Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Damian McGill: Healthy Home Cooperation Director on spray foam insulation and the risk of moisture build up

Transcript

Damian McGill: Healthy Home Cooperation Director on spray foam insulation and the risk of moisture build up · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Spray foam insulation is commonly used to retrofit uninsulated homes,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: but could it prevent you from selling your house? The
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: way the foone is installed and how much ventilation it
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: has could cause damage to roofing timber, especially in colder
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: climates like ours. A couple in the UK recently were
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: unable to sell after installing the insulation. They had problems
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: with the banks with the insurers who didn't like the foam.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: In New Zealand, installers have to produce a statement saying
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the work complies with the building Code, but the work
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't have to be inspected. Damien McGill is the Hothy
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Healthy Home Cooperation direct journeys with me this morning. Hey Damien,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: sure to Ryan?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: How are you? Yeah? Good?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Thanks, thanks for coming on the show.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with the spray fome per say. It
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  Speaker 2: has one of the best insulation ratings of any product
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: on the market. It can be a great product when
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: used correctly. The issue is how it's used and how
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: it's being.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Applied and how is it being used in New Zealand
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: is it Do you have any concerns about it about
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: the way it's regulated.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Well, so you just mentioned that for the regulatory context
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: is now that should you want in the building now
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: exempts under floor and roof insulation retrofits for a building consent.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: But you need to retrofit insulation into a wall cavity
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: and that needs a building consent. The problem is that
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: when you add retrofit war insulation, it may affect moisture
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: transfer inside walls and change drying rates, which in turn
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: may cause moisture to accumulate in the walls and affect
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the durability of timber framing and cladding. This is directly
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: from NBI's website. In my opinion that a statement applies
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: equally to roofs too, which is my comment in the
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: article about Newton's third law emotion. You know the house,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: it is a whole system. So if you improve the insulation,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: you must also improve the ventilation. When you improve the
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: insulation and ventilation, you should improve your tightness and look
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: out for thermal bridging. And by the time you add
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: some windows that you have the five passive house.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Principles right, So that standard currently covers walls, but not roofs. Roofs. Rather,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: is that what you're saying.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: There must have been a relaxation recently to exempt underfloor
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  Speaker 2: and roof insulation from a building to sent so it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily it doesn't just apply to spray frame. It
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: applies to all insallation additions. Give you a couple of examples. Recently,
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  Speaker 2: I have upgraded my rental properties by adding an extra
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty milimeters of wall insulation in the ceilings.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: But because of this I've also upgraded the ventilation too.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Otherwise I would I was concerned I'd have significant and
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: issues in the ceiling cavity. For what happens.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: For your own For for our listeners, if you have
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: had this work done by a registered professional, should we
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: you know, we should have nothing to worry about. I
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: mean they should be looking at the ventilation. If they're
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: doing the insulation too right, they.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Won't be looking at the ventilation. They won't be. They
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: won't be. They won't be. So that's that's that's where
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the issues. So in the UK, a couple of things
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: have been happening. One have been spraying directly to the
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: underside of concrete tiles, which I guess we have. You
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: know the state that the brick and tile fifties houses
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: are a similar type of construction, but if the roof
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: is leaky, then there's nowhere for that. So basically you're
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: going to fill up a gap underneath the tiles or
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: in the roof space probably seventy five one hundred mills
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  Speaker 2: of phone and and you're going to seal that up
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: so any moisture gets in there, it's not able to
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: dry out.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Understand Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand what you're saying, Damien,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm I appreciate you you running us through exactly
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: how it works. Yeah, as you say, it's not it's
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: not foam, it's not. This is not a foam as
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: bad story, but it's a cautionary tail. I suppose if
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: you are insulating to think about ventilation as well. Damien,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming on the program. Damien McGill, Healthy
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Home Cooperation Director. For more from News Talks B listen
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: live on air or online, and keep our shows with
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: you wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio