Open-Cell Spray Foam In Chatham, Ontario

The One Thing That Rules It Out

Open-cell is not a vapour barrier. Moisture passes through it.

In a livestock barn, a greenhouse, a cold room, a crawl space or against ground contact, that is disqualifying. Moisture reaching the structure behind the insulation is exactly the failure we are trying to prevent.

This is why nearly all of our agricultural and commercial work is closed-cell, and why we are cautious about open-cell being quoted cheaply for buildings where it does not belong.

If a quote you have offers open-cell for a barn roof or a crawl space, ask how vapour is being controlled.

Where It Earns Its Place

Interior partition walls, where there is no vapour drive and the goal is sound.

Conditioned attic space in a house, where the assembly is designed for it and vapour control is handled elsewhere.

Sound damping between rooms, between floors, or around a mechanical room. Open-cell is considerably better at this than closed-cell because it is soft and open.

Deep cavities where the target is air sealing and moderate R-value at a sensible cost.

Why It Is Better For Sound

Closed-cell is rigid and dense, which transmits sound rather than absorbing it.

Open-cell is soft and full of connected voids, which absorbs airborne sound well.

For a farm office inside a workshop, a mechanical room next to occupied space, or rooms in a house where quiet matters, open-cell is the better product and the cheaper one at the same time.

Expansion And Coverage

Open-cell expands dramatically, so it reaches into gaps and irregular voids that closed-cell would need more material to fill.

That makes it efficient where the cavity is deep and awkward and where you are chasing air sealing rather than a high R-value in a thin space.

It is trimmed flush after it rises, so it finishes flat for drywall.

The covering requirement applies to open-cell exactly as it does to closed-cell.