For The Commercial Architect

Spray foam insulation - the green insulation that helps your buildings get LEED certified.

Designed to minimize air leakage, spray foam insulation is becoming the industry standard for providing maximum building envelope performance, as it delivers the solutions for sustainable building design. Unlike conventional insulation, spray foam's low air-permeance classifies it as an air barrier so that it effectively minimizes air leakage to address problems like moisture-related mold and mildew and energy efficiency.

Advanced Moisture Management.

Traditional building envelope moisture concerns are addressed with spray foam because it reduces air transfer, which accounts for 99% of moisture migration and subsequent problems like mold growth. Facility managers, particularly those of metal structures, no longer need to be concerned with sweating ceilings, corrosion or moisture caused by air leakage. Spray foam's hydrophobic properties also means that the material is unaffected by wetting and drying. Its open-celled structure allows water to drain right through the material. "After all, the problem isn't that water gets in - it's that it can't get OUT" (Pushing the Envelope by Lawrence Herzog). And, since roof leaks do not impede spray foam's performance, your clients will pay much less in maintenance and operating costs.

High-Performance Buildings.

With the increasing number of people suffering from allergies or asthma, building owners are taking more notice to ensure better indoor air quality to avoid potential law suits and higher insurance premiums. This presents a major advantage for design professionals who incorporate spray foam as part of their plans. Your clients can rest assured when you've specified open-cell spray foam because not only does it minimize moisture and related problems, it also minimizes the intrusion of outdoor pollutants like dust, allergens and soot. And, with more studies uncovering the connection between poor indoor air quality and decreased worker productivity, more design professionals are depending on the green properties of spray foam to support sustainable building and design practices.

There are now hundreds of published testimonials about the health and productivity benefits that result from adopting green design strategies. For example, William Pape, the cofounder of VeriFone, reports that eighteen months after VeriFone employees began working in a building retrofitted to cut indoor pollutants and improve indoor environmental quality, absenteeism rates were down 40% and productivity was up by more than 5%. Pape notes that healthy workplaces have "done more to boost productivity than all the bandwidth in the world" ("Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise," Inc, 1998, No. 2, pp. 25-26).

Spray foam insulation also addresses concerns about reducing energy consumption and increasing energy savings. Numerous residential design program analyses demonstrate that spray foam minimizes air infiltration and exfiltration like no other insulation can. As an insulation and air barrier system, spray foam provides optimal air tightness, which allows for HVAC equipment rightsizing to deliver energy savings of up to 50%.

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