Possibly mis-sold spray foam insulation

babyblade41

My previous house sale had it... I left it in when selling . The elderly lady must have been conned into having it done .

I wouldn't go through the stress of having it removed but be prepared to have a haggle on price.

The buyers when I sold had a level 3 survey & all was fine with him.I'd already had the roof assessed after buying to see if it had damaged the roof at all & thankfully it hadn't 

ThisIsWeird

Laurel10 said:

Hi, last year I had spray foam insulation put in my loft. I was told it would increase the property value and reduce my energy bills and be good for the environment.

Should I leave the insulation as it is and worry about the problem when I go to sell the house, or should I have it removed now? If so, how much can I expect to pay? It is open cell insulation.

Just looking through this thread again, and it isn't clear to me what's actually been done here. Can you confirm, Laurel - is it that you have a loft space, and it's the underside of the actual roof - where the tiles/slates are - that has been sprayed?

This is a 'normal', unheated, loft? And presumably has plenty of through-ventilation from the eaves to keep it dry? And you also have 'normal' loft insulation laid over the ceilings of the house below, to reduce heat loss that way?

Hedgehog5

Hi, has anyone got any updates on the latest advice re open-cell spray foam loft insulation?  I'm in the same predicament as the original poster...  Many thanks in anticipation of anyone's advice or details of anyone's personal experiences of having it installed/having it removed.

sevenhills

For a three-bedroom detached house, you can expect the total roof foam insulation removal cost to come to around £3,200. This is assuming that it takes two/three tradespeople a week to complete, at £175 each per day. It also includes £100 for specialist disposal, given the toxic nature of some kinds of spray foam. You will also need to factor in the cost of skips.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/spray-foam-insulation-and-mortgages/

Hedgehog5

Thanks so much for this. I've been overcharged and the work has been done appallingly with lumps of damaged felt hanging off. Turns out that the original installers didn't fit a membrane and they incorrectly covered all the wood, so I'm not surprised the felt was so badly damaged. The removal men don't appear to have repaired it adequately though.

JellyBean

I'm going through this at the moment as we need to down-size. For removal, we've had one quote of £13,860 & another in excess of £20k (need to remove roof). Do I get a survey done now to see if it's ok (we've not had any condensation issues) or wait until we're ready to move? I just don't know what to do & could cry at the thought of not being able to sell.

FreeBear

JellyBean said:

I'm going through this at the moment as we need to down-size. For removal, we've had one quote of £13,860 & another in excess of £20k (need to remove roof). Do I get a survey done now to see if it's ok (we've not had any condensation issues) or wait until we're ready to move? I just don't know what to do & could cry at the thought of not being able to sell.

If you wait until you sell, costs will have gone up. You could leave it to the next buyer and wait for them to knock you down by £15-20K.

Do it now, and you can rest in the knowledge that the darned stuff is gone, and hopefully, no damage done to the timbers. Unfortunately, the tiles will have to come off, but it gives you the opportunity to fix any faults (and whilst scaffolding is up & tiles off, get loft insulation fitted tight up against the perimeter). If you wanted to board the loft out, a good time to get the materials up there. Once the roof is back on, it should be good to last another 100 years.

A survey won't tell you any more than you already know unless the surveyor can poke around removing lumps of the foam.

ThisIsWeird

Laurel10 said:

Hi, last year I had spray foam insulation put in my loft. I was told it would increase the property value and reduce my energy bills and be good for the environment. As I am planning on selling my house in the next few years, I went ahead with it believing it to be the right thing to do.
I have recently found out that this type of insulation devalues the property value and has the potential to damage the roof. I feel like a complete idiot and am really worried about it now.
Should I leave the insulation as it is and worry about the problem when I go to sell the house, or should I have it removed now? If so, how much can I expect to pay? It is open cell insulation.
Is there any point in pursuing a complaint against the company who sold it to me? My feeling is that there's no point. I signed the paperwork and it's only in retrospect I realise I should have done some research and not fallen for the sales pitch.
Any thoughts or advice would be welcome. 

Hi Laurel.

What type of loft do you have? How do you get up there? What's on the floor of the loft - ie the ceiling of the rooms below? What do you use the loft for? Any chance of a pic?

MysteryMe

The spray foam products used are legitimate and the accreditations issued are valid however, they are always subject to the correct application and usage. 

Spray foam insulation was originally intended for industrial buildings / farm buildings etc and it is an effective product for those applications.

It is highly debatable whether using spray foam insulation in residential houses is desirable.  

Many allegations of mis selling have arisen with claims such as increasing property value, reducing heating bills by X amount, putting pressure on householders by wanting quick decisions to be made, making claims about various subsidies or Government initiatives.  If a householder believes they have been mis sold they should contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

The more complaints received about a particular trader the more likely action will be taken. Organisations such as Trading Standards can only deal with a finite number of complaints and priority will be given to rogue traders who cause the most problems. 

If payment was made by credit card then there is a potential avenue for a S75 claim but you need to demonstrate the mis selling and get a surveyor to inspect the loft space to show the damage and issues the spray foam has caused.

Aside from the mis selling allegations the other issue is the shoddy application of the spray foam. None of the timbers or any electrics should be coated and the foam should be sprayed onto what are known as sliders which is a barrier between the underside of the roof and the foam. There still needs to be ventilation in the loft space and often vents are sprayed over.

Spraying foam directly into the underside of the roof/tiles causes a whole word of pain and why removal can be extremely expensive. One of main reasons some mortgage providers wont lend on a house with spray foam loft insulation is that it is impossible to tell the condition of the roof as it is covered in foam. How can a surveyor know if the timbers underneath the foam are sound?

I'm afraid the green energy sector is shark infested waters. The best advice is not to engage with any cold telephone callers or unsolicited knocks on the door discussing Government surveys etc. 

JellyBean

FreeBear said:

JellyBean said:

I'm going through this at the moment as we need to down-size. For removal, we've had one quote of £13,860 & another in excess of £20k (need to remove roof). Do I get a survey done now to see if it's ok (we've not had any condensation issues) or wait until we're ready to move? I just don't know what to do & could cry at the thought of not being able to sell.

If you wait until you sell, costs will have gone up. You could leave it to the next buyer and wait for them to knock you down by £15-20K.

Do it now, and you can rest in the knowledge that the darned stuff is gone, and hopefully, no damage done to the timbers. Unfortunately, the tiles will have to come off, but it gives you the opportunity to fix any faults (and whilst scaffolding is up & tiles off, get loft insulation fitted tight up against the perimeter). If you wanted to board the loft out, a good time to get the materials up there. Once the roof is back on, it should be good to last another 100 years.

A survey won't tell you any more than you already know unless the surveyor can poke around removing lumps of the foam.

The damned stuff is gone & I am £20k lighter. The foam had been sprayed directly onto the felt which had totally rotted so the tiles had to come off & battens/ felt replaced. Fortunately, the roof trusses are ok. New insulation installed & just tidying up to do.