.

Blanket Insulation Services can inspect and evaluate insulation and airtightness levels at your house and provide the right energy-saving solutions for you. Contact us today for a free estimate for spray foam insulation.

Deciding Between Closed-Cell and Open-Cell Spray Foam

There are different kinds of spray foam, and many people are confused about the differences between open-cell foam and closed-cell foam. Open-cell foam has lower R-value and higher permeability. Like its name suggests, open-cell foam is made up of tiny bubbles that are interconnected. The bubbles hold air, which provides insulation value, typically between R-3.5 and R-4 per inch.

Open-cell foam expands to fill gaps and cracks as soon as it's applied, but, instead of curing to a hard, smooth-surfaced mass, open-cell foam has a spongier feel. Like a sponge, it will absorb moisture. Since insulation loses R-value when wet, it's not advisable to use open-cell spray foam in damp environments like basements and crawl spaces. It can be sprayed between rafters or studs, but its low R-value won't provide much total insulation value in a confined space. Open-cell foam is usually less expensive to install than closed-cell foam.

Closed-cell foam provides a vapor barrier, harder finish, and higher R-value. Canned foam like GREAT STUFF™ is a closed-cell foam that comes in "single-component" form. The closed-cell foam that contractors use on large-scale spray foam jobs is also known as "two-component" foam or polyurethane foam. Two chemical compounds are blended together at the application nozzle, causing the expanding foam reaction.

Even though it's more expensive to install than open-cell foam, closed-cell foam is often preferred for home insulation projects because it offers higher a higher R-value of between R-6 and R-7.1 per inch and because it forms an effective moisture barrier. The ability to block moisture transmission while also providing air sealing and high insulation value is an advantage in many applications.

Save Energy and Money With a Spray Foam Insulation Upgrade

Blanket Insulation Services are your local experts for all your spray foam solutions in southeast Michigan. We offer a home energy audit where we evaluate your home's energy efficiency and comfort levels. We then take the results to create a prioritized list of recommended services and upgrades. Call us today to get started making your home more comfortable and energy efficient.