The polyurethane sold back then could even off-gas harmful chemicals if and when it started to sweat.
As the years went by roofers and builders started to come across homes with polyurethane sprayed to the back of the tiles. They had absolute nightmares doing building or