Does Spray Foam Insulation Have An Odor

So any odor detected by especially sensitive people is safe from a health standpoint.

Does spray foam insulation have an odor.

Tests will tell you nothing. Spray foam insulation odor. If you can smell the foam you ve identified the problem. The insulation company said that the insulation would be odorless.

How long the smell lasts will vary from person to person and job to job. In the case of the closed cell foam blue foam basf the dead fish odor went away after 3 years. We had open cell spray foam insulation placed in our attic in december 2010. Turn your oms fan on.

They will smell it. Not likely but some occupants do notice a new odor after spraying is complete. The same smell when it was installed somewhat less but still significantly strong. I don t recommend testing the air.

This can happen in two ways. Spf has an odor during the application process and for some time after. If the ratio for one or more of the chemicals is off due to contractor error or otherwise the foam might not insulate properly. When the oms fan is running it s designed to vacuum odors and lingering humidity from your attic expelling it into the atmosphere.

The good news is i had two spray foam jobs done both had an odor problem and the odors went away. Properly applied by a professional spray foam should emit relatively low fumes that will altogether dissipate in about a week. It might also create a noxious odor. Before the job when asked if spray foam smells you need to answer yes.

The biggest common complaint however is a bad odor usually described as a fish like odor that lasts for months and is almost impossible to get rid of. Everyone s sense of smell is different. Even do it yourself two component spray foam kits occasionally produce smelly foam according to a report by larry burks and jill burks of cambridge n y. We have also found in our experience if a homeowner is hyper concerned about a lingering spray foam odor in their home they probably won t be disappointed.

The space might not have been ventilated per manufacturer specifications. Homeowner james polk who recently hired sunlight contractors to install approximately 3000 square feet of spray polyurethane foam in his destrehan home describes his experience which is typical of a job done right. Honestly i haven t smelled our spray foam insulation in a single one of the homes where we have made a follow up visit. It s real to them.

But i don t live there. Running a ventilation fan continuously undermines the purpose of the spray foam which is to save energy. On a hot humid summer afternoon if by chance you get a whiff of spray foam smell while walking down the upstairs hall it s easy to manage. A small percentage of people can smell very low but safe concentrations of chemicals called amine catalysts which are used in all spray foams.

On warm sunny days i would say 70 degrees we can smell the insulation.