Got me some Spray Foam..... What a mess!

[FL Guy]

Got my building spray foamed yesterday. I paid for 2" everywhere, but this crew no doubt gave me much much more than that. The tubing is 2.5". 90% of the foam comes past it about 1 - 1.5" easily.
The roof is packed full of foam! Same 2.5" tubing, + 1" for the purlin.. No doubt there is minimum 4" up there.
On the peak area where the cross support is thats 4' wide, there’s about 13” from cross support to roof peak. As you can see, it’s completely filled in.

So far Im pretty happy, I just have a lot of cleanup to do.
With that being said, what is a good solvent to use that dissolves spray foam overspray? I have some speckles on my garage doors that I need to remove. I tried to use acetone. It does seem to work. But after about one minute the acetone dissolves the rag, and the color of the rag ends up on the painted surface.

 

[FL Guy]

More pictures...

 

[vwtrey]

So far Im pretty happy, I just have a lot of cleanup to do.

I'm curious to see how happy you are after the cleanup.

 

[dcg9381]

Acetone or MEK, white rag.
Course, these solvents will take off many other finishes as well.

Hell of a deal there if charged for 2".

Yea, one of the deals with spray foam is it's a lot easier to plastic stuff off up front than clean up later.

 

[FL Guy]

Acetone or MEK, white rag.
Course, these solvents will take off many other finishes as well.

Hell of a deal there if charged for 2".

Yea, one of the deals with spray foam is it's a lot easier to plastic stuff off up front than clean up later.

Is MEK the actual name of the solvent or an abbreviation?
White rag,

 

[TurnipTruck]

Methyl Ethyl Ketone, and a respirator.

 

[dcg9381]

Is MEK the actual name of the solvent or an abbreviation?
White rag,

See above. It's generally sold side by side with Acetone. The difference (to me) is that evaporates a little slower. Both solvents are pretty expensive these days.

 

[Blk88GT]

Hope you weren't planning on sheeting the inside.... LOL

What a mess.

 

[FL Guy]

Hope you weren't planning on sheeting the inside.... LOL

What a mess.

Ill screw some 2x4s to the uprights and use left over metal siding to come up the walls a few panels.

 

[mike93lx]

I'd get a good layer of intumescent paint on there while it is all clean, unless you are planning on some other wall covering

 

[FL Guy]

I'd get a good layer of intumescent paint on there while it is all clean, unless you are planning on some other wall covering

Ill screw some 2x4s to the uprights and use left over metal siding to come up the walls a few panels.

 

[Snip's]

MEK is flammable... And wear an approved respirator, or you will find yourself forgetting lots of things....

 

[Zeke]

Don't use a synthetic rag. Cotton. MEK is much worse than acetone so wear gloves too. And your Covid mask is not a solvent mask. They are expensive and have activated charcoal in the prefilters. Best to use a fresh air mask or don't use MEK. The human body produces acetone but that doesn't mean you can swim in it.

 

[FL Guy]

Don't use a synthetic rag. Cotton. MEK is much worse than acetone so wear gloves too. And your Covid mask is not a solvent mask. They are expensive and have activated charcoal in the prefilters. Best to use a fresh air mask or don't use MEK. The human body produces acetone but that doesn't mean you can swim in it.

Cotton rag would be better?

 

[dcg9381]

Cotton rag would be better?

Yes. You won't get coloration off the rag and it doesn't interact with the solvent.

 

[egdede]

yeah, think white t shirt.

 

[nadogail]

I use Goof Off, it is repackaged Toluene and sold at Home Depot. Their white painters rags have been very useful and inexpensive.

 

[PCustoms]

For the record:

1. I've never had luck getting cured poly foam off anything without abrasion. Maybe your tolerance for chemicals is higher then mine.....
2. That's a LOT of foam. Hope they sprayed correctly and it cured solid. Good luck with the outlets and sheathing.

 

[manwithtools]

Holy Foam Batman! You might just want to make that a meat storage locker now that you have that much insulation. Good luck getting it all under control!

 

[FL Guy]

Holy Foam Batman! You might just want to make that a meat storage locker now that you have that much insulation. Good luck getting it all under control!

I know right

 

[Metal-Marc]

Yes. You won't get coloration off the rag and it doesn't interact with the solvent.

And don"t throw the rags in a pile.

 

[Slick111]

Looks like you got a deal for only paying for 2 inches should be real cool & warm. Was the spray crew new / inexperienced the stuff is not cheap dont show the pictures to the spray foam co owner might get a second bill.

