Corbond vs Icynene

Tony_8

Just wondering, as I prepare for a huge project for myself, what the differences are. Besides the obvious chemical ones.

R-values ? Installed costs ?

Installers of each are about the same distance away.

I've lived in drafty, inefficient homes almost all my life. This next one will likely be the last one and I want it cheap to live in when I retire. Not to mention the 20+ years until then :)

Highest peak for hundreds of miles and my wife decides she's buying the 100 year old farmhouse on top. Wind ALWAYS blows.

Anybody ?

TIA

Ernie

Constantin

Will probably jump in as he did his house using both of these products

Constantin

Someone calling my name?

Yup, used both. The Corbond went into the old part of the house, the Icynene into the new part. The main reason: the old walls are thin (4"), the new ones are thick (6").

Both are fine products, though Corbond is stiffer and more resistant to deformation. In my experience, I also found it to stick better to walls, studs, etc. than Icynene, since Incynene sometimes forms a non-sticky skin before contacting wall studs. Then a small air gap can ensue.

Corbond has a final R-value around 6.5 while Icynene gets up to 3.7. Due to its impermeability, Corbond doesn't require a vapor barrier. The installers in our home didn't recommend one for the Icynene either, as the walls were so thick that for all intents and purposes the icynene was impermeable as well.

The installers usually prefer icyenene, it's easier to shave and trim than Corbond. IIRC, corbond is about 30-50% more than icynene per boardfoot, but then again, you get much better performance to boot.

Due to it's softer nature, some installers will get Icynene into extant walls by coring out 2" holes in every stud bay. Having seen some of the uneven results, I advocate going with a open cavity, if at all possible. Not every installer uses a thermographic camera to ensure that their install actually filled all the wall spaces.

That's enough for now. If there are any further questions, you know where to find me. Cheers!

Tony_8

thank you

I was hoping you'd jump in

We live in drastically different locales with regard to prices and availabilities but if you would, could you e-mail me the board foot costs ?

jerry scharf_2

My thoughts

I have now finished my foam install.

My guess is that most installers are more comfortable with closed cell or open cell foam, and will naturally select the one they are more comfortable with. There's a lot to think about with foam, and I decided to learn a bit about it in self defense.

First, there is a wide range of foam capabilities that the foams in either class can have. I was after very low moisture permiability, so only a small number of closed cell foams met the requirement. Moisure often moves via diffusion, and even most closed cell foams don't prevent this. On the other hand, the foams I could find that do this do not have the fire rating for flame spread and smoke, so need to be covered even in cases where other foams would not. It's easy, but more work.

My experiece from quotes I got is that the installed price per square foot for a given R value was about the same. The Corbond and Resin Technology products have great adhesion and almost no voids when applied well. The open cell foams can be prone to both surface and interal voids if not installed with extreme care.

There is a group who specializes in retro work with open cell foam and work nationally. Their temperature tolerances are much tighter. They have an IR camera and watch the heat in the wall as the foam sets. Any cool spots indicate a void, which they drill and refill.

I would make a number of design changes from what I did, but that's another post if people are interested.

jerry