Injection foam into existing walls - DIY'able?

[stickshift]

House was built in the 1960s. Insulation is poor with one room in particular that has two exterior walls, and one wall facing an attached garage, that is very cold in the winter, and very hot in the summer. According to my neighbor whose house was built in the same style by the same builder, and who has renovated his house, the fiberglass insulation has fallen.

One option is to tear out the drywall, insulate with a chosen insulation, and install new drywall. Tedious, but DIY'able. Been doing a little reading up on injection foam, where they make some holes, either into the walls, or into the house exterior (in this case, brick, where they drill into the mortar), then inject foam. Apparently this is open cell foam, which is already expanded as it comes out of the gun, so less risk of bowing or pushing drywall off the studs than close cell foam. Also sounds like less toxic fumes at time of application as compared to close cell foam.

Wondering if this is DIY'able. If the expense of the gear is such that DIY is not cost effective, how expensive is injection foam installation for 2x4 16" wide framing?

Is it much more effective as an insulation material than fiberglass? Obviously foam isn't going to fall over time the way fiberglass can, but I've read this stuff can shrink.

Would love to hear about your experiences or what you learned about injection foam insulation for existing walls.

 

[Kaizen]

My house has blown in cellulose from early 1980s in exteriour walls. I literally have to pry it out if i want to replace it. so no shrinking as people say with all blown in.

I did have some ceilings that i wanted to get insulated for sound between the 1st and 2nd floor. I had seen the injection done on TOH. Called about 10 of them and none of them wanted to touch it. they said it wasnt worth the risk of it over expanding and blowing out the plaster.

 

[Grant F]

Read my post about foam injection here:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396877

 

[Grant F]

So personally, I am not a believer in foam injection being cracked up to what one may think. I really wish I would have done blown in fiber or dense pack cellulous instead. Unless there is something else out there I dont see it as a DIY job. My guy had a 10 or 12 foot enclosed trailer with the pump equipment in it. The foam parts were in 50 gal drums. From taking to the guy that did mine it seemed like the distribution network for the materials was pretty controlled. He also said you need to be careful not to blow out the drywall.

 

[theoldwizard1]

And skip professional foam injection ! My son-in-law had it done on a house built in the very early 50s. He had an occasion to open up a part of one exterior wall. The cavity was less than half filled.

Stick with blown in cellulose or fiberglass.

 

[NUISANCE]

Blown insulation is DYI, can get the insulation from HD and rent the machine from them. I would do that over foam if I was you, there are several videos on YouTube on how to do it.

 

[JeremiahTRD]

I'm in the Spray Polyurethane Foam Business. My company does injection foam with polyurethane. Which is the product you want to use. Combined with a thermal imaging camera used during installation. If the contractor knows how to use the camera and foam equipment properly this sytem will get a nearly Xray vision into the cavities and create an lasting product that will not shrink or lose it's airseal overtime.
I've been doing it for over a decade with excellent results.

The key is a qualified contractor that knows what he's doing. I let my customers watch and play with the infrared camera its as clear as night and day when were done you can see the before and after.

Certain Polyurethane Foam Material has a slower catalyst which allows the foam to have less pressure and therefore remove's the risk of blowing out your walls etc...

Like Grant F's Experience
Don't waste your money with the following products.
CFI Foam , Tailored Foam, Tri Polymer They are all a form of Phenolic Formaldehyde Foam.
They are a powder mixed with water and preexpanded. When the water drys out the products shrinks significantly. I've personally seen over an inch of shrinkage against the studs. It will crumble and fall apart over time as well.

 

[fourjeepin]

I'm in the Spray Polyurethane Foam Business. My company does injection foam with polyurethane. Which is the product you want to use. Combined with a thermal imaging camera used during installation. If the contractor knows how to use the camera and foam equipment properly this sytem will get a nearly Xray vision into the cavities and create an lasting product that will not shrink or lose it's airseal overtime.
I've been doing it for over a decade with excellent results.

The key is a qualified contractor that knows what he's doing. I let my customers watch and play with the infrared camera its as clear as night and day when were done you can see the before and after.

Certain Polyurethane Foam Material has a slower catalyst which allows the foam to have less pressure and therefore remove's the risk of blowing out your walls etc...

Like Grant F's Experience
Don't waste your money with the following products.
CFI Foam , Tailored Foam, Tri Polymer They are all a form of Phenolic Formaldehyde Foam.
They are a powder mixed with water and preexpanded. When the water drys out the products shrinks significantly. I've personally seen over an inch of shrinkage against the studs. It will crumble and fall apart over time as well.

Can you give a ballpark of the costs to have this done? My house was built in 1953 and has zero wall insulation. There was very little in the attic, but that was an easy fix.

 

[drifter_r6]

I happened to just under gone a remodel. Half done by contractors, half done by me. I have a block home built in the 60s. A couple exterior facing walls we demo'd had urethane insulation shot in, must have been by the previous owner. Its block--furring strips--drywall. The furring is maybe 1.5" to 2" thick and there were huge voids where no urethane made it along the walls. I'm in AZ, even at about 2" thick I could feel heat radiate from the walls during the summer time. During the remodel the East and West drywall was completely removed, furred out to 5.5". Reflectix and R23 rockwool was installed on those walls. I'm much more confident this will provide better insulation, I can already hear a noise level difference. The temp test will be during this coming summer.

 

[Grant F]

Interesting info JeremiahTRD. I believe mine was the tripolymer. I did call several spray foam companies in the area and they all said they don't do injection and they all referred me to the guy I used.