In our article “When a Completed Project Comes Back to haunt you” we shared important information surrounding selecting a spray foam installer. Specifically, why price should not be the bottom line!  In speaking with many of you about this article, most asked the same question! What causes the issues in the pictures?

Though many factors play into what causes these types of problems the number one bad practice is bad chemicals

Bad Chemicals

Spray Foam Insulation NOT installed by Chicago Green Insulation

Bad chemicals come in two forms: expired and not properly tested.

Many spray foam installers will use chemicals that have passed expiration. Just like the milk in your fridge, spray foam has an expiration date. Once the chemicals are expired they are sold by distributors at a much cheaper cost. I know because they call me all the time trying to get me to buy them. Much like I will not buy food at the grocery store that is expired, I will not buy expired chemicals.

We could go down a long scientific explanation surrounding the changes in both the Iso and Resin chemicals post-expiration, but we won’t.  For all my science buffs, when it comes to expired spray foam the catalyst dissipates, the density of the materials increases and the yield decreases. If the past couple of sentences sounded like Greek, basically the chemical compounds change and in turn how they react with one another changes.

One of the major challenges that occur with expired chemicals is shrinkage. If you have shrinkage air and moisture will get through the gaps. Shrinkage with expired chemicals does not always happen immediately. It can happen months after the job is completed. Just because the application looks good when it was completed, does not guarantee that you are in the