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Have solar prices been going down lately? The answer is yes! Solar power prices have been dropping faster than anyone expected. Experts initially underestimated the drop in prices and now believe they will drop down even quicker as time passes! CleanTechnica has revealed that a solar panel per watt in 1975 was $101.05, while more than 40 years later, the price in 2015 was just $0.61. Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Expert Jenny Chase, had predicted that a solar module that was priced from 62 cents/watt in 2015, will drop to the range of 21 cents/watt by 2040! These figures have since been reduced even further, with an average solar module sold to a utility scale project in 2017 being about 35 cents. This will drop to 32 cents by the end of 2018, and drop to 31 cents in 2019. As to some reasons why: the biggest factors resulting in the sharp drop come from the combination of fierce competition and technological advances in every part of the solar panel technology sector. These are being fed through to auction prices for government tenders throughout the world and bidders are seeing plenty of return on their speculation about module prices and EPC costs. Solar power is going to dominate the energy sector this century. The question is just how quickly it will bring down costs and take over the world. Yet again, the answer seems to be: quicker than people thought. Kiana Mays There is no doubt that solar is a reliable and readily available source of energy in sunny Arizona. Installing solar in your home can have a positive impact on the environment and dramatically lower your monthly utility bill. It's a great investment for its low maintenance costs and high returns. For instance, a homeowner can expect a 10 year payback and a 10.6% Investment Return for a 5-kW system 1. Owned solar panels can add 4 to 6 percent to the value of a home 3. Real Estate agents agree that homebuyers are increasingly looking for solar panels in the same way they look for granite countertops or wood floors 3. Adding solar to your home can save you a lot on your utility bill and potentially earn you money through feed-in tariffs annually. However, we all know that purchasing photovoltaics can have a high upfront cost anywhere between $18,000 and $29,000 2. While the initial investment to purchase solar panels can be high, there are different payment structures and tax incentives that can greatly lower these costs. Incentives to Installing Home Solar Panels
When installing your home solar panels, you can expect absolutely zero sales tax! Under the Solar Equipment Sales Tax Exemption, you are free from the burden of any Arizona solar tax. Likewise, under the Energy Equipment Property Tax Exemption, the value added to your property from installing solar will not add to your property tax 2. Arizona also offers a Residential Solar Energy Credit where the resident can get back 25% of the cost of the system through tax credits at a maximum of $1000. If the credit exceeds the taxes you owe, you are able to carry it over for up to five years 1. In addition to state tax credit savings, there are also benefits on a federal level. Under the Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), a purchaser of a home solar energy system is eligible to receive a 30% tax deduction from the cost of their solar energy system after state rebates. To give you an idea of the kinds of savings you could get from this, in 2017 the average solar shopper saved over $5,000 on costs going solar from the ITC alone 4. The ITC isn't going to last forever. in 2020, the tax credit will reduce to 26%, in 2021 it will reduce to 22%, and by 2022 there will only be a 10% credit remaining for commercial users only 4. This is all the more reason not to wait to install solar panels on your home. Alternatives to owning solar panels If you are looking for the benefits of solar but are not ready to invest in a solar energy system of your own, solar leasing and PPAs are both great options. Roughly 75% of solar installations in APS territory are leases, making it the current most popular choice for Arizona solar buyers 2. With a solar lease, you agree to pay a fixed monthly “rent” or lease payment, which is calculated using the estimated amount of electricity the system will produce, in exchange for the right to use the solar energy system. With solar PPAs, the homeowner agrees to purchase the power generated by the system at a set per-kWh price as opposed to paying "rent" to the solar panel system. Some of the benefits of solar leases and PPAs are that you can expect 10-30% savings over the cost of your utility bill 4. The leasing company is also responsible for maintaining and handling the panels and interactions between the utility company- making little-to-no work for you! Additionally, there are many options that have $0-down agreements, so you can be at ease. When you sign a solar lease or PPA, it's important to note that you do not own the solar panel on your property. Under these agreements, you will not receive tax incentives. Additionally, a leased solar energy system can actually detract 3 to 8 percent from the value of a Phoenix-metro home 3. When you go to sell your home with a leased solar energy system, you are selling the lease with the home. This is often seen as unattractive to prospecting home buyers, despite the projected savings in utility bills 3. A solar lease will last on average 20 years 2. At the end of the lease the homeowner can resign their lease, give back the system, or choose to purchase the system from the company. So if you plan on committing to your solar energy system in the long run, choosing a lease or PPA may be a feasible and effective option for you! Energy audits are useful ways to uncover why a bedroom is always hot in the summer or why your energy bills are so high, but there is a hidden trove of useful information homeowners can uncover during their home energy audit that isn’t widely known. If you are wondering how much does it cost to have an energy audit and what do we do during an audit, here are the top 6 ways to get the most out of your energy audit from an experience Phoenix energy auditor.