 

[Walkers]

Is MEK the actual name of the solvent or an abbreviation?
White rag,

Be very careful. The fire departments nickname forMEK is Methyl Ethyl Death.

 

[dcg9381]

And don"t throw the rags in a pile.

Throw 'em in the right pile... The one used for starting a brush fire.

 

[jcarapet]

Pressure washer with the turbo jet did a good job of abrasive off on mine without removing paint.

 

[boyleged]

We use a cyanoacrylate two part foam at work and the Great Stuff foam cleaner from Lowes works pretty well for the people that dont like MEK

 

[LXCam]

Well at a minimum, you can name your shop "The Cocoon"


What a fn mess, gooood luck.

 

[toolmiser]

Good luck getting it off of clothing, I have at least three examples of failures. I'm sure the shirts will wear out before the foam.

 

[dougf]

Good problem to have I would say. Just cut the foam away from the vertical studs so you can sheet it. maybe one of those long flimsy hand saws ould make quick work of removing the foam where you dont want it to be?

 

[paredown]

Good problem to have I would say. Just cut the foam away from the vertical studs so you can sheet it. maybe one of those long flimsy hand saws ould make quick work of removing the foam where you dont want it to be?

A long serrated bread knife makes a good tool for trimming back foam. (Don't steal the one from the kitchen...)

I've also used a long blade handsaw like you suggest where you have room to work--you can put a bit of an arc on it by holding handle and end and use the 2x as a guide to ride the blade along. You can go pretty fast once you get the hang of it.

 

[CTyankee]

Never been a fan myself..your pictures are one of the many reasons why. JMO, YMMV.

 

[dcg9381]

Well at a minimum, you can name your shop "The Cocoon"

Looks like the inside of Yeti cooler to me. I bet it works great.

What a fn mess, gooood luck.

Meh. The outlets are a mess. I agree with others, cut the foam away from the verticals and sheet it (if you want to finish it on the inside).

 

[FredWanaker]

I would sleep on the idea of what you are going to do next. As to overspray, acetone works well with cotton but it will dissolve plastics and things it is on. It will also leave a sticky residue unless you wipe it several times. The reason I say sleep on it, you may want to leave it thick, or you may want to slice off the excess and cover it. If you do that then change your mind, you can't go back.

 

[acer66]

Looks like the inside of Yeti cooler to me. I bet it works great.



Meh. The outlets are a mess. I agree with others, cut the foam away from the verticals and sheet it (if you want to finish it on the inside).

If the outlets are mess just put a few box extenders on until flush with the foam.

 

[MK5CNY]

Glass half full in my opinion....

 

[bams50]

Jezez, am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible job? The companies I see in my area that know what they're doing know how to apply it just right so that when expanded it doesn't go beyond the studs. I would hate to have to spend hour after hour shaving down the foam so that I could put wallboard on, or outlet covers. And that's not to mention all the waste.

I'm glad I saw this, forewarned is forearmed. If my company starts like this I will correct them or stop them quickly before my interior looks like a pile of wadded up bedsheets.

 

[FL Guy]

Jezez, am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible job? The companies I see in my area that know what they're doing know how to apply it just right so that when expanded it doesn't go beyond the studs. I would hate to have to spend hour after hour shaving down the foam so that I could put wallboard on, or outlet covers. And that's not to mention all the waste.

I'm glad I saw this, forewarned is forearmed. If my company starts like this I will correct them or stop them quickly before my interior looks like a pile of wadded up bedsheets.

Yea you are the only one

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'd love it if a company overdid it like that for me. The roi with heating/cooling is going to be cut in half. I'm about blang, not bling!

 

[FL Guy]

I'd love it if a company overdid it like that for me. The roi with heating/cooling is going to be cut in half. I'm about blang, not bling!

About 2” over the uprights

 

[dcg9381]

Jezez, am I the only one that thinks this is a terrible job? The companies I see in my area that know what they're doing know how to apply it just right so that when expanded it doesn't go beyond the studs. I would hate to have to spend hour after hour shaving down the foam so that I could put wallboard on, or outlet covers. And that's not to mention all the waste.

The "terrible" jobs with spray foam are really uneven spays, sprays with big voids in them (that you can't see unless you have a thermal camera), missing areas, not covering rafters, etc. I do think they went a little nuts here and DO be specific if there is something you don't want covered or need them to shave it down (they they do for stick and brick construction). But too much foam? I can always cut a little off.