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SPF vs. Fiberglass: A Real Barnburner
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VENDOR TEAM
Biomax Spray Foam
Insulation Co.
SPF Contractor
PO Box 132391
Tyler, TX 75713
(903) 721-3092
www.biomaxsprayfoam.com
Bullard
Safety Equipment
1898 Safety Way
Cynthiana, KY 41031
(800) 227-0423
www.bullard.com
Graco
Spray Equipment
88-11th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
(800) 647-4336
www.graco.com
Milwaukee Electric
Tool Corporation
Equipment
13135 West Lisbon Road
Brookfield, WI 53005
(262) 781-3600
www.milwaukeetool.com
SWD Urethane
SPF Manufacturer
222 S. Date Street
Mesa, AZ 85210
(800) 828-1394
www.swdurethane.com
Trent Williams
Construction Management
Builder
1800 Shiloh Rd., Suite 105
Tyler, TX 75703
(903) 581-6161
Tyvek
Safety clothing
DuPont Building
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898
(800) 441-7515
www.tyvek.com
Yanmar America Corporation
Equipment manufacturer
951 Corporate Grove Drive
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(847) 541-1900
www.yanmar.com
| By: Stephanie Marie Chizik
In certain professions, being a power puncher can make you a better employee. At least that’s what the guys at Biomax Spray Foam Insulation Co. discovered. The quickness and strength that they portrayed in the ring with applying spray polyurethane foam (SPF) helped them win bids and get call-backs for jobs.
One job in particular where this was the case stands out in owner Matt Taylor’s mind. Because of the speed and efficiency of his four-man crew, they were called in to do a quick 10,000-square-foot (929m²) job.
Over the past four years, the builders — Trent Williams Construction Management — had developed a relationship with this SPF team. They knew they could rely on Biomax to get this SPF job done quickly.
“Our builder uses us for foam because we can actually install foam almost as fast as you can install fiberglass,” Taylor says. For a crew that installs both types of insulation, they would probably have gotten the call either way. But with orders to use foam in the exterior walls, they were able to use not only their preferred insulation, but also their newest spray gun.
More Money
Over the course of two-and-a-half days, the custom home was to be insulated with SPF. For the Biomax crew, the name of the game was multitasking. Throughout the entire job, no one was left waiting for a step before them to be finished. Instead, as one task was being completed, the next task was starting. This ensured that there was always something for each of the crew members to do.
To start, the entire crew headed in the newly constructed house to prep for spray-application. It took them two hours to caulk the top and bottom plates and the studs, protect all of the windows and doors with Polyseal and then plastic, and cover all of the electrical outlets with tape. Finishing the preparations of the house signaled the crew members to head toward their own stations to complete their next duties. They divided and conquered carrying individual tools: two spray guns, one Sawzall, and several trash bags.
“We have top-of-the-line equipment,” explains Taylor. Since the Biomax crew retains dual-proportion spray rigs, they are able to assign two of their crewmen to spray the house. This achieved twice as much work in half the time. Wearing Bullard fresh-air respirators with hoods and Tyvek suits, the applicators manned their equipment and headed inside.
.2.jpg) In one pass, the sprayers applied three-and-a-half inches (8.9cm) of SWD Urethane’s 106 open-celled SPF to the custom home. To apply SWD’s Quik-Shield 106 SPF, they used a 300-foot-long (91.4cm) hose, two Graco Reactor E-30s, and a Yanmar 40kw diesel generator with a screw air compressor. In their gloved hands, they wielded Biomax’s not-so-secret weapon: Graco’s new Fusion CS (clear shot) guns.
“[The guns] have a vital role,” Taylor says. “Since we started using the CS gun…[we] have seen a 20 to 25 percent decrease in waste. We haul a lot less trash off the job site.”
He attributes that to several factors. Taylor believes the Fusion CS gun gives them maximum yield, uses 60 to 70 percent less air, and, therefore, blows less foam off the wall.
“When we’re training new sprayers, a lot of times…they’ll pull the gun back over the foam. And while it’s rising, the air will blow the foam off the wall. When spraying the underside of the roof, you’ll see gobs of foam over the floor…that’s money lying on the ground.”
He says that with the Fusion CS gun, less air means that they don’t have to worry about blowing any curing foam off the wall, which also means they can keep the nozzle pointed at the substrate throughout the job. They also don’t have to worry about cleaning the gun as often. Less air leads to less mess, which means more profit. Although it took them a few jobs to figure out how to use the guns properly, once they did, they’d become true believers.
Teamwork
Before heading into the attic area, the sprayers worked their way around the 10-foot-tall (3.1m) walls. To reach the tops of the walls, the crewmen wore stilts. And since no other trades were allowed on site while the SPF was being applied, the crew could continue along with their multitasking.
 “We had guys spraying the walls and a trim guy coming behind one of the sprayers, immediately trimming the excess off the walls,” Taylor says. The trimmer used a Sawzall with a foam-cutting blade to shave off the excess foam covering the oriented strand board (OSB) wall cavities. To save time, the trimmer was soon followed by the crewmember who had been put on cleanup duty. His job was to sweep and dispose of the excess foam lying on the concrete floor.
While the trimmer and cleaner (both wearing full-face respirators) moved smoothly around the first floor, the foamers headed up to the attic area with their equipment.
“They went up to the roof while the trim guy was still cutting and cleaning,” explains
Taylor. “That’s how the whole thing works for us.” In the attic, six inches of the same open-celled SPF was applied to the underside of the roof in two to three passes.
When all of the foaming and trimming was complete, the cleanup guys were left to finish the job. Because no overspray fell down, they didn’t need to scrape the floor. That meant that the final cleanup included removing the plastic sheets from the windows and doors.
The Future
The Biomax crew members prides themselves on leaving a job site cleaner than when they arrived. And Taylor thinks this quick custom home job was no different than any other.
“It was in better shape when we left than when we got there,” he says.
 That’s just one of the many reasons why Trent Williams continues to work with the Biomax crew. After four years of working together, the builder knows he can trust the SPF crew to do the best job possible.
And to get their job done, the Biomax crew knows that they can rely upon their new Fusion CS spray guns.
“Hands down, they perform,” Taylor continues. “They’re unbelievable. Performance is unprecedented.” For Taylor, his new guns are not only getting him jobs, but they are also helping him get those jobs done. “We have used a lot of different equipment, and we really feel like the CS gun is going to be the future. We know it is. Just like foam is going to be the future.”
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