1. Ask about your thermostat settings Your energy auditor gets to see hundred of energy bills every year for homeowners with lifestyles all over the board. If you feel your energy bill is too high 1 quick thing you can do to lower your bill during an energy audit is to simply ask your auditor about whether you’re on the best rate plan for your lifestyle and whether there are better, more cost-effective alternatives for you. Often times there are hidden savings to be had a no cost to you by simply switching rate plans or installing a smart thermostat that automatically raises itself when you leave the house. 2. Follow the energy auditor There’s no better way to learn than to be with the energy auditor and see how they do what they do. No, it's not being intrusive and we actually like when homeowners are with us because we get to talk about what we love doing. Being involved in an energy audit will help you better understand why we are recommending certain upgrades and the causes of high energy bills, hot rooms or dust. You can even feel where and how much air is leaking around outlets, windows and doors, pocket doors and exhaust fans. Our energy auditors look at solving your home's hot rooms and high energy bills as a fun puzzle. We perform a bunch of tests on the home which paints a clear picture of what are causing any issues and what is not at fault. It's not guessing or a visual inspection, which is why we attract more technical auditors than sales minded auditors. 3. Prepare 12 months of energy bills for them For an energy audit to become as successful as it can get, the auditors in place require all the relevant information about your home that they can get and 12 months of energy bills is optimal for an auditor to paint a vivid picture of your home and find what home improvement solutions suits it best. 4. Ask about other recommendations they have that they do not sell If there’s one thing in this world we can assure you of, it’s that asking never hurts! You can find out about other recommendations and improvements the auditor can suggest simply by asking. Your questions could trigger the auditor to recall a home improvement solution that he/she didn’t think about because it's not included in a typical energy audit. 5. Ask to use the IR camera while the blower door is running You might think it’s strange for us to recommend you to have the blower door is running when the IR camera is being used. However, there is a good reason for this and it is that the IR camera alone only shows heat gain and the differences in temperature in a specific area but, when the blower is also running it allows the IR camera to also detect air leakage pathways and the source of the leakage. This is a great visual tool to show leakage pathways that are more than just a number. 6. Ask what the energy model doesn’t cover Unfortunately, our modeling software is not able to model all of our recommendations like adding a return, jump-ducts or airflow balancing. This means that while you will still enjoy the benefits of the improvements, the model won’t be able to predict how much you are saving. This is where your energy auditor's experience comes into play to help find the right efficiency package for your needs. The APS rebate program for energy audits, energy saving improvements air conditioning rebates are disappearing. Overnight APS has cut rebates to their energy audit program, removing rebates for air conditioning systems and air sealing completely. The APS rebate for a home energy audit has also been eliminated. APS pulled funding to the energy audit program with tens of thousands of dollars still remaining with no explanation and now they are making cut backs to popular programs that save homeowners money on their energy bills. APS New Rate Plans The APS new rate plans are designed to change homeowner’s lifestyles and how they use the air conditioner to stay comfortable in the summer. Although the changes to the rebate program and the new APS rate hike are not correlated they will have a big affect on homeowner’s energy bills this summer. On peak hours change from 12-7 pm to 3 -8 pm and a demand charge will increase homeowner’s energy bills by 56% on average. Learn how to best manage your energy use with APS new rate increase here. APS Air Conditioner Rebate ProgramThe APS AC Quality Installation program will not accept any new rebate applications for units installed after March 7, 2018. If