Spray Foam Insulation in Albuquerque, NM

Spray foam insulation goes on as a liquid, expands to fill the cavity and cures into a layer that both insulates and stops air. In an Albuquerque house that matters in summer as much as winter: air leaking through the ceiling carries hot attic air into the rooms in July and lets warm room air escape on freezing January nights. Before we price a job we decide which of the two foams belongs on each surface, because they behave differently and cost differently.

Closed cell vs open cell

Open-cell foam is soft, light and spongy once it cures. It expands a great deal, which makes it good at filling rafters, odd framing and the gaps around wires and pipes, and it dampens sound. HomeGuide lists it at R-3.5 to R-3.7 per inch and $1.50 to $3.50 per square foot installed. Water vapor can pass through it, which is one reason it is not used where moisture builds up.

Closed-cell foam is rigid and dense. HomeGuide puts it at R-5 to R-7 per inch and $3.00 to $5.00 per square foot. At normal thickness it resists vapor, sheds water and adds some stiffness to the surface it bonds to. Because it packs more R-value into each inch, it is the usual pick for shallow cavities and for steel.

Where each one goes in a high-desert house

In a pitched-roof attic, open-cell sprayed under the roof deck turns the attic into a semi-conditioned space. That keeps ducts and air handlers that sit up there out of the extreme heat. Open-cell also suits interior walls where sound is the concern, and new wall cavities in an addition.

Closed-cell earns its higher price in a few places: the shallow space under a flat roof where a few inches have to do a lot, metal shops and garages where warm moist air meets cold steel, rim joists and crawl space walls, and walls where you want the most R-value in a 2x4 cavity. On the outside of a flat roof deck, we use roofing-grade foam with a coating, which is a separate service.

The code and the climate

OpenEI lists Bernalillo County in Climate Zone 4B, and New Mexico's 2021 residential energy code sets ceiling insulation at R-49 for zones 4 and 5. For an existing house, the Department of Energy recommends R-60 in an empty attic. Reaching those numbers along a roofline usually takes deep foam; reaching them on an open attic floor is often cheaper with blown-in material over a sealed ceiling. We size the foam to the target and write both on the quote.

When we do not recommend foam

Foam does not fix a leak. If the roof, a canale or a plumbing line is wetting the framing, that gets repaired first. Foam is not the cheapest way to insulate a big open attic floor. And it should not bury knob-and-tube wiring or loose vermiculite that might contain asbestos until those are checked. Solid adobe or block walls have no cavity, so insulating them is a different conversation. If we see one of these, we tell you before we quote.

Getting ready and moving back in

The spraying is quick; the prep is the longer part. We cover floors and belongings, mask windows, outlets and vents, and set up ventilation. HomeGuide advises staying out of the house for 24 hours or more while the foam cures. Foam needs the surface and the chemicals inside a working temperature range, so on very hot summer afternoons we schedule attic work for the morning. Once cured, foam does not settle or sag, so the thickness you pay for stays put.

Tell us which spaces you are thinking about and what bothers you about them: hot rooms, drafts, dust, noise or high bills. We will look, explain where foam pays off, and send a written price. Get a free estimate