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Fumes! After Spray foamed garage

adamant118

Active member
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
39
For those of you who spray foam your building and kept the walls open have you experienced any fumes question mark seems like when I spend some time in my building I can taste it in my mouth like a metallic and I can feel them my lungs. I tried airing out the building and it seemed to help but it keeps on coming back

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maxpat82

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
Messages
275
You should start to search about spray foam issue when not spray properly.
like too thick at once, wrong product misture for the temp/humidity when sprayed, etc.

There's some complete building that have been foamed that it needed to be removed completely.

that's is the worst case....whish you luck!
 

dw1

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Joined
Jan 26, 2015
Messages
1,335
Location
Ky
Just curious, did you do the install yourself or contract it out? I am wondering if there is a difference? I just built a new house and spray foamed all my exterior walls and a lid on top of the drywall ceiling, I have not had any issues.
 

Kaizen

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Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
6,948
Location
New England
I only noticed it for a day when I had some done in my house


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tonyciambrone

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Nov 4, 2015
Messages
1,152
Location
Northern Illinois
I have sprayed a number of DOW Froth-Pak two part mixes.

Each time I kept windows open and used a centrifugal/ carpet drying fan to move air out the windows for 12-24 hours. I think it is crucial during the cure process, as soon as you are done spraying to start getting good airflow through the space.

From what I have read- if the foam does not cure properly after the initial install, there is little that can be done short of removal.
 
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JamesW84

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Jul 13, 2015
Messages
827
Location
Springfield, MO
There's videos on YouTube of bad installs on a program similar to 60 minutes. Not hard to find. That and the cost keep me from it. I'd for sure keep it opened up for a while and see if that helps.

Have you called the installer?
 

sonoronos

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
175
The crosslinking of urethane polyols via isocyanates after the evaporation of the blowing agent reduces the amount of free polyisocyanate and diisocyanate, which migrates easily out of the blown urethane due to the high volatility of the isocyanates themselves.

You cannot "air out" these isocyanates as they are constantly present in decreasing amounts, until some time where the decrease in free isocyanate reaches trace levels because of complete crosslinking. You can "air out" a space to reduce the concentration of chemicals at a given time, but the chemicals will reappear in the space afterwards.

You must determine:
1. When the spray urethane foam insulation was sprayed. How long ago in days.
2. What the curing specifications are for that foam insulation itself.

Most likely the irritation you are feeling is due to free isocyanates migrating into the atmosphere, which are attemping to crosslink with your body chemistry. Your body responds with an immune response, which you seem to be describing.

What is curious is that free-isocyanate exposure has no known odor or taste. Therefore, it is unlikely that the taste you are experiencing has anything to do with free iso.

Low / very low ambient temperatures can drastically impede the cross-linking of isocyanates, which would dramatically increase the amount of free isocyanates due to extremely low reaction rates. Usually the cure schedules of spray foam insulation have minimum ambient temperatures specified for this very reason.

A more likely possibility associated with a "metallic taste" is inhalation of the smoke generated as the combustion by-products of polyurethane foam insulation . Is something burning the foam insulation? Have you been breathing smoke or welding fumes lately?
 
Last edited:

Chris705

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Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
834
Location
The Finger Lakes of NY
I used open cell spray foam in my large build.....I had it done in the spring. It took several months (4-6) to completely get rid of the smells. Being done in the spring It took several more weeks before I could keep windows open continuously. Even then my upstairs space would get very warm in the summer (if I had to keep windows closed due to rain) and then the smell would get more pronounced. Each time I kept it closed up tight for whatever reason and then came back into the space I had to imeaditely open up windows.... By the time fall/winter came around no more smell.....the install was fine, no problems with any uncured/mixed spray.
 

yeldogt

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Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
18,184
No Never .... I leave when they do it .. and we stay away for a day.

Never any problem -- Closed Cell is what I use
 

MrSurly

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Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Messages
1,671
Location
East Texas
No problem with my 30x40x14, open and closed cell, roof and all, unfinished. I noticed an odor that was not annoying at install, but then I was away for months for work and the sprayed building stood open with three empty OH doorways and during that time any residual odor completely went away. I had researched the topic to death and decided that this was a task to leave to the pros...I've been very happy that I did.
 

sixty4

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Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
1,424
Location
CT
I believe in homes that have spray foam in exposed areas need to be covered. At least that's what I needed to do on our addition with the crawl space. It was closed cell and he let me (the building inspector) use latex paint to seal it.
 
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