your air conditioner was installed before the March 7th deadline, you have until March 21st to submit your rebate application. The APS AC rebate was popular because it ensured a quality install. The air conditioner rebate had a minimum SEER requirement of 14 and EER of 11.0. An additional requirement was that a Manual J calculation had to be done on the home to verify the correct air conditioner size was installed and the program also required additional tests after the system was installed. Each unit needed to be charged properly and airflow and psychometric readings needed to be taken after every install as part of the AC rebate program. Eliminating the AC rebate program removes a quality control step that protects homeowners from AC contractors cutting corners. Duct Test & Repair Rebate Program Beginning January 1st 2018, the duct test and repair program is canceled. The duct test and repair program was a standalone program that allowed homeowners to seal their ductwork without performing a full energy audit and still receive a $250 duct sealing rebate from APS. It was a popular program but unfortunately abused by some bad apple contractors, which may have contributed to its cancellation. Ductwork sealing has always been one of the most cost effective ways to improve the energy efficiency of a home in Phoenix. Both APS and SRP estimate that a typical Arizona home has ductwork leaks of 15% on average. Since most of the Phoenix homes have ductwork in the attic the ductwork stays hot in the summer and air conditioners have to work to overtime to keep the house comfortable. Although APS is eliminating their rebate program, many homeowners still realize the benefits of having an air conditioning system installed correctly, of making their home energy efficient by ductwork sealing or additional insulation and managing their energy usage. With or without APS rebates we will continue to provide homeowners with lower energy bills, a more comfortable home and better air quality. Five Steps To Improve The Indoor Air Quality Of Your Home Indoor air pollution vs outdoor air pollution: Indoor air pollution can be more of an issue than we are instinctually aware of, and most of us are at risk. This occurs in our homes, workplaces, restaurants and other built environments. Outdoor air pollution is commonly discussed; the effects of vehicle, industrial, and agricultural emissions. Pollution is repeatedly mentioned in the news, on television, social media, with stories of pesticides and hazardous factory chemicals being found in water supply, and several cases of fires and oil spills. We humans spend approximately 90% of our time indoors; 65% of that time is in our homes. Here in Arizona, we are at particularly at risk because pollutants tend to increase and concentrate with higher temperatures. Infants and the elderly are the most at risk population and susceptible to health problems due to indoor pollution. Health problems associated with indoor air pollution range from fatigue, sneezing, headaches, dizziness- all the way to upper respiratory disease, stroke, lung cancer, and ischemic heart disease. When filters are dirty, poorly maintained or old they fail to filter outdoor pollution like pesticides, allergens and dirt from the indoors. Consequently our lungs act as a new filter. They also fail to filter dust, carbon monoxide from stoves, household cleaning fumes, pet dander, hair, old building or furnishing materials, and other particles from indoors. Poorly maintained air units and filters can negatively affect a person’s health, comfort, and ability to work and care for their family. 5 Ways to Improve the Indoor Air Quality of Your Home 1. Install a 4” HEPA filter and remove the restrictive 1” pleated filters. Replace air filters every few months 2. Install a UV filter to kill 99.9% bacteria, mold and spores 3. Don’t allow the visible buildup of dust. Dust often in all places; including tricky areas like the ceiling fan and under the couch 4. Avoid using cleaning products with harmful chemicals; use natural cleaners 5. Install a CO meter if you have a gas stove to make sure your stove isn’t emitting excess carbon monoxide Take these steps to improve your indoor air quality, lower indoor pollution, and live a happier and healthier life with your furry friends. To find out more ways to increase your indoor air quality for you and your animal friends check out this article by Comfy Corner!
