Just finished a house built in 1961 and noticed the owner installed “spray on foam insulation” on the underside of the roof boards as well as the gable wall in the garage to house. Is this foam fireproof? How do I report this?
Thanks
It all depends on the type and rating of the foam. If there is any doubt, it needs to be covered.
Product information would cetainly be helpful just in case it is extremely flammable…but nothing in the picture is fireproof.
I believe I would be concerned mostly because of the color of the foam. The most common spray foam used is a yellowish / ivory color when dried and is highly flammable. That’s the color I see in your picture.
High temperature, fire rated expanding foams are color coded for easy recognition, the most common are orange, pink, and gray.
If you are unable to determine if this foam is fire rated, you may write it up as unknown fire rating properties without testing and refer to a qualified professional that can.
Good info, Gary!
Spray Polyurethane Foam Insulation and Its Use in Attics and Crawl Spaces
http://www.sprayfoam-mag.com/articles/spf-and-its-use-in-attics-and-crawl-spaces.aspx
The use of spray polyurethane foam (SPF) plastic insulation in buildings is regulated by building and fire codes. Most of the building codes used by jurisdictions in the United States are based on either the International Building Code (IBC) or the International Residential Code (IRC). The IRC regulates one- and two-family dwellings while the IBC regulates all other buildings.
SPF and all other foam plastic insulations are combustible materials, so their use is regulated. The primary regulations concerning SPF and foam plastics are found in Chapter 26 Plastics of the IBC and in Section R316 Foam Plastic of the IRC. Chapter 26 and Section R316 regulate all types of plastics, but of primary interest are the regulations for foam plastic insulation. The codes treat all foam plastic insulations the same, so there are no specific requirements based solely on the type of foam plastic insulation. However, there are specific requirements based on many of the applications for foam plastic insulations.
There has been a significant growth in the use of SPF in these applications over the past several years. At the same time, there has been confusion over the code requirements and the testing required for these applications. The primary focus of this article is the code requirements and testing required for the use of SPF in attics and in crawl spaces. In essence, the regulations pertaining to SPF in the IRC are a subset of regulations pertaining to SPF in the IBC. This article will address the requirements in the IBC since these have the greatest applicability.
Spray foam that I have seen come in yellowish color, white, orange and lavender color identification for Corbond SPF.
Here are a few pictures.
SPFA Attic and Crawlspace Fire Test Proposal
Good article.
:)
IRC 2009
R316.4 Thermal barrier. Unless otherwise allowed in Section
R316.5 or Section R316.6, foam plastic shall be separated from
the interior of a building by an approvedthermal barrier of minimum
1/2 inch (12.7 mm) gypsum wallboard or an approvedfinish
material equivalent to a thermal barrier material that will
limit the average temperature rise of the unexposed surface to
no more than 250°F (139°C) after 15 minutes of fire exposure
complying with the ASTM E 119 or UL 263 standard time temperature
curve. The thermal barrier shall be installed in such a
manner that it will remain in place for 15 minutes based on
NFPA 286 with the acceptance criteria of Section R302.9.4,
FM 4880, UL 1040 or UL 1715.
Hmmm… do I click on Marcels link, or not? :shock:
“Do you feel lucky”?](http://youtu.be/FnMLGkj91Og)