Why You Should Consider Spray Foam or Rigid Foam Insulation

An effectively insulated space can enhance the comfort of your home or office and significantly cut down energy costs. Spray foam and rigid foam insulation are two of the most popular options for insulation installation. If you’re looking to re-insulate your home, warehouse, or commercial office building it’s important to understand the features of rigid and spray foam insulation in order to choose the right insulation for your building’s needs. So, let’s see how these two insulation options measure up against each other.

Spray Foam Insulation: The Pros and Cons

Spray foam insulation is an excellent choice for insulating hard-to-reach spaces and makes for a convenient installation process. With spray foam insulation installation, an installer fills the cracks and open spaces in your wall by spraying into them. It helps seal in air, preventing gaps that would otherwise undermine the performance of the insulation. Spray foam adheres to the surfaces where it is sprayed, providing better coverage for small crevices, cracks, and gaps.

Compared to other types of insulation, spray foam has the highest R-value per inch of thickness, and it’s much easier to work with. It comes in a variety of thicknesses starting from ¼ inch. You can easily get 2-inch foam board insulation in stores, but you’d probably have to order thicker insulation.

What’s more, spray foam is mildew and mold resistant. Since it effectively covers all air gaps, it prevents condensation from taking place, and as a result, mold and mildew are unlikely to grow.

The only potential drawback is that spray foam insulation tends to be the more expensive option. Additionally, spray foam insulation can be very messy to install, which is why you must find an experienced insulation contractor. Typically, problems arise when:

• The spray foam isn’t thick enough
• The insulation contractor misses a spot, leading to air leakage sites
• Spray foam contracts and fails to adhere to the framing

Rigid Foam Insulation: The Pros and Cons

Although rigid home insulation has a lower R-value than spray foam insulation, it tends to be just as effective at insulating your home and comes at a lower cost. The most significant difference is that a small crack or gap in rigid board insulation can deteriorate the efficiency of the entire system. For this reason, rigid foam is frequently used in new construction projects where cracks are less likely to occur, while spray form tends to be used in retrofit jobs.

Using rigid board insulation can also strengthen your walls and increase the structural integrity of your home. You can get up to 4-inch rigid foam insulation depending on the R-value requirements and project needs.

The issue comes in when you need to insulate non-rectilinear walls. Rigid foam cannot be readily adapted to fit irregular structures like arches, domes, or curved walls. It lacks the versatility of spray foam insulation that can fill gaps and cracks instantly. With rigid board insulation, you’d have to remove the entire insulating layer and drywall when remodeling.

Insulation Contractor In Orange County, CA

By running a search for “home insulation near me“, you’ll find an insulation installer in Orange County with years of experience and the expertise to guide you through the process. An experienced insulation contractor can help you determine which foam insulation is right for you and why. To learn the pros and cons of each and get pricing, please contact us today!