Spray foam insulation is the most effective insulation types you can utilize to protect your home from heat or cold. Its properties act as an air sealant and insulator in one and its high R-value means it can be applied to the roof decking to slow the heat transfer into your home before it even enters the attic. Spray foam also saves you on your heating and cooling bills by allowing you to utilize a smaller HVAC system, eliminating the need to air seal the attic floor, and causing you fewer repairs on your HVAC system over its lifetime. If you want to know how much spray foam insulation will save on your energy bills there are several factors you need to consider to get an accurate savings estimate. The table below shows how much savings to expect from spray foam insulation for different applications. As longtime energy auditors for both APS and SRP, Green ID has experience with spray foam in all types of homes. The factors that influence how much spray foam insulation will save you on your energy bills depend on the following Age of Your HomeYour home’s age will affect how much cost savings you see from spray foam insulation. The insulation codes have changes a lot over the past 50 years and newer homes with R30 insulation will see lower cost savings after installing spray foam than homes built in the 1970s that have 3-4 inches of insulation. That is because well-insulated homes will already be somewhat protected from the outside elements and their energy bills will be lower because their base level of insulation is already helping. Block homes built before 1990 have no insulation in the walls so injecting spray foam into the block walls is going to have a huge benefit compared to homes with block walls built after 1990. How much will spray foam on the roof decking save?Newer homes or well insulated homes will see around a 10-15% reduction in their heating and cooling costs compared to a 20-30% reduction for older homes with little existing insulation or homes with fiberglass batt insulation. How much will spray foam in block walls save?Homes built before 1990 with block walls will see a 15-25% reduction in their heating and cooling costs when spray foam is installed in walls that see more than 2 hours of direct sunlight. Whether You Have a Single-story or Two-story HomeSingle story homes will benefit more from having spray foam than two story homes with typically double the attic square footage. Existing homes with vaulted ceilings and little attic space cannot be upgraded to spray foam over the vault because it’s impossible to access unless the drywall is removed. For vaulted ceilings, an air barrier can be created between the vaulted ceiling and the accessible attic, creating a conditioned attic area with spray foam and an unconditioned attic without spray foam. The attic with less area to apply spray foam insulation will also have lower cost savings than 100% accessible attic spaces. Whether the Existing Insulation Is Left in the Attic Or RemovedHomeowners will save more money on their utility bills when the existing insulation is removed from the attic floor. This is because insulation left on the attic floor with spray foam on the roof deck traps the heat inside the attic during the summer, causing the temperature to increase much higher than if no insulation is present on the attic floor. The ClimateHomes in different climates can vary where heat loss and heat gain enter into the home, and then vary on how much energy can be saved with spray foam. For example, in Phoenix, despite our 118 degree summer days, the majority of our heat gain comes in through the windows! Not the attic, not the walls… the windows. So it becomes impossible to save 30% on your total energy bills with spray foam on the roof decking when only 15% of your heat gain is coming from the attic space. In Chicago, the walls are the greatest source of heat loss and so wall insulation is the best upgrade you can choose for spray foam. Deciding if Spray Foam is Right for YouIf you feel as though your home is perpetually losing you money due to inadequate insulation, we can help! By starting with a simple Energy Audit from Green ID, we will perform multiple tests to identify and recommend upgrades to your insulation and airflow. Depending on the factors outlines above, spray foam insulation may be the right next step for you. Installation can also be done safely and effectively so you can begin to breathe easier. Contact us today to get started.
