Ancient (70's) wall foam insulation, now a powder.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Lintow Sr on November 9, 2012 at 1:02pm

Oh no it was used country wide & if worried I would not depressurize the house & instead opt to pressurize it if you really need the numbers to start. (I could have sworn that was all handled under a class suit, but that could be something else) I would recomend going with a dense pack cellulose, but before blowing it in, see if they can use that hole to vacuum the bulk out.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Strumolo on November 12, 2012 at 3:36pm

By the way, BD= Blower Door. And the dust is incredibly fine, offering no resistance to a probe.  We are having it tested and doing some thermal imaging now that we have winter (ish) conditions in north central Nebraska.

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Permalink Reply by Kari Sauder on November 12, 2012 at 6:16pm

Here's a quote and link from the EPA.  There is also good info on the InspectAPedia web site, including pictures. Look it up under UFFI (Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation)

"During the 1970s, many homeowners had urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI) installed in the wall cavities of their homes as an energy conservation measure. However, many of these homes were found to have relatively high indoor concentrations of formaldehyde soon after the UFFI installation. Few homes are now being insulated with this product. Studies show that formaldehyde emissions from UFFI decline with time; therefore, homes in which UFFI was installed many years ago are unlikely to have high levels of formaldehyde now."

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formaldehyde.html

We replaced a ceiling in a room during a reno project for a customer recently and found it in the sidewalls of this old two story.  There were a lot of voids and gaps and it was very powdery when touched.

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