The History of Spray Foam Insulation

Although spray foam insulation as we know it today truly emerged inside the 1980s, spray foam actually has its roots several decades further before, beginning with the roll-out of polyurethane foam during the 1940s by Otto Bayer.

Otto Bayer, an industrial chemist, actually began dealing with polyurethane in Germany during the late 1930s. This technology was brought to the United States during the early 1940s by David Eynon, the president of Mobay, a war effort conglomerate made from the partnering of two chemical industry giants, Monsanto and the Bayer Corporation. Although Otto Bayer worked for Bayer Corporation, he had not been linked to the company's founding family.

Throughout the 1940s, polyurethane polymers were used primarily in military and aviation applications. The creation of war machines for any The Second World War conflict drove a lot of the applications of these high-grade plastic polymers all through the war.



It turned out not till the 1950s that polyurethane began to be used in home based insulation. It had been the invention of your "Blendometer" that allowed for expansion of polyurethane application into the home insulation realm. The Blendometer was the very first machine in a position to mix components for the creation of polyurethane foam and came to be by Walter Baughman in 1953.

The Blendometer allowed for your strategic mixing of chemicals to build what Baughman known as the plastic elastomer or maybe expanding foam. Liquid when applied, this plastic elastomer expanded in a thick foam and ultimately hardened upon drying.

Baughman's Blendometer was still a partially manual process, with humans tilting trays of chemicals to mix foam. Whilst the machine did permit the use of polyurethane in home insulation along with other home-related applications, like ac insulation, it turned out still a technology within the infancy then one that made widespread application of polyurethane to be a residential insulation material no less cumbersome.

Polyurethane polymers were utilized in numerous means throughout the following decades, with incredible advancements being made in the auto industry uses of the material particularly. However, it could be over two decades before the foam would become widely used home based insulation processes.

Building on Baughman's invention, the very first dedicated spray technology machine was constructed in 1963 by Fred Gusmer. The 1960s and 1970s saw technological advancements which made spray foam's use in home insulation quicker achievable and affordable.

It was also in the 1970s that the notion of the "super insulated" home emerged. Largely driven with the energy crisis in the 1970s, home builders and homeowners alike began to watch out for strategies to enhance the energy efficiency of homes.

The crisis fueled advancements in technology that laid the building blocks for modern spray foam applications. It was actually the development of advanced spray nozzle technology that allowed spray foam insulation to use widely home based construction and improvement projects.

spray foam insulation contractor ct foam nozzle allows the foam mixture plus the chemical to blame for its expansion capabilities to get separated until just previous to application. The spray foam mixture contains several key components however it is the expansion chemical, isosynate, which is accountable for its easy application and expansive character.

The application form nozzle allows the foam mixture plus the isosynate to become shipped to the nozzle through separate hoses, mixing only seconds before being sprayed. The spray foam arrives at its destination as being a liquid but quickly expands right into a foam substance and then dries to a hardened plastic upon curing.

The 1980s and early 1990s saw a lot of controversy within the spray foam insulation industry as different marketing schemes from various companies promoted the key benefits of closed verses open foam insulation and also as some companies aimed to market water blown foam application processes.

Though there has been much debate inside the industry, R-value standards, used as being a measure of determining energy efficiency, have solved the majority of the controversy. R-value ratings clearly define closed foam as the very best methods of building a home as cost effective as is possible.

Closed cell spray foam has additionally been included with the list of building requirements to make homes in hurricane and earthquake zones more structurally sound. The improved stability of homes insulated with spray foam technology makes using spray foam an intelligent move for any homeowner regardless of geographic location.