Do we have any Texags spray foam companies in DFW on here, or recs for a non Aggie company.

The old house we bought a couple of years ago needs some help. The previous owner did foam, but did a crappy job. Need help to determine my options on how best to fix it. Let it go last year because I had other things that took my attention, but the Hellish looking summer we seem to be having this year are making it seem more important to figure out now.

Interested as well, but for Houston.

What do you mean by "crappy job"

And what areas of the house are foamed? All of it, roof deck?

Did they upgrade the windows? Roof?

They foamed the roof deck. They isolated one room, foaming around it in the attic and leaving it as insulated but with no ventilation for unknown reasons.) They did not remove the old insulation. I did after moving in and researching the conce3pt of foaming an old home. Now you can see, if you go up in the attic during the day and turn off your light, that the soffits are horribly sealed. Can see light, so presumably there is air flow (haven't taken my IR camera up there.) Instead of some sort of sealable entry from the garage attic they simply removed a big chunk of the foam in that "wall."

I replaced the AC unit with a fully variable high efficiency unit the first summer for various reasons. It cannot keep up on the 100 plus days. I have never lived in a house that changes so quickly to the outside temps. We rented a similarly aged home a bock away for a18 months with extra blown in insulation and spray on paint radiant barrier. It was ten times better than this one.

I have never been a huge fan of the foam as a retrofit in old homes. It is great in new homes designed for it. Despite people raving about it in old homes, I haven't seen it work. It definitely does not work in this house.

I know the exterior walls are not insulated given the age of the home. Don't really want to spend to fix that since I don't think we will stay here long enough to get the ROI as the last kid is a senior next year and we are not sure we will stay in Dallas.

Honestly, I would like to reventilate the attic and blow in loose fill insulation. I think that would work better and probably be the cheapest option. Not sure about ventilating an attic with foam on the roof deck. Alternatively, I am open to having someone fix the foam - ie, reapply around the soffits so they are sealed, seal up the holes the AC contractors made when they replaced the system and and ductwork, foam the roof over the isolated room, and install some sort of sealed entry "door" from the garage attic tot he main attic.

The previous people were absolutely ignorant on home stuff and either went the cheapest route or they got taken every time they did something based on all the crap I have had to fix or improve.

That's a tough one.


Sounds like you've got a really good grasp on how the envelope is a system and that it works best when all the parts fit together. If there's no insulation in the walls, then I don't see the point of the foam.

Man, that's a tough one. I've got some ideas but need to ask some questions. Let me call my insulation guy and ask him what he'd do. I'll try to report back tomorrow, but it could be a day or two

Thanks. I appreciate it. I know enough to be dangerous. Just don't know the "answer" here.

I would have never done the foam. Was surprised to find it when I inspected it. They had called it blown in. They had Ridge vents and radiant barrier.

My guess is, that because their electrical contractor had complete f'fld up the ductwork, they were desperate and reaching and a contractor told them foam was the answer. Then said contractor did a really bad job.

I suspected it was problematic, but did not have enough personal experience with retro foam to know for sure. Probably would have bought it anyway, as if check a bunch of boxes and was significantly cheaper than any other options when we bought it.


Would rather not spend a bunch of money chasing. I know it won't be great without doing the walls. Did windows and solar screens (as the previous people also got rid of the mature trees that shaded the full front west exposure. Honestly looking for just "a lot better" for a reasonable cost but cannot find the route from Google.

What's heated sq ft?

1 story ?

Size of condenser and coil installed ?


Insulated windows ? Old single pane aluminum windows ? Wood window frames ?

2000sf

Built 1969 Slab

Replaced the HVAC and ductwork when we moved in in 2020 - 4 ton fully variable.

All windows upgraded / replaced.

You sure walls are not insulated ? 1969 would be rockwool era roughly r11 in walls

What's the humidity situation like when the ac is running ? Have you measured it ?


What's the delta T when system is running ?


I've seen foam make a big difference especially on older homes when additions were done and the ac was undersized for the square feet.


When it's 100 outside like now, what is your attic temp at ? Usually on foam if done right it will be ~ 80-82 degrees in the attic if the ac is in the 74-76 range below


If you attic is hotter than 82 or so right now then I think you are on the right track about the envelope not being sealed completely

You could be correct, they may have some. I have not opened a wall to check. R11 would actually make sense and help explain the IR images from the exterior walls. They are very fuzzy (hard to pick out studs) (my expensive IR camera does not make fuzzy images for missing insulation) which could be explained since the materials where the studs are would have a similar R value.

The AC is working fine. Humidity runs a little high at times, but the variable system helps and we are generally around 50%. Delta was right at 17 or 18 last time I checked it.

I know the primary issue is the Attic. The temperature readings on the ceiling and in the attic itself are too high to not have insulation, ie. the foam application is not very good. To work the foam has to really seal the attic. It does not. The attic is NOTHING like a new construction sealed foam attic. Looks like it, but the devil is in the details. If the foamed attic temp is not pretty close to the interior temperature, you will lose too much to heat transfer through the ceiling.

Main purpose of this post is to try and determine my best course of action for the attic. Have someone attempt to "fix" the foam by sealing at the soffits and other gaps and making it truly be a sealed attic. Or figure out if you can safely leave the foam, reventilate the space by removing the foam at the ridge vents and the soffit vents adding traditional blown in insulation.to the attic floor. Had one insulation guy (the company that removed the old attic blown in insulation the previous owner left, comment that then the foam just becomes really expensive radiant barrier. But, as I didn't pay for that, so I can live with that. Suggests to me that it would be allowable to reventilate the space. But I want to make sure that foam on the decking in a ventilated attic will not create some sort of moisture issue. If that would be the case, then the proper course would have to be trying to fix the foam and make it truly sealed.

