Spray Foam Insulation
 In
the course of our consulting work, we began to see a trend
Homes were becoming tighter and more efficient due to
the work of many craftsmen in the field and dedicated energy efficiency
raters and consultants. In every case, we saw one technology that
was bringing the best of sealing technology to bear in conventional
framing applications. That technology was spray foam insulation.
The claims were significant:
- Heating and cooling costs reduced by as much as 50%
- Reductions in heating and cooling sizes by as much as 40% without
losing efficiency or comfort levels
- Draft free homes
- Quiet homes even in very noisy environments
- More dust free homes
- Improved indoor air quality
- Insulation that does not deteriorate or decompose
- Overall comfort throughout the home is much improved
We set out to prove these claims for ourselves. As a result of our
study, we concluded that these claims all had merit. The end result
was we added another service to our growing list of skills. We became
trained spray foam insulation contractors ourselves.
It is the highest form of complement to this technology that we could
give—we became actively involved ourselves because we believe
in it so much.
Our subsequent testing with blower doors and HVAC system diagnostic
tests have confirmed what we had been taught about spray foam. The
claims were true.
 Once
we made the decision to take this new step, we sent our technicians
to the spray foam school at the Dimelec headquarters in Arlington,
Texas so they would be grounded in the technology and skills. We received
additional training and help from the excellent staff at Dimelec and
then we began to spray foam, gaining more expertise as we covered
thousands of square feet of walls and attic decks.
One of the first homes we sprayed was the residence of Paul Wieboldt.
Paul felt that we should try out this technology on his own home first.
We tried something that we had long dreamed of as an experiment. We
took an older home and sealed the attic without changing anything
else in the home.
The results were amazing
The home uses much less energy, the family was staying much more
comfortable. The HVAC system was running much less often and the folks
with asthma were not suffering as many asthma attacks. The outside
weather did not affect the home as much and the attic is almost the
same temperature as the inside of the home.
Even sealing just the attic and not doing any other repairs made
a huge difference. We now offer this upgrade to our clients as an
option for an older home.
Whether you are designing your new home or upgrading your older model.
Tradewinds can offer you a complete package of design or repairs for
efficiency, indoor comfort and health benefits.
By utilizing our consultants to design the proper systems for your
home, performing the work and measuring the performance of finished
product, you can be assured of getting everything you paid for.
A word of caution
Be aware that some contractors do not understand all the issues involved
in designing a proper foam insulated house. Since we teach contractors
how to size and design systems for today's modern high-efficiency
homes, including foam insulation, we are able to design your systems
to perform properly.
The greatest danger is over sizing the HVAC systems. This understanding
is our strong point. Even if you have another foam contractor, please
let us help you design your systems to properly handle the humidity
removal to prevent excess humidity issues.
With proper sizing of the HVAC systems, we are thoroughly sold on
using spray foam insulation.
 Tradewinds
currently sprays foam manufactured by Dimelec. For a short video from
Dimelec about spray foam that will help you understand more about
the benefits of foam insulation, please click this link to download
the video for Windows Media Player.
Click here for video
(Warning! the
file is 3.5mb)
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