In this presentation, Curt Janzen explains why spray foam insulation outperforms conventional fiberglass batt insulation with a vapor barrier. He outlines how fiberglass batt relies on trapped air, which loses R‑value when temperatures drop or wind blows, and how the vapor barrier is easily punctured by everyday activities like hanging pictures or missing drywall screws, leading to air infiltration and higher heating costs. Janzen then introduces 2‑pound closed‑cell spray foam, which expands 32‑40 times its liquid volume, hardens quickly, and creates a seamless, airtight barrier that never gaps, sags, cracks, or leaks. This eliminates the primary source of heat loss—air movement—resulting in long‑term energy savings. He also highlights Beyond Foam’s Calgary support program, which provides assessment, education, and a strong warranty backing the spray foam installation.
Chapters
There are many advantages to using spray foam insulation in your next project. I'd like to take a couple minutes and talk about the difference between using a conventional way of insulation and using the spray foam insulation in your home. The problem with fiberglass batt insulation, the conventional way of doing it, is it tries to hold the air molecules inside the fibers. When it gets too cold outside or too windy outside, the air molecules move in the fibers and you lose your R-value. But that's not really the worst part of that R-value is only 15% of the equation when it comes to keeping heat inside your house. The airtightness is actually the biggest problem that we have with the conventional batt and poly system. Here in this demonstration, we have normal fiberglass wall at an R-20 and a 6 mil plastic vapor barrier over top of it. The problem is, is every time your drywaller misses with a screw and every time you hang a picture, you puncture that vapor barrier, and that's what causes the heat loss in your place and costs you money. Now, we all live in pressurized building envelopes, so when our furnace kicks in, it pressurizes our whole house, and that air is going to find every hole it can to escape out of. This is what costs you money and brings your heating bills up. The alternative to using the batt and poly system is using the 2-pound closed-cell spray foam insulation. The beauty of this product is the fact that it goes on as a liquid, expands 32 to 40 times what it is in liquid form, hardens within a couple of seconds, and is guaranteed to never gap, sag, crack, or leak— everything that batt insulation and poly is guaranteed to do. This in turn saves you on your long-term heating bills because you're not getting that air infiltration/exfiltration, and unless you drive a nail through the whole spray foam system, you're not breaking the vapor barrier. So hanging pictures, drywall that's missing screws, all the other things that would compromise a normal system does not affect the spray foam insulation. Beyond Foam's support program leads the Calgary spray foam industry. We assess, we educate, and we stand firmly behind our work.
