Great Stuff spray foam option

eend

I know the Great Stuff spray foam line is generally meant for minor jobs, but as best I can tell from the can it's a closed cell foam with high R-value that doesn't differ much from what professionals use when doing an entire wall. If I have a wall open to the studs (which I do), is there a reason I shouldn't just unload a bunch of cans of Great Stuff into the stud cavities rather than paying through the nose for a contractor to spray Walltite or some other professional product?

gma2rjc

When you spray it on the wall, starting at the bottom, everything will seem fine. But when the pile of foam starts to build up, it's probably going to collapse and you'll have a huge mess.

I suggest using something like Foam It Green (www.foamitgreen.com). That's what I used and it was great. There are other companies that sell similar setups too, so shop around.

I hadn't ever used anything but Great Stuff foam for small jobs, but I needed a lot of it because there was a large area to cover. It would have cost much more to buy enough cans of G.S. to do the same job the two 60 lb. tanks of F.I.G. did. If you have a smaller area to cover, they sell smaller tanks too.

FWIW

Mr Chips

Because of the way foam in a can cures, you can't really get a large amount of it to cure without doing a layer, then letting it cure before building another layer on top. I guess you could do it, but it would take forever to build up an area that large, and the fact that it's a verticle surface would make it that much harder and longer .

__________________
Those who can, do...
Those who can't criticize on the internet

cschwehr

I've used cans to do a closed cantilever space in my house. It's crappy. Walltite doesn't slump, cans do. You will want to use big gap filler and then it needs to go in layers or you will buckle the wall.

The money paid is a cost, but what about Tiger Foam or an American branded similar if you're trying to save labor? I sincerely recommend that over cans as I would use that instead of buying 20 cans again. lol

And I'm cheap... I swear.

eend

Interesting, thanks for all the responses, I'm surprised I couldn't quickly find that information elsewhere online.

I'd looked into Tiger Foam but wasn't sure whether it's a good product, and I don't think their site had anything about approval for use where I am, in Canada (I know some spray foams approved in the States are not approved here).

cschwehr

It is. Call their head office and they can give you the distributor nearest you. I live in Calgary and they have one.

Biggest issue with home spray kits is clean tips and keeping the chemicals warm, a lot of people put them in warm water garbage cans to keep the temps up. They know more about spraying it than I do though.