Spray Foam Fail! It peels right off. Off-Ratio, Crunchy Foam with No Adhesion.

I tried my hand at a DIY Spray Foam kit for my Ferrocement House Project and failed miserably. Closed cell spray foam is a perfect match, a waterproof insulative membrane in a can, sounds like a match made in heaven for a ferrocement house that you want to bury. In this video I explore what went wrong to make this crunchy foam with no strength or ability to adhere to the substrate. I think it was caused by spraying on a cool day, the substrate and the chemical temperatures were within spec but the air temperatures were kind of low. I think the chemical components lost their heat while traveling through the lines. I imagine the thicker B component thickened up throwing off the mix ratio causing a A component rich foam.
At 11:25 I use a clip from‪@SprayJones‬ Here is a link to his video and you can find the segment I used at three minutes and fifty seconds.
• 4 Pitfalls Of Spray Fo...
Link to my full Ferrocement Playlist:
• Ferrocement
Link to Ferrocement House Build part 13:
• Ferrocement House Proj...
Link to Ferrocement House Build part 12:
• Ferrocement House Proj...
Thanks for watching.

[@nathantonning]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

[@rosseryn8216]

Well done. Your videos are always well done and thorough. Thanks

[@PraxisPrepper]

When I was spray foaming the foam panels together on my roof, it was getting really cold outside. The only thing I could do (other than stop work and wait until after the winter to finish the roof... which was NOT going to happen) was to try to at least pre-warm the cans of foam before I sprayed them. Without the warming, the spray was coming out runny and clearly wasn't puffing up as it usually does. With the warming, the spray was (at least in application) appearing to work as usual. Without power to the site, all I could warm the cans in was my All-American Sun Ovens, which added yet another use to their repertoire. IDK if there are sun ovens available that can accommodate your giant tanks though. It's great that you followed this issue up with research and a fix and didn't give up.

[@BenHuttash]

I’m strongly considering hiring a professional. I don’t doubt that I can get better at spraying or get better results with these spray foam kits. I’m not convinced it will save me money doing this much foam myself. Also I really like the idea of the 3 or 4 lb spray foam that can be installed with a professional spray foam rig. They heat the chemicals and hoses up to 120 degrees and can spray a foam that adds structural. That sounds like some foam that can be buried forever without changing. One of the guys out here dug up part of his house for a remodel and said the foam he had installed in the 1980s looked perfect after all those years underground.

[@PraxisPrepper]

@@BenHuttash There's definitely something to be said for hiring people who have the gear and the expertise. The only issue that I often run into is that they can often times charge way more than should be fair for a job. My $20k solar panel setup would have been about $200k if I'd hired someone to install it. My dad wanted to get a mini split put in and the price for the install would have been, again, something in that 10X the cost of DIYing it. So with all the completely skill-less people out there, a lot of industries can charge incredibly gouging prices and still get people to pay it. So it's hard finding a fair deal. But if you CAN find a fair deal, no reason not to let people who have the expertise do the work.

[@BenHuttash]

@@PraxisPrepper the mini split struggle is real. I had to install mine myself because I couldn’t find a single AC and heat crew that knew how to do it! For real one guy said she would install a traditional central heat system for $8,000 total or install the mini split I bought for $10,000. 😂. I burrowed a vacuum pump from my scout master and installed it myself. I have no idea what the foam will cost because we got a quote years ago before Covid for $4000 to install a 4 pound kit that consisted of two 55 gallon drums of product. The quote was we will see how far that gets us. I guess the guy was up to date with his geometry and measuring the surface are of a dome. To be fair I have no idea what the square footage of the project is either.