- We provide 2 lb closed cell spray foam
- insulation
- air barrier
- vapour barrier
- blown in attic insulation
- fireproofing
What We Insulate
Basements - a very unique problem
The most important aspect of finishing your basement is to ensure it’s insulated with spray foam. If not, it can create the perfect environment for mould and mildew to thrive. Exposure to mould and mildew can lead to health problems – not the kind of thing you want your family exposed to.
Rim Joists
The old way of insulating rim joists was to use fiberglass batts. Fiberglass is a poor choice of insulation and should never be used at the rim space because it’s nearly impossible to install a proper vapor barrier here, and fiberglass batts will allow for a lot of air leakage. Without a vapor barrier at the rim space, you’ll have relatively warm, moist air passing through the fiberglass insulation and then condensing at the rim joist. This can create mould or rotting.
Using spray foam at the rim space is just about the only thing that is ever done on new construction houses in Ontario today; while it’s more expensive, it’s worth it because it can be applied quickly and does a perfect job of both insulating and air sealing the rim space. Wires, faucets, pipes… they’re no match for spray foam. All of the penetrations get sealed. The foam expands to R6.5 per inch and insulates the cavity as well.
Walls Two-pound density foam is what we Spray
for all exterior walls. It is good and strong; it’s an air barrier at 1 inch and a vapor barrier at 2 inches. It can be sprayed directly to any surface such as wood, brick, concrete, drywall and metals
The number one thing you as a building owner want to accomplish as it relates to the wall is to stop the conditioned air inside your building from leaving through ways you can’t control. In other words, You want to keep the inside in and the outside out, it’s that simple.
Floors-When a floor over is poorly air sealed, air can leak through a number of locations, such as the band joists, structural framing, and knee walls. Air leaks can lead to a host of issues, such as cold floors, freezing pipes, and chilled duct runs that prevent the HVAC system from working properly. A poorly sealed floor cavity has a significantly reduced R-value and isn’t much better than a floor cavity with no insulation at all
Air sealing and insulating with spray foam is the solution
Spray foam insulation expands to fill the tiniest and most awkward spaces and adheres to the floor above. Spray foam also eliminates voids and resulting air movement that have plagued generations of builders and homeowners. Thousands of floors over porches, garages, crawl spaces and cantilevers have been insulated and air sealed with spray foam. Cold floors are simply not an issue any more when insulated with Livingston Insulation’s spray foam system.
Cold Floors/Rooms Above Garages
The building codes in many areas dictate that these floors should be insulated to R-28.5 (RSI-5.02). But experience tells us that R-28.5 of batt insulation does not ensure a warm floor. In theory, the floor in a properly insulated room should be at room temperature. In practice things are quite different; it is common to find floors that are 10 F (5.5 C) cooler than the room. Why? Because it is virtually impossible to install a fiberglass or mineral wool batt so that it is in contact with, and stays in contact with, the floor above. It is also impossible to install it accurately around bracing and bridging between joists. Unfortunately, due to voids and air spaces that allow air movement, fibrous materials do not perform to their rated R-value. (R-values are determined under ideal, still laboratory conditions.) Because air gaps usually exist between the floor and insulation there is room for cold air to infiltrate from the exterior. The cold air essentially “short-circuits” the insulation material and renders it less effective.
How do we fix the problem?
The first thing we do is remove the drywall and fiberglass from the garage ceiling. Next, we have our HVAC guy remove the ducts for heating the hotbox, with spray foam heating the hotbox is no longer necessary, which will save in energy costs as well. Then we make sure all the ducts to heat the room above and the water lines are on the warm side by covering them with spray foam yet still making them accessible should the need to move or repair them ever arise. After the spray foam is complete, we get our drywall installer to finish the space.