We care about you, when we can keep families and business safe from fire and prevent installation of hazardous materials, we are having a successful day! Sure, we could follow the crowd and install the "popular" products in your home just to make a sale. However, we choose to operate in truth and never compromise our moral standard of holding your family’s health and safety at the highest level.
This may help you understand why we, as a company, choose GreenFiber 745 Cellulose.
Spray Foam (Low Density Spray Foams/Polyisocyanate ½ lb.)
"What’s wrong with foam? I thought it was a good Insulator!" most would say. Well it is a great insulator but it's very hazardous if and when it burns. But will those foam guys tell you that? Well no, the foam contractors likely don't understand exactly what they're dealing with. The manufacture has used the chemical abreviation instead of being forth coming about spelling out the hazardous chemical. They use the abbreviation in hopes to hide this reality.
If you were to look at the MSDS of foam (actual MSDS PDF at the bottom of the page) in 'Section 5: Stability and Reactivity Data'. There's a sub-section of 'Hazardous products of decomposition:’ which lists products of foam burned. The first few are expected and are dangerous but could be lived with, but there's the one that isn't spelled out like the rest of them, HCN. Looks like they're trying to deceive us.
What's HCN? Hydrogen Cyanide is highly lethal. It takes only 300ppm to kill someone within 8 minutes. That's like taking a tablespoon of it and putting it into a regular size in-ground pool (25,000 gal.), and everyone would be dead in 8 minutes. But that's just that type of foam isn't it? No, all polyisocyanate foams are chemically the same.
Cellulose vs Spray Foam Fire Test - NFPA 286
Fiberglass
First off fiberglass is not an insulator. The idea of taking a conductive material (glass) was irrational. Not only is it a poor insulator, it’s a massive health hazard.
The Difference in Quality Cellulose Manufacturers
The main reason 100% Borate Cellulose is our choice of Cellulose Insulation is the high quality, 100% Borate fire-retardant, and is a high performance insulation with a higher R-per-inch at 3.8 than open cell foam at 3.6. Majority of other brands of cellulose insulation use Ammonium Sulfate to supplement the "Borate Formula" fire-retardant. Majority of the time there is far more Ammonium Sulfate than Borate because it is far cheaper. But what is the problem with Ammonium Sulfate? It can cause severe irritation and inflammation of the respiratory tract. It becomes corrosive when it's wet and smell like a dead animal.
Here is a MSDS of the cheaper stuff found at the big box stores and popularly installed by local contractors. We find it kind of misleading on how much Borate vs Ammonium Sulfate there actually is.
Summary
In Conclusion we strived to find a material the met performance, health, and safety. Foam and Fiberglass couldn't meet those requirements. Additionally not all Cellulose insulations meet those either. On the contractor level installation is also a major factor. You may find a contractor that uses a 100% Borate Cellulose Insulation but they lack the knowledge of installation. In the attic ask if they provide a lifetime warranty against things like settling, the only way to achieve that is to stabilize it, like us. During new construction you may upgrade the wall insulation from fiberglass to cellulose, but they try to install it like the fiberglass using a bib type system using netting, which is going to settle because the density is variable and not monolithic. Because they lack the proper equipment to wallspray the Cellulose Insulation in the cavity, where as we do. Wallspray is consistent density and has a wheat-starch type of adhesive, and does get to every 'nook and cranny'. Furthermore foam guys tell you and the latest fad is to "go to the roofline" while we CAN as well, but in most cases it doesn't properly fit the application and that's the ONLY way the foam guy can do it. We find its a compromise and you get far less insulation(R-19) for 3-4x the price not to mention the lack of sound control. We like to approach the flat part of the with an R-49 Because of the radiant barrier effect (Stopping 97%) leaving plenty of money left over to build an insulated closet around the HVAC unit if it is in the attic. And even likely upgrade to a far more efficient Geothermal unit.
Weatherization Experts Inc. 3071 South East 37th Street, Norman, OK 73072 (405) 392-3764
