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Old 10-11-11, 02:21 PM   #1
rav
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Default Rim / band joist insulation

Hi Guys,
Just wanted to know if any of you have had this done. Right now, i have fiberglass insulation wedged in between the rim joists. These are really not that tight fitting and i can see some cobwebs around them (spiders make nests only where there is air flow). I had a guy come over and he wants to spray foam the rim joists for about $1000.

I know that is the best way but I dont think that i will be able to recoup that much in heat savings (do not have cooling).

I saw a video on you tube where a guy just does the same thing using a spray can (he does not fill the whole thing). I was thinking of doing the same.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ravi

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Old 10-11-11, 02:49 PM   #2
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Well, anything is better than nothing. Personally, I'd probably cut some 1-2" thick rigid foam to fit in each cavity and use the spray foam as an adhesive to keep it in there. You can throw fiberglass behind it for additional insulation, and the foams will block any air infiltration.
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Old 10-11-11, 04:07 PM   #3
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cut rigid insulation with 1/2" gap around the edges to make it easy to fit in then sprayfoam the gaps to seal it and hold the foam in. Cutting it to fit tight is harder and isn't going to seal as well.

The end result is functionally the same as a pro spraying foam.
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Old 10-11-11, 05:30 PM   #4
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There's a guy on youtube that shows you how to do it. It looks like a great technique. In fact I just used it to insulate under the floor of my Power Shed (every time I type that phrase I hear a booming announcer's voice and drums beating ).

Wish I'd known about the gap thing, I squeezed everything in pretty tight and then the foam just sort of sat on the surface. Hope it holds.
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Old 10-11-11, 06:14 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by creeky View Post
There's a guy on youtube that shows you how to do it. It looks like a great technique. In fact I just used it to insulate under the floor of my Power Shed (every time I type that phrase I hear a booming announcer's voice and drums beating )

Wish I'd known about the gap thing, I squeezed everything in pretty tight and then the foam just sort of sat on the surface. Hope it holds.
Thanks a lot for the ideas, do you have a link for the video?
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Old 10-11-11, 06:31 PM   #6
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Never mind, I found it:

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Old 10-11-11, 08:46 PM   #7
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You just order a two part spray foam kit, then cut pieces of rigid insulation to within an inch or so of the size you your joist bays ( big long strips for the two sides of the house with no joist hangers and so on) tack them in, cover yourself in a biohazard suit and spray everything that even remotely looks like a crack or seam. EVERYTHING. Even though you think all of the area you are trying to seal is comprised of a facing band joist and vertical floor joists don't neglect to remember that air leaks around the top and bottom of the floor joists so foam those joints into the space further by 6 + inches. It's not too hard but spray foam is a petrochemical and thus is disgusting so get a respirator and a tyvek suit. Then take a vacation for a month or so somewhere biologically wholesome while you recover and your house outgasses.
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Old 10-11-11, 10:50 PM   #8
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I hired out the spray foam because we have an uneven sand stone foundation that needed to be foamed at the top to seal well, so blocks of foam would not have worked well.
Our bid called for 2" of foam and I found 20% of them to be done right, many of them had a quarter inch of foam or so, and some had none! there was even a spot in a hard to get to corner that I could stick my arm out in to open cold air, needless to say it took three trips back to get our house sealed up, but if I had not checked their work it would have been worthless!
So if you get a bid, make sure it has a depth on there and if it does not don't do it! if it does then check it with a thin wire with tape marking off that depth, if they don't do their job per spec, don't pay until it's done.
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Old 10-12-11, 01:37 PM   #9
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How many board Ft. was that Ryland and how much did it cost?
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Old 10-12-11, 05:16 PM   #10
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I don't remember the exact cost but I do remember that when we got the bid I compared it to the two part foam kits that you can buy online and figured that the cost would end up being about the same, only when I talked to contractors around here non of them liked the foam kits, saying that you never get all the foam out of them and they are fussy about tank temp.

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