anyone used Polyurethane foam for house insulation?

frazee,

I saw the ad too, in europe we use this a lot and it's a very good insulation.

a few weeks ago i had a discusion with a friend of me....do you want to insulate the roof or the ceiling ?

the roof: keeps the heat away so it's good against expansion from your steal construction.
bud if you ever get a leak in your roof it will be very difficult to locate the leak.

the ceiling: your airco only need to keep your rooms cool and not the space above the ceiling.

ron pcl

Had my inside roof done to prevent leaking. Nevertheless had leaks after again. Company came back for free 'repair' .
After a while the roof started leaking again.
Eventually I replaced the whole roof, the foam was a real real bastard to take away from the metal frame work.

My advise : use it for heat insulation. If you want to prevent leaking, make sure the roof is easily accesible and watch the quality of spraying.

I had foam sprayed on the underside of my ceramic roof tiles during construction. Once the house was completed I noted there was still a considerable amount of heat entering the second floor bedrooms. Placing may hand on the ceiling told me that I would need to insulate the ceiling as well. I installed fiberglass ceiling insulation 2 years ago and have noticed a significant improvement in the amount of heat transmitted into the room. No more hot ceilings. Spray foam insulation is not very cheap here in Thailand. I would recommend installing an aluminum foil type heat barrier under the roof tiles (new construction) and fiberglass ceiling insulation to control heat gain through the ceiling.

fdimike wrote:I would recommend installing an aluminum foil type heat barrier under the roof tiles (new construction) and fiberglass ceiling insulation to control heat gain through the ceiling.

That seems like a good recommendation fdmike. I need to do something in this line but my problem is that the house is already completed. Does anyone know if its possible to install an aluminium heat barrier without putting your feet through the ceiling? The roof is metal framed so I guess I can put scaffold planks to stand on. Has anyone done this?

Yes that is possible phone company goes in there and installs lines all the time.

They have great insulation at home Pro. Problem is finding someone who knows ho to do it on an existing house. Talked the original guys who normally does our work. His answer was to remove the roof. That's nuts there is room to work on the attics. A few wide boards carefully used and you could easily do the work. I wouldn't mind doing my self. But with a bad back probably not a good idea.

So if anyone runs across a contractor who will do it without tearing off the roof let me know please

Alchai
If you're looking to get the maximum bang for your money I would not worry about the aluminum heat barrier as much as I would the fiberglass ceiling insulation. Fiberglass insulation is available in 3" and I believe 6" thicknesses. I would opt for the 6" thickness which will prevent nearly all heat from entering the house through the ceiling. In checking prices around town I found Global House to offer the best price. Installation is a simple affair as the batts fit nicely between the ceiling rafters. Additionally, you also need to determine if you have sufficient attic ventilation.
Ventilating a peak roof is fairly easy by installing gable vents on both exposed walls and installing eve vents to allow cooler air to enter the attic replacing the hot air which hopefully exiting through the gable vents. You can also install an exhaust fan in the gable vent to move the hot air out quicker.
Ventilating a hip roof is a bit more difficult here in Thailand. I have only seen the "turbine style" roof vent which may or may not work with your roof tile design and may not be very pleasing to the eye. Additionally, you will have to cut a hole through the roof tiles to install this vent which would then have to be sealed correctly to prevent rain from leaking into the roof. Once again eve vents would be required to make this system work. The more eve vents you have the better. One step further would be to install "continuous eve venting" from the Windsor company here in Thailand. This is a perforated plastic material which will essentially ventilate the entire eve.
If you wanted to avoid the "barn/factory" look of the turbine style roof ventilator you could visit a local stainless steel shop and have them make a few simple roof ventilators that would lay flat against the roof. You will still have to cut the roof tiles and seal the vents properly to prevent any leaks.
Ihope this helps.

We have recently re-roofed our house using the foam and silver foil backed alumimium sheeting, following a recommendation from another falang. This comes in several colours and is stamped out to represent tiles. It can be cut to almost any length. Our roof to cover a 15 x 6 metre building cost 48,000 baht.

So far it hasn't been hot enough to assess its effectiveness - but it certainly deadens the sound of the rain!

hi treehugger,

is that 48k only the roof sheeting and instalation? Have been looking at it a while back and remember being quoted something like 250 the meter. Seems you paid a bit over that.

Erik,

I have just checked the invoice - seems that there were other items on it as well - my mistake. Total was 37,624 baht . We were charged 145 baht per meter, cut to different sizes.

fdimike wrote:
Ihope this helps.

Thanks fdmike

is used a lot in the USA homes , not in commercial
but in the event of a fire , it is Very poisonous gas
b blsd