Steve Payne
Nova Scotia resident asks for contractors’ experiences with Icynene
This homeowner wrote a post asking for our readers' experiences with the safety factor of this product - since his wife has asthma.
“Hi. I would like to know your (contractors’) opinions about Icynene insulation. My wife has some asthma and is worried that it would make it worse because it is a chemical. We were accepted for a grant to have it done by a firm in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Hope you can put her mind at ease before we do it. Old house with a rock foundation. Thanks.”
Hector Comeau
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Hi Hector,
I’ve seen jobs completed with Icynene and there were no indoor air quality problems at all. In fact, the use of this spray foam probably contributed to a boost in indoor air quality in one particular job because it stopped a condensation problem. Icynene was applied to the underside of a roof within an attic storage area leading off an upstairs bedroom to stop condensation from forming on the sheathing during winter. The application worked and the space is dry year-round to this day.
Do you have a heat recovery ventilator in your home? If your wife has asthma an HRV is one of the first things you should look at. I’ve seen several homes where kids have suffered from lifelong asthma that was completely eliminated by the use of an HRV. In one case a boy had severe asthma for all of his 13 years of life, and the mother didn’t know there even was an HRV in her rental home. I showed her the button, she pressed it, and asthma became a thing of the past. I shudder to think of the thousands of dollars spent on doctors visits, drugs and years of unnecessary suffering.
I hope this helps.
Bye,
Steve