Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any experience with the DIY spray foam insulation kits?

Looking at insulating my metal roof with it, wondering about these kits like "foam it green" about $700 kit for 600 board feet.

Read and follow directions closely, make sure canisters are up to operating temps, setting them in hot water works OK, plan your job so you can keep spraying or you'll end up changing tips and having to reheat the canisters. Tanks are somewhat heavy, a second person helps to keep moving. Not sure what foam you're spraying but some types are very hard to remove overspray.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Touch-n-Foam-Touch-n-Foam-Foam-Insulation-Kit/50179525

Got the kit a couple of years ago. Worked great. Temperature is key. I don't know how it adheres to metal. Might want to research that aspect. Wear crappy clothes you won't mind throwing out if it gets out of hand. Gloves, eye, and head coverings are mandatory...don't ask...just plan on it. Floors and furniture too. You'll spend more time in prep than spraying.

Sticky stuff though. We watched the CD included with the kit. If spraying the wall too, some people will only fill about an inch or so of foam and then follow the cavity up later with traditional insulation. It maximizes the sealing qualities of the foam over a larger area, and the fiberglass insulation is less expensive too.

I planned on spraying everything in one session to minimize chance of the hose nozzles clogging.

If I had to do over, I'd make sure I had more than enough wall and ceiling prepped before I started spraying. I almost ran out of walls to spray before the tanks were empty. Good luck.

How close to the surface can you get? I was wondering about spraying the underside of my travel trailer. It came out of CA and has no floor insulation. I figure I could get it up on ramps and get gun maybe 12" from the surface.

Let us know what you decide and how you go about it.

I got a quote for $750 to do my approximate 600 sq ft. Thats cheaper than what i can buy most of the kits for.

Same price, less hassle...problem solved. Good luck.

offshore we used a 2 part spray foam for sealing deck drains and such.

one guy brought some home to make a walk in cooler. Said it worked good.

Forget the name. The cans were about the size of freon tanks or slighter smaller.

Unless something new is out there now, insulating foam is very flammable. A custom applicator I know lost his business when a large shop he was spraying caught fire and burned. The engine on his applicator rig back fired and started the fire. He lost the rig, his new pick-up, and the cost of replacing the building. Apparently he was under-insured.

The foam is self extinguishing, but only when encapsulated. Example, covered in sheet rock. Uncovered, any flame which starts at the bottom quickly walks up the wall and across the roof. It produces a thick and noxious smoke.

There is no better insulator on the market. And the foam, if properly applied will completely eliminate airflow through the walls. I have seen it applied along the wall studs and lightly on the inside surface of a home's wall sheeting. It makes for an incredibly strong and almost sound proof exterior wall in a home.

The guys that showed up to spray my barndominium were in a panel van with a bunch of 55 gallon drums. Looked like something from Breaking Bad, I'd pay the extra $$ to not have to mess with it myself.

Evidently, this stuff is "closed cell" and supposed to be flame retardant.

I used several of the foam it green kits, it works well, read and follow all directions, watch their videos, the stuff is strong, if you spray it in a hole or behind a panel things get all pushed out of place. Buy extra nozzles and change them often. They seemed nice to deal with as well,

Again, it is, if encapsulated by fireproof material such as sheetrock. In a tightly enclosed space, combustion produces enough gas to drive the oxygen from the combustion and starve the fire out. But if the gases from combustion can escape upward, they will carry the heat of the fire along and it will progress rapidly. If the foam is exposed, the flame will climb right up the wall and burn down the entire structure.

I have only witnessed it in videos presented during fire fighter certification classes. Yes, I received a certification as a Trained Volunteer Structural Fire Fighter from BSU in 1980. But even in the videos, it is a sobering sight.

Polyurethane is still the primary foam insulator around. The same stuff we have been using for fifty years. I applied it as a pressurized stream from a mixing gun, supplied from fifty gallon drums while employed building mobile homes in 1981. That spray foam was used as glue and was the only thing holding the ceiling and trusses together while they were lifted into place atop the house.

I have some familiarity with the product in question. That is, unless you have found something which is not polyurethane?

Cheaper to have it done.

And most likely done right, if it is done wrong it will be a mess and hazardous.

Foam It Green is not fire proof, but it is Class I fire retardant insulation.
“Class 1” foam means that the foam has been tested by Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL) for flame spread and smoke development, according to the ASTM E-84 tunnel test for surface burning characteristics.

That's from their website, as an old firefighter I was concerred as well but foams have changed in the past few years.

When we had our old windows replaced the new windows all had warning stickers stating not to use spray foam insulation for that very reason. As it expands it gets much larger for the amount sprayed and if it can't expand it will ooze out any where it can.

Cheaper to have a capable contractor do it. I'm not an insulation contractor but I have worked with it for many years in an industrial setting. We brought product in semi tanker loads. Around here they charge in the neighborhood of $1/in per square foot. Price depends on amount and application. It comes in many different densities for different applications. It is not as good of a sound barrier as fiberglass and sheetrock but the R-value cannot be beat.
I compare it to concrete as it isn't something you can easily tear out and redo.

There’s some things I enjoy as DIY


Others not so much


When replacing the suspended ceiling in downstairs daylight basement, noticed no insulation along the sill plate . Wtf ?


Called the guys at Vertex, they came in sprayed foam where needed, none where not needed, I.e. furniture, carpets etc.

They were done in a day

Can’t recall what it cost, but it was worth it

Yep farm it out as it will always come out better by someone who does it everyday and you don't have to worry about the cleanup. That stuff sticks to everything well.