APS customers are in for a big surprise this summer as their energy bills will spike even if there energy usage goes down because of dramatic rate increases by the utility company. The Arizona Corporation Commission has already approved utility rates that increase APS customer’s energy bills by as much as 70% (see below for calculation) by May 1st, 2018. APS states that the rate hike will better reflect the true cost of serving customers during peak hours but it will also offset the lower energy bills solar customers have that APS says is eating into their bottom line even as they profit from removing program to help customers save money on their energy bills through efficiency upgrades. You may have seen or heard APS promoting their rate changes as giving customers more options but in fact, they are mandating that every customer choose a new rate and will not allow any rate plans to be grandfathered in and the rate changes homeowners are going to see are amazing. What Are The New APS Rate Plans Below is a table of APS frozen rate plans which will expire by May 1, 2018. Below is a table of APS’s new rate plans. You can also view APS's new rate plans here. The lowest on-peak and off-peak rates will come with a demand charge that penalizes customers for using more energy during the hottest part of the day. Let’s say you had the ECT-2 Combined Advantage with peak hours from 12-7 pm with APS. Now, APS wants to switch you to the Saver Choice Plus with peak hours from 3-8 pm. Look at the table below to see what change you could expect. That’s a $54 increase or 16% additional costs for using the exact same energy you were last year. Not only is the rate increase dramatic, the new rate punishes those who need the house at a cooler temperature for medical reasons or if you are like me and have teenagers in the house that don’t care what the thermostat is set to. What is a Demand Charge? A demand is a unit of measure APS and SRP use to say how much energy you are using at one time. Your demand increases when you are using multiple appliances at one time. If you have your dishwasher, dryer, water heater and AC running, your demand much bigger than someone running only their water heater. Obviously in Arizona, the air conditioner is the majority of our demand and when we need it the most during the hottest part of the day, that’s when APS penalizes us the hardest for staying comfortable. APS has a demand rate fee for each unit of demand so if your home averages 5 Demand Units, you would be charged $8.40 x 5 = $42. APS customers get their demand averaged every hour. SRP customers get their demand rate averaged every 30 minutes. The demand is an average so if you go above a demand of 4 one time but average a 3 in an hour period, you will be charged a 3. How Much Energy Do Your Appliances Use?
How to Prepare for APS Demand Charge There is no way around the monstrous APS rate increase but there are ways to prepare and make the best of a bad situation.
Compare APS Plans to Predict Your Energy Bills Under Different Rate PlansWant to know what your energy bills are going to be under APS’s new rate plans? Use our tool to compare plans to see which plan makes the most sense for you. I’ve created a handy payment estimator that can predict your energy bills and help you to decide which rate plan is best and strategies to best manage your demand rate during peak hours. Simply fill energy your highest and lowest energy bill below and we will create a customized prediction table, recommendation and plan of action for you. Spray foam insulation contractors and homeowners alike have debated this questions over many years and since spray foam first gained popularity in late the 2000’s, we’ve had many case studies to learn from. What is the best practice for homeowners when they are considering spray foaming their attic? In a hot dry climate like Phoenix, spray foam is worth the extra cost and is the ideal insulation method because all of our ductwork and HVAC systems are inside the attic space. Spray foam contractors in Arizona have differed though in their reasoning over if the existing insulation should be removed or kept along the attic floor. The case for leaving the loose fill insulation along the attic floor as is the attic floor insulation will keep doing its job and slow the heat coming into the home. If all the insulation on the attic floor is gone and the attic will still get warm, isn’t it a good idea to leave the insulation up in the attic floor to stop that heat from coming inside the house? The insulation is still good right?? laying devil’s advocate, the case for removing the insulation on the attic floor (aka extraction) is that leaving the insulation on the attic floor will work against the spray foam insulation on the roof deck. It will trap the heat up in the attic and the attic will get even hotter than it would without insulation on the attic floor. With zero insulation on the attic floor the temperatures start to equalize more with the temperatures inside the house. This keeps the attic cooler and with the spray foam along the roof slope.
