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Humidity, Heat, and Hurricanes Call for SPF on Coastal Cottage
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VENDOR TEAM
3M Corporation
Respirators
3M Center
Building 220-01-01
St. Paul, MN 55144-1000
(888) 364-3577
www.3m.com
BASF Polyurethane Foam Enterprises LLC
SPF Manufacturer
1703 Crosspoint Avenue
Houston, TX 77054
(888) 900-3626
www.basf-pfe.com
Carolina Comfort Foam
SPF Contractor 636G Longpoint Road, #126
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29405
(843) 216-6124
Delmhorst Instrument Co.
Moisture Equipment
51 Indian Lane East
Towaco, NJ 07082
(877) 335-6467
www.delmhorst.com
Graco/Gusmer
Spray Equipment
88-11th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
(800) 647-4336
www.graco.com
Herlong & Associates
Architects
103 Palm Blvd, Suite 3-A
Isle of Palms, SC 29451
(843) 886-9199
www.herlongarchitects.com
Tyvek
Safety clothing
DuPont Building
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898
(800) 441-7515
www.tyvek.com
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By: Stephanie Marie Chizik
When the Kearns family decided to renovate their newly purchased beach house, they quickly learned that it would require more than a dream and a dime. Located on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, a 3.3-square-mile (8.55-square-kilometer) barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean, any renovations on this 80-year-old cottage needed to adhere to the town’s strict building rules as well as the architect’s and builder’s construction concerns with blending two sections of the home.
The original half of the house was made of lath and plaster — horizontal wooden slats with plaster-filled gaps — attached to four-by-four-inch (10.16-by-10.16-cm) studs. This included several sections of the roof, too. The newly constructed half of the house, on the other hand, contained plywood sheathing attached every 16 inches (40.64 cm) to two-by-six-inch (5.08-by-15.24-cm) studs.
To achieve the cohesive interior environment that the owners, architects (from Herlong & Associates), and general contractor (Philip W. Smith) were aiming for, another player needed to be brought into the picture. Carolina Comfort Foam, based out of Charleston, South Carolina, was called in to make this seemingly impossible job happen.
“The problem?” asked Carolina Comfort Foam’s owner Bob Duke. “How to blend the old and new structures capably together to create a modern, comfortable living environment.” The solution? “Spray foam was the best and most logical choice.”
The closed-cell foam not only reached all of the different surfaces found within the combined surface, but it also offered structural value to a house in the U.S. coastal hurricane region.
Located less than 300 yards (274.32 meters) from the Atlantic Ocean, the house was worked on in a region known for humidity, heat, and hurricanes. The house would require the use of closed-cell spray foam, the only Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-approved insulation for active hurricane areas. With so much to accomplish in one construction stage, it was going to be difficult to give this house an overhaul that would appease the owners, builders, and stringent beach community. Did this SPF crew bite off more than it could chew?
To create the combination building envelope, Carolina Comfort Foam brought in two full sets of crewmembers. These eight employees operated two rigs separately. Over the course of nine days, they prepped, sprayed, and cleaned up this 5,200-square-foot (483.08-square-meters) job.
For the first two days, the eight-man crew came in to prep the surfaces. They brought with them polyethelyne sheeting, duct tape, and quarter-inch foam board. First, they covered all horizontal surfaces — countertops, floors, banisters, etc. — with the polyethelyne sheeting. Anything inside the house that was not to be covered with foam was covered with plastic. Then, they continued on to the windows.
Once the plastic was complete, they used the duct tape to cover studs that were to be covered with sheetrock. This would come in handy at the end of the job when they needed to have no excess foam over the studs.
Next, the crew cut the foam board to fit in the space in between the bottom of the roof and the top of the wall plate. This covered the empty space and created a complete building envelop to be sprayed.
“Essentially, what we’re doing is taping the top of the wall plate to the underside of the roof decking with the smooth surface of that foam board,” Duke said. This gave the applicators a completely prepared surface so that when it came time to spray the foam, they could come in and do their job uninterrupted. “We want them to simply go through the house, apply the foam, and apply where it should be and how it should be.”
 Before they could spray the SPF, though, they first needed to test the combination substrate.
“The moisture of either the plywood or the lath boarding had to be considered prior to application,” Duke explained. That meant that before the 37,000 board feet (3,437.3 board meters) of SPF was applied, the crew needed to test the moisture of the wood involved in the new construction. This constant testing helped to ensure that the moisture content would accept the foam. To do this, they walked around the house with a Delmhorst two-pin moisture meter, testing that there was 17.5 percent moisture content or less in the substrate.
“It was imperative that the wood in the structure was considered dry enough to receive and hold the spray foam insulation properly,” said Duke. If the wood was too wet, the foam might not stick…a catastrophe in the SPF world!
When the Carolina Comfort Foam crew confirmed that surfaces were dry enough to start applying, they brought in their rigs and got right to work. Each rig had one proportioning pump — either a Graco Reactor E-20 or E-30 —, 250 feet (76.2 meters) of hose, and a GAP Pro gun. While spraying BASF’s COMFORT FOAM, all crew members wore 3M respirators and facemasks, Tyvek suits, and gloves 100 percent of the time. To make sure they didn’t need any additional safety gear, the crews verified with their safety checklist before leaving the shop.
After two days of prep, the applicators were ready to come in and finish the foam. To complete the job, they would need to not only insulate the attic and walls, but also the crawl space under the newly lifted cottage. To create a level home above the flood plane, the general contractor had the original section of the home lifted from four feet to 14 feet off the ground. It was put onto a platform and was then ready to be sprayed with the new section. Lifting the house and then spraying it helped to create one building envelope.
Over the next five days, the crew worked their way from the top to the bottom of the house. They applied three inches of SPF to the roofline and two-and-a-half inches on the walls and in the crawlspace. After a week of consecutive working, they were finished with the foam and ready to clean up.
In each room, the crew members pulled the duct tape from the studs and the plastic from the windows that they’d attached to the substrate in the prepping stages. With excess foam detached, the trash went into the middle of each room to be disposed of at the end of the job.
On the more unusual side, this SPF crew also uses a technique called “rifle shooting the walls” for quality assurance. That meant that on any straight-aways, the crew got close to the wall and looked across the foam and the stud ends for any uneven areas or protrusions. This ensured that when the sheetrockers followed them into the rooms, they didn’t have any trouble doing their job.
Once all of the excess materials and foam were removed from the walls and dropped into the middle of the plastic-covered floor, the Carolina Comfort Foam crew rolled up all of the debris and disposed of all excess in a nearby Dumpster.
“At the end of this process, all parties were thrilled with the results and felt that every possible target was met in terms of exterior beauty, interior comfort, and outright efficiency!” said Duke. In such an intense climate, it comes as no surprise that this SPF crew took pride in paying close attention to the details. The success of the house depended on it.
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