Reaching New Heights
Spray Foam Magazine – Spring 2021 – Beloeil is a town in the province of Quebec in southern Canada. The name of the town means beautiful view in French, and it is a popular Summer resort destination in a suburb of Montreal city. It’s here where some contractors literally got a beautiful view when using a new HFO blowing agent for the first time on a large project.
The six-level 20,000 sq.ft. new build complex, named Cloria, has 105 luxurious apartments, and has been dubbed by developers as ‘a dynamic neighborhood dedicated to better living.’ Cloria has state of the art common areas, community gardens, game room, home theatre, gym, and a virtual platform that connects its residents to all the local services as well as other Cloria active adult communities.
Approximately two pounds per cubic feet of spray foam insulation was specified to be applied on the outside walls due to its better R-value and seamless monolithic nature. The total R-value dictated this project with the SPF air/vapor barrier features.
Equipped with Graco’s Fusion gun and E300 the two-man crew from Isolation Sommet SD approved applicators as per CAN/ULC-705.2 standard. Similar to the U.S., Canadian applicators have to be certified and accredited. The manufacturer has to supply a foam as per 705.1 standard and they need to have a CCMC report # (the equivalent in the U.S. is ESR); the installers have to follow 705.2 standard requirements and also need to fill a daily work record.
The two-man crew consisted of one sprayer and one helper who put on their PPE and headed to the site. The crew’s choice of foam was Soprema’s SOPRA-SPF 202. This is a two-component, closed-cell foam designed for commercial, industrial, and residential insulation applications, and can be used for inside and outside insulation.
There are two versions of the SOPRA-SPF 202 depending on the application temperature. This feature proved extremely beneficial for the crew. Due to COVID-19, there were a number of starts and stops on this development. This stretched the spraying project out to around four months with the crew starting the spray in the depths of winter with an average temperature of -10°C, and continuing to spray in the spring at temperatures only around 5°C.
The crew made sure that the concrete was free of any debris before they began to spray. They also primed only the z-bars due to the cold temperature, priming warms up the metal and then improves the adhesion of the foam.
When stopping and starting on this project, the crew had to recheck that the concrete was cleaned before they restarted the spray. They sprayed three and a half inches of foam and completed 40 sets, at approximately 5,000 board feet/set to the 20,000 sq.ft. build.
Applying a high-performance, monolithic insulation with superb dimensional stability at a high coverage rate helped to accurately fill the cavities, leaving no voids in the insulation or around it, and without any joints. This averts uncontrolled movement of air through the assemblies and helps prevent energy loss caused by air leaks.
This spray foam insulation helps regulate the inside temperature, and it will keep the residents of Cloria comfortable while they enjoy the beautiful view, as illustrated by Dennis Gregoire, Soprema Insulation & Liquid Technical Specialist.
The applicators sprayed a closed- cell foam designed for commercial, industrial, and residential insulation applications to the exterior of the 20,000 sq.ft. apartment complex building.
