RENEWABLE RESOURCE INSULATION LLC

I heard about soybean-based insulation on Ed Begley's show and researched it on the internet. I emailed the company and was referred to RRI as their representative in the Chicago area. Tim arrived, and he and Voytek took measurements and gave me an estimate. The cost was significantly higher than traditional insulation, but I really don't like the idea of all those synthetic chemicals going into our breathing air. I feel much better knowing we're using a natural product to keep our house insulated.

When remodeling the kitchen in our old home, we ended up going down to the studs to bring the electricity and plumbing up to date and start fresh. We are also trying to do a lot of "green" remodeling techniques, so we looked at alternative insulation instead of traditional fiberglass. After doing a bit of research and seeing that spray foam insulation not only has higher R-value, but also blocks air drafts (which fiberglass and cellulose do not do), we decided that would be the best way to tighten up our old drafty house. Yes, it costs more, but seeing that utility bills are only going to keep growing, I wanted the most energy efficient solution as possible since we effectively started from scratch. Voytek from Renewable Resource Insulation came by for an estimate and was very friendly answering questions and informative pointing out areas in the home where the thermal envelope could be improved. He has a bit of an accent but there was no communication barrier. He explained also that most other spray foam is petroleum-based, and is sprayed with chemicals that are greenhouse gasses, whereas the RRI product is made from soybean oil grown in the US and sprayed with water. This was interesting, but the price was very comparable with other estimates I had received for a similar product. We chose closed-cell foam because it provides more insulation and has vapor retarding properties (since our old house doesn't have a vapor barrier outside). It also provides a bit of structural integrity to the walls, but not a lot. We went with the more expensive version of foam because part of the area is over a crawl space; 3 walls, a floor, and ceiling that all needed to be more comfortable so it didn't feel like an addition anymore. The installation process went fine over two days. The crew had to remove my electric panel and run a power line out a basement window to their equipment. Since I write about this on a house blog (www.humphrey-house.com), I was taking photos, and the guys were nice enough to let me snap some of them. The first day, they tarped off the windows and the kitchen area from the rest of the house to avoid any overspray. Then they applied spray foam everywhere and had an exhaust fan to take out the water vapor from the room (remember, its sprayed with water). It was really neat to see a thin 1/2 layer of foam jump up, fill in the spaces and expand so much around the electrical conduit and framing. The foam hardened up in only a few minutes. They came back the second day to trim the excess off from where it expanded further than the wall studs, and also to fill in any gaps where they may have missed. They also had a different foam to fill in around the windows because the regular foam can put pressure on the frames. Overall, we have been very happy with the entire experience. The foam is a bit more pricey, but the lower utility bills and increased comfort are worth it, and will probably pay back the extra cost in 3-5 years.