The attic is definitely higher than 82.

Sounds like you might be in the business.

Any idea on ballpark numbers to do foam touchup? I figure it needs a layer around the perimeter at the soffit to seal that, two spots in the decking sealed that the AC guys messed up, foam the decking above my office that they for some reason isolated and did not foam, and install some sort of sealable door at the transition from the garage attic area for entry. Saw something referring to a zipper type door during random searching around google about it.

Just spoke with my insulation guy:

1. Is the a/c set up for foam?


2. If there's enough access to reach the entire roof deck, then fixing that and possibly adding more foam is probably okay.

3. If there's little access, then probably just blow in insulation

As I feared, not a great solution either way.

Yes, the AC in place now was installed by me when the foam was present. They actually had to eat the upgrade of the furnace to HE because the guy forgot to quote it. It is also part of the reason I went with the fully variable system, not single or dual stage.

Getting around the attic is pretty easy (I had the loose fill stuff vacuumed out so everything is visible) and the areas that need improvement won't be hard to get to.

I guess I need to just have a few installer companies come out and give me quotes for fixing the foam. Just have this nagging fear in the back of my mind that I spend whatever to "fix" it and it still doesn't work well.

Was he able to comment as to whether there are potential issues with leaving the foam, but ventilating the attic and adding loosefill? Like moisture issues with the foam?

Any recs on companies to contact?

What I mean is is the furnace gas and, if so, is it set up with a direct vent?

I also haven't asked how much foam they sprayed. What size rafters do you have? Did they spray the bottom of the rafter?

Here's my opinion: when they installed the foam they did so poorly and didn't fully seal up your attic space thereby causing the spray foam to lose efficiency. I think your best bet is, if you have more than a 4/12 pitched roof and good access is to bring someone in to fully seal the space.

It just so happens matt risinger is doing the same thing and posting about it now:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CfWuIB7D4jx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

As Matt says, you look to get about 70% of the efficiency of the foam if you can get it properly sealed up.

I dont have any recs as I'm not in dallas

Yes. The furnace is set up correctly.

Thanks for the input. I think I will try to fix the foam. Based on the areas the hvac guys cut for vents it looks like 6 to 8 inches of foam. Need to take my ir camera up there in the day and do some checking. I think the foam is working, but since it is not sealed properly it fails overall.

Will get some quote to see what fixing it will run.

Not in the foam business but have been around construction and remodeling since around age 6 and worked in multiple trades for the past 29 years. Sorry I don't have any insulation recs for DFW as I am in BCS. Something doesn't seem right if foam is that thick yet attic is much higher than 82. What kind of roof on top ? Metal ? Black shingles ?
Where are the bathroom vent fans terminating to ? Where is the dryer vent terminating to ? Where is the kitchen vent hood terminating to?

Is the hvac unit horizontal in the attic ? Or vertical in a closet ?

What is the ductwork like ?

All flex ?

Are you sure you don't have a leak on the plenum side somewhere ?

The more I look,the more I am sure it is due to the area not truly being sealed. Hot air is getting in through obvious holes. Not going up to take pics, but trust me when I say it's obvious. This discussion has convinced me that the seal part is the problem.

Will get 3 or 4 quotes and get it fixed and report back.

Agreed

Suspect duct leaks when HVAC sized @ 484sf/ton + variable stages

Reminds me when serving on a newly built church building committee who's power bills were out of range, even with all that East-facing glass. HVAC return air in attic NOT connected to indoor air, instead ... attic air, fully vented to outside air. Once connected & sealed, A-OK.

Sent other ideas via PM

We have a 1962 house and foam sealed attic and put in new windows a couple years ago. Huge difference though still needs improvement. When they sprayed in the foam they left one of the eve vents and roof spinners open. The explanation was that you have to have some ventilation as gas water heater, gas hvac heater, need ability to vent as the exhaust vents go through attic. Not sure if that is actually the case.

When it's 100 outside it's 87 to 90 in attic.

I assume I need to seal it up completely. Also need to look at sealing up fixtures in the ceiling where air leaks out.


Also noticed the other day that cool air is escaping through cracks in brick and a few spots where there are holes from previous cable wiring. I'll seal those up.

I bet if you were to directly vent the fresh air to the furnace you'd get better performance than the passive system they set up. In fact, I'd insist on it.

There are some products out there to really seal up a leaky home. Check out aerobarrier. https://aeroseal.com/aerobarrier/

The water heater is in the garage so it gets plenty of air but the HVAC is in hall closet. I've seen where PVC (or something similar) is used to bring in fresh air to the HVAC from exterior, maybe with a damper on it. That might be a quick fix, though the system is 15+ years old so when it goes out we want to upgrade and move it to the attic near garage.

DFW thermal solutions

Clay spicer does a great job

They seevices all over texas

warrington74 said:

---

DFW thermal solutions

Clay spicer does a great job

They seevices all over texas

---

Thanks. Will give them a call for a quote.

We would love to help with your project .

We service all of Houston and DFW. My name is John Harper … we would love to help with your home .

FDHomeSolutionHTX said:

---

We service all of Houston and DFW. My name is John Harper … we would love to help with your home .

---

Thanks, just looked at your website, I want to get the roof insulated or at least put in radiant barrier in the house and detached garage. Which number is best?