I highly recommend Retrofoam; it works.
If you have an older…read morehome and need to get it insulated, you have two options.
1. Remove the walls and add insulation.
2. Retrofoam
We chose retro foam and are very pleased with our decision.
Pros:
Our home gets warm faster.
Our home remains warm longer.
Rooms that were once colder than others are the same temperature as the rest of the house.
Wind drafts through the house eliminated.
Wind drafts around windows eliminated.
Outside noise, reduced significantly, I mean reduced by a lot. We can now sleep with no white noise. Amazing.
Overall improvement on the quality of living, physically and audibly.
Cons:
The inside install is messy. (These guys try hard to minimize the mess)
Outside install was much less hassle and messy. (The installers do a great job cleaning up their work area.)
How It Works
Retrofoam is mixed from powder and water. It has a similar consistency to shaving foam from a can. It is pumped into a void or cavity inside your wall, making its way around wires, plumbing, and other obstacles in the wall. It hardens and maintains its form and placement--the tiny air bubbles in the foam help create the insulating properties. It has a low odor when installed and is non-existent after a few days.
Our Story
Our house was built in the 1950s with no insulation. Our brick home was constructed with hollow walls and void cavities around all of the windows. Twice windows have been replaced, once to replace the original single-pane windows and the second time to replace some storm damaged windows. Each time the windows were replaced, no insulation was installed around the window frames, allowing wind to get into the home. Combining that with the hollow walls added years of expensive utility bills and uncomfortable living space. The house temperature was so unevenly controlled, we needed to wear jackets in one area and t-shirts in the next room.
We are now remodeling our home. We need a way to insulate without removing all of the inside walls. After doing research, I found Retrofoam as an option. After meeting with Mr. Eddie Sanford, I quickly decided to install the Retrofoam in my house.
Eddie made the process easy to understand and helped us devise a plan to prepare for the installation. Eddie's comprehensive strategy was quickly put into motion, and the process began.
Our Retrofoam project included all of the exterior walls of the upstairs living space. Mostly brick with hollow walls and old school plaster walls inside. One smaller area, 10' x 6', was constructed of block and was filled with Retrofoam upstairs and downstairs. About 1/2 of the house was accessed from the inside and the other from the outside. The outdoor installation was much more manageable and cleaner for me as the homeowner. However, not all sections of the house could be accessed from the outside.
When the installation crew arrived, Robert, George, and Brandon walked through my home. Robert discussed the approach and how the installation would proceed. Before beginning, they covered most everything with plastic and began drilling holes for the installation.
The holes drilled into the inside walls are 2.5 inches allowing the large diameter hose to easily access the cavity. Holes from the outside are about the size of a dime. In our case, the outside holes were made through the mortar joints. The foam is pumped into the outer holes using a brass fitting and higher pressure to fill the cavities. After completion, the outside holes were plugged using mortar and drywall compound for the interior.
After the foam was mixed, they brought in the hose and installation apparatus. The hose was inserted into a 2.5" hole in the inside wall. The foam was sprayed into each cavity between the studs. Working the foam into the wall cavity from the bottom up and then from the top down. During the installation, the foam can be heard filling the hole.
The installation took roughly three days. The installation crew was courteous, careful, extremely knowledgeable, trustworthy, humorous at times, and professional. Even with the typical mess that comes with construction projects, I truly enjoyed the crew's company. I found their work ethic to be top-notch.
Upon completing the job, the crew chief Robert did a thorough inspection and cleanup then asked if I was satisfied.
After the install, we noticed an immediate reduction in the outside road noise from passing traffic. So much reduction that we no longer use a fan for white noise in our bedroom at night. We also noticed that our house would hold heat much longer. The first night we set the heat to 62 before bed. The room temp was around 68 degrees; by morning, the temp was still 64, and the heat had not kicked on all night long. This is so uncommon; typically, the heat kicks on several times through the night. The two other areas we noticed immediately were the upstairs laundry room and downstairs bathroom.