What’s the true answer then, when you get spray foam in your attic, should you remove the insulation on the attic floor or leave it in? The best answer is to remove the insulation. That is, to get the most benefit in comfort, cost savings and reduction in heat gain you need to extract the insulation out from the attic floor. OK but why? Let’s go through an exercise of how heat flows based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The Second Law says that heat flows from high potential to a lower potential or from hot to cold. This means that heat is not flowing from inside your house up into the attic in the summer time. Yes, warm air rises, but if the net temperature is greater in the attic than in the house, heat will flow from the attic into your home. So when hot outside air starts its penetration into your home from the roof, it hits your great spray foam insulation barrier and slows way down. The heat still gets into the attic space mind you but it’s greatly reduced by 20% on average. So let’s say instead of a 140 degree attic in the middle of a Phoenix summer without spray foam, with spray foam you get a 112 degree attic. That’s still hot but we aren’t done yet. If you remove the insulation on the attic floor, then the temperature equalizes between the inside and the attic space. At first, yes the air conditioner will have to overcome a larger amount of heat gain with no insulation. Once that initial heat load is taken care of, you’re free and clear so to speak... the hard part is behind you. Now if you keep the temperature inside at 78 degrees, your attic space will also get cooled to 82 and mix with the 112 degree air to come to an average of 93 degrees (average of 112 and 82 degrees). If you leave the insulation on the attic floor, the heat will not easily transfer from the inside of the house to the attic space because the insulation on the attic floor is doing its job and slowing the heat transfer from the attic to the house. Now your attic is at 112 degrees after it gets through the spray foam layer, but it has nowhere to go… it gets trapped in the attic space and heat starts to build up in the attic. From our Second Law, the heat will go from hot to colder areas. It goes from the outside to the inside of the attic, and then it will go from the attic into the house. There will be a greater delta T or temperature difference driving that heat transfer into the house. If you really want to get into the formula driving heat transfer of our homes (I love this formula because it’s what all our load calculations are based from) we can apply the Second Law to find the heat gain from U x A x delta T = heat flow. Where: U = U-factor or heat transfer across a surface such as a window or from the attic into the house. U is the inverse of the R-value. You may be familiar with R-values when we talk about attic insulation, the higher the R-value, the more it resists heat transfer. An attic with 12” of cellulose insulation has an R-value of R-38, an attic with only 6” of cellulose has an R-value of R-19. In the case of our example, our U-values will vary depending on if we leave the insulation on the attic floor or remove it. A = area, in the case of finding our heat gain from the attic into the home, our area will be the area of the attic space or in a single story home, it will equal the sq ft of the house. If you want to find the heat gain from a wall, your area will change to that wall area as will your other data points like temperature differences and U values. Delta T = temperature difference between the attic and the house. In our example case we will say our inside the house temperature is 78 degrees. What will vary is the attic temperature depending on if we leave the insulation on the attic floor or remove it. Heat flow = how much heat is coming into the home in one hour (BTU/hr). This is how much heat the air conditioner will have to remove and how we size air conditioner systems, based on how much heat gets into the house. The larger the number, the larger the AC system will be. Now let’s play with the formula with our two scenarios of removing the existing insulation on the attic floor verses leaving it in the attic. Let’s say we have a single story home with 2000 sq ft of roof decking, 6” of existing cellulose insulation on the attic floor (R-19) and 6” of open cell spray foam along the roof deck (R-22). Option 1: remove the insulation on the attic floor with spray foam on the roof deck U x A x delta T = heat gain Where: U = 1/R = 1/22 = 0.045. Our R-value is 22 with the open cell spray foam on the roof deck and our attic is defined as conditioned space when we have spray foam on the roof deck (as long as it’s done right). A = area of roof decking or 2600 sq ft. Delta T = 93 degrees – 78 degrees = 15 degrees So plugging them into our formula we get: 0.045 x 2600 x 15 = 1,755 BTU/hr 1,755 is our number to compare to Option 2. If we get a higher number, it is better to remove the insulation on the attic floor because the air conditioner will have to work more to offset the additional heat gain in the house. If we get a smaller number, it is better to leave the insulation on the attic floor. Let’s see what we get. Option 2: leave the insulation on the attic floor with spray