NORTHWEST FOAM HOME

The owners were very pleasant to work with, however we had some mixed up communications and challenges with the installation that were unfortunate. My advice to anyone doing foam insulation as a part of a remodel would be to require the contractor to do a walk through of the house after everything is taped off (windows, etc.) before allowing them to start installing ANY foam. I would require this in writing so there are no mix-ups because once foam gets on things that you don't want it on, it is a challenge to clean it off. When we called, the owner came out and provided an estimate of the job and gave several options for different types of foam to use and ways to improve the energy efficiency and reduce sound throughout the house. We got bids from two other companies, and they were all competitive in price. We decided to go with NW Foam because we liked their proposal the best and the owners seemed like they would be easy to work with. A few weeks after we paid our deposit, they called to say they were ready to start the installation the following week, and could start prepping the space for the installation at the end of the week. Because we are doing a whole-house remodel, we had a lot of stuff in the house that needed to be covered or moved out of the house before they started to avoid being damaged (tools, materials, etc.). I explained that to them, and they said it was not a problem, the crew would start by taping off all of the windows and other areas that shouldn't be foamed and then would start on the job after we had moved out all of our stuff. I met with their crew leader at the house to talk about the job and gave him the key so they could come to the house later that week to start the prep work. The next day I came to the house after work and was shocked to find that they had already started installing the foam insulation in the attic and basement, before we had moved anything out of the house and before they had even completed taping over all of the windows on the other two floors of the house. Overspray from the foam in the attic had drifted down to the upper floor and gotten on several tools, on wood flooring we had saved, and on some of the window frames that had not yet been taped off. There was also foam all over the pull down stairs to the attic. In the basement, the crew had not taped off several important areas (the water main coming into the house, for example) and had foamed over those areas. I called NW Foam, quite upset, and asked what in the world was going on - why had the crew already started before the house was ready? They were very apologetic about the mix-up, but they said that once a homeowner does the walk through with the crew leader and turns over a key, they typically just start doing the whole project. They also said that they often work floor by floor, so we shouldn't have expected all of the windows and other items to be taped over before they started the project in the attic and basement. I explained the problems with the work done that day and they said they would have their crew clean everything up before the job was completed. However, we decided that we didn't trust them to clean up the wood flooring we had saved because we didn't want it to get damaged further (it was very old and delicate). My husband also didn't want them to do anything to his tools, so we cleaned those ourselves. We then moved everything else out of the house in a big push that night after work (instead of on the weekend when we had planned to do it). The crew leader came out the next day and I showed him the problem areas where they had sprayed the stairs, the window frames, and the water main in the basement. He said they would clean those up. They continued with the work and finished about 4 days later. During my walk through with the crew leader at the end of the job, I noticed that there were still small flecks of foam on some of the window frames and outside the house where foam had come through small holes in the siding. I pointed those places out to him. He said, "Oh don't worry, those will fall off over time or will sand off easily when you're ready to paint the window frames." It's been over a year since we had the foam installed, and a few of the places where it came through the siding still have small foam bubbles outside the house (they are way up high on the eaves and we can't easily get to them to scrape them off) and there are still small foam bubbles left on some of the window frames that we haven't sanded yet. I know I could have called back and made a big issue out of the areas where they didn't fully clean up the foam, but I didn't trust their crews to be careful with the clean up after the way they treated the job to begin with. I was disappointed that the crew leader wasn't more proactive about making sure they had properly sealed everything off during the preparations before they started installing the foam, and that he didn't take more pride in making sure everything was cleaned up to its original condition. However, I didn't force the issues either with the owners once the mistakes had been made. I think it I had made a big issue out of it they would have taken more steps to try to make it right, but it just didn't seem like their crews would be as careful with fixing the mistakes at that point as we would so it didn't seem worth it. Overall, I am pleased with the performance of the foam insulation. During this summer it has performed well and kept the house much cooler. I wish the installation had gone better because I think the owners are committed to running a good business, but I think they have some issues with their installation crews and leaders.

They did a great job. They were very efficient and they were very quite which was very surprising. The work was not easy but they finished the work within three hours.

This was a very odd experience, perhaps the worst I've had in several months -- having interviewed over 40 contractors from different trades in that time. Long story short: they wanted to leverage "extra" foam from a previous job to do my work, with the claim that it would save me money. As it turned out, they were actually more expensive ($/board ft) than the others in town, so I did not understand this line of reasoning. I questioned them about the remaining quantity of foam and typical foam application guidelines. At this point, I realized that they probably didn't have enough foam to do the job correctly. They wanted to put space heaters in the room (which allows foam to expand with less raw material) and take other measures that I find risky or lower in quality in an attempt to do my job with less raw material. The also proposed substituting a foam that wasn't Demilec Heatlok Soy to fill the gap, another unacceptable solution as I had researched the MSDS and other details of Demilec and was concerned that the other foam was not as green. When I told them that those would be unacceptable at my site, they decided...at the most inconvenient time a few days before they were to complete the job...that they didn't want to do the work. They wanted a very high price to do the job correctly; ordering a "full set" of foam. As I mentioned above, two other companies in town had better pricing and were willing to order the appropriate amount of foam to complete the job to spec. As it turns out, the person who gave me the original bid for my job left this company and recently started his own business - Western Spray Foam...Craig is a stand-up guy with extensive foaming experience. Craig now operates a family business. I spent considerable time talking with the Demilec reps., and they felt that Craig Schmidt of Western Spray Foam was the best in the area. I can't recommend Craig high enough -- he loaned one of his (5) personal negative air machines to my contractors to do the work because he didn't have his new equipment from Demilec yet. (by the time you read this, he will be good to go). I had work done by another local company and they did an excellent, high quality job. Given that there are two other local high quality contractors, who have extensive experience and great pricing, I cannot advocate hiring this company.