Started out: Spent 20 years as a drywall contractor. Had the opportunity to go into spray foam – opened my mouth and inserted foot and here I am today.
Hours of work per week: Instead of an 80-hour week (like when I started), I’m down to about 45 to 50.
Spray foam is… a petroleum-based product. The A-side is the iso-something-something-something… I’m not a chemist and I’m not going to try and say that. The B-side is the resin side. It comes in 55-gallon drums and we pump it through a heater in the truck and then out the holes and into your house.
Why spray foam? So you don’t have any hot and cold spots.
Technical term #1: R Values. How long it takes for cold air to wick to hot inside a laboratory.
Technical term #2: Thermal bridging. Cold air wicking through the walls, windows, etc. of a house. . Concrete absorbs heat and holds heat (in summer) and absorb cold and hold cold (in summer) for a long time.
How foam works: It air seals. It doesn’t let any air infiltrate and it expands 120 times.
Insulation before foam: Most of the homes, especially in this area, have absolutely no insulation in the walls. All the way up ‘til, you know, probably early 1960s insulation was not a high priority thing in a house.
On eternity: The thing about the foam, once it goes in, it never moves, it’s there forever and ever and ever.
Technical term #3: Drill & fill. It’s where we come in and we inject foam actually in the walls if there’s no insulation.
Job benefits: Just trying to educate people is one thing that I really enjoy. I mean, yes, I like to sell foam, but I’d like to think that when people get done talking to me that they know more about energy efficient and how to obtain that goal.