foam on the roof deck U x A x delta T = heat gain Where: U = 1/R = 1/22 = 0.045. Same as Option 1. A = area of the house or 2000 sq ft. Delta T = 112 degrees – 78 degrees = 34 degrees. The temperature is hotter inside the attic because we have 6” of existing insulation on the attic floor that’s trapping the heat. Plugging them into our formula we get: 0.045 x 2000 x 34 = 3,063 BTU/hr The results mean that our there will be more heat to remove in the summer and our A/C's will work almost twice as hard if the insulation is left on the attic floor. So from a cost savings view, it is better to remove the attic floor insulation when installing spray foam on the attic slope. Now are there other reasons to extract the existing insulation from the attic floor? Yes, in fact there are health benefits from removing that old, dusty insulation you won’t be breathing it in your home and the air quality improves. Although, hot dry climates like Phoenix don’t get a lot of moisture, removing the insulation from the attic floor reduces moisture build up in the attic as well. When researching if spray foam is the right choice for your home, cost is one of the biggest factors to consider. There are several applications of spray foam in Arizona home and prices can vary depending on wall, attic rafters or crawlspace application, new construction or existing home, the depth and whether open cell spray foam or closed cell spray foam is used. Spray Foam Cost TableWe’ve put together a table comparing the costs for each type of spray foam insulation. Open Cell Spray Foam Along The Roof Deck In Arizona existing homes, applying open cell spray foam to the roof deck or attic rafters is typically done to a depth of 6” to achieve an R-value of R-22. While this R-value may be less than Energy Star Standards for loose fill insulation along the attic floor, it is much more effective because of where it is applied. Insulation along the attic rafters is more effective than along the attic floor because it starts slowing the heat gain in the attic before it enters the attic space. Insulation along the attic floor starts working once the heat is already in the attic space, driving up the attic temperature by 30-40 degrees. When insulating along the roof deck, the entire attic becomes conditioned space so it is kept cool, typically no more than 10 degrees warmer than the inside of the house. A conditioned attic also has relatively low dust, making it a great place to lay plywood on the attic floor and use as extra storage area. Open cell spray foam expands 100 times its original size and fills the cracks and crevices stopping air leaks and has an R-value of 3.7 per inch. Open cell spray foam is not recommended in cold climates but is perfect for hot, dry climates like southern Arizona where we do not have to worry about humidity. In Arizona homes, open cell spray foam is ideal for single story homes with greater attic square footage than two story attics. We like to remove the existing insulation from the attic floor before the spray foam is installed because it prevents the build-up and trapping of heat with the existing insulation left in place. 6” of open cell spray foam is typically applied to the attic rafters to achieve a R-value of R-22.2. Open cell spray foam can be applied thicker to a total depth of 8” to get an R-value of R-29.6. Closed Cell Spray Foam Along The Roof Deck Closed cell spray foam has an R-value of 7.1 per inch and is designed for tight, enclosed areas like crawlspaces and tight attics. In tight spaces we do need some clearance to fit our installers and the spray guns. Closed cell spray foam is not a green material and older closed cell spray foam products were known to off-gas for days after the installation. Icynene manufactures a low emitting closed cell spray foam product. Some homeowners think that closed cell spray foam is necessary in the wall cavities in new construction homes but this is not true. Open cell spray foam in a 2x6 wall frame can achieve an R-22 value and will be at least two times less expensive compared to closed cell spray foam. Spray Foam Insulation in Block Walls If your home was built before 1991, the block walls have zero insulation in them. We know from our energy models that insulation has it’s biggest benefits going from R-0 to R-19 so adding a closed cell spray foam to an uninsulated block wall will have huge comfort and efficiency benefits. Spray foam can be injected into the cavities of block walls, closing air gaps and creating an insulation barrier between the home and the outside. We recommend insulation any block walls that get more than 2 hours of direct sunlight in Arizona. Block walls that face north and do not get any direct sunlight will not benefit as much as the south, west and east facing walls. Spray Foam In Wood Framed Walls Insulating wood framed homes with spray foam can also be done by Insulsmart injection spray foam. Holes are drilled into the wall cavities either from the outside or inside and spray foam is injected filling in the insulation gaps along the way. Since wood frame homes already have wall insulation present, the benefit of insulating with spray foam is less than insulating a block wall.
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