Monday, August 24, 2015

Tripolymer Foam Shrinks Alot

I had some tripolymer foam installed a few years ago which was blow in from openings cut in the walls.  At first there was not much thermal bridging, but later I noticed it got worse viewed through my Flir thermographic camera.  After the wall was opened up for remodeling and I noticed that some places shrank a lot and other places shrank less.  Once the foam shrinks, it starts breaking up and pulling away from the studs and this diminishes the effectiveness of the insulation.

The shrinkage seems to be greater in areas that had more heat.  Seems like the dry heat in SoCal makes the foam shrink.  Overall it's still better than cellulose settlement, but next time I'll go with mineral wool Roxul even if I have to take off the drywall.


Near the floor Tripolymer Foam does not shrink that much.  Perhaps due to lower temperature fluctuations.  




In the wall adjoining the garage, the the blown in foam shrank by about only 10%.  



Closer to the eaves on an east facing wall, the foam shrank by 50%.  

Closer to the eaves on an east facing wall, the foam shrank by 50%.  


Triploymer foam seems to shrink in areas where it is needed the most.  

No comments:

Post a Comment