Moisture Control with Spray Foam Insulation
The design of building enclosures entails some very particular requirements that mandate attention to detail. Specifically, barriers of multiple types are needed to restrict air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer. This usually means that a wall assembly requires multiple products to address each one. An emerging alternative is to use a single product with multiple properties, thus eliminating construction steps and reducing labor and material costs accordingly. To work fully, that means the product or material has to demonstrate proven abilities to resist heat, water, and air movement through it in addition to providing a truly continuous installation in order to assure uninterrupted performance. Such a product exists in spray foam insulation systems that have been tested and proven to provide the multiple levels of protection needed in a single-product application. At the same time, it can allow more design freedom due to the custom, field-applied nature of the system. Hence, it is becoming a popular alternative among architects compared to a reliance on multiple, separate barrier products for air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer.
Sponsored by Huntsman Building Solutions
The design of building enclosures entails some very particular requirements that mandate attention to detail. Specifically, barriers of multiple types are needed to restrict air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer. This usually means that a wall assembly requires multiple products to address each one. An emerging alternative is to use a single product with multiple properties, thus eliminating construction steps and reducing labor and material costs accordingly. To work fully, that means the product or material has to demonstrate proven abilities to resist heat, water, and air movement through it in addition to providing a truly continuous installation in order to assure uninterrupted performance. Such a product exists in spray foam insulation systems that have been tested and proven to provide the multiple levels of protection needed in a single-product application. At the same time, it can allow more design freedom due to the custom, field-applied nature of the system. Hence, it is becoming a popular alternative among architects compared to a reliance on multiple, separate barrier products for air, water, vapor, and thermal transfer.
Huntsman Building Solutions was born in May 2020, following Huntsman’s acquisition of leading North American spray polyurethane foam (SPF) company Icynene-Lapolla in February 2020. Icynene-Lapolla has been integrated with Demilec, also a market leader in SPF applications and which Huntsman acquired in 2018. Together, the businesses are now one of the world’s leading SPF providers and the fifth largest insulation manufacturer. The Huntsman Building Solutions brand name was announced in May and the combined Business now provides customers with an unmatched offering of energy-saving open-cell and closed-cell SPF products, for residential and commercial property owners.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Investigate the use of spray foam insulation to achieve multiple performance traits in one product, including thermal, air, and water resistance, while safeguarding indoor environmental quality, building safety, and health. Identify the characteristics of high-performance continuously insulated exterior wall assemblies related to green and sustainable design and construction. Explore how the performance characteristics of spray foam insulation can improve sustainability by controlling and preventing moisture issues from occurring in exterior walls. Assess the ability of spray foam insulation to be installed with fewer steps and at a lesser cost than assemblies using rigid foam board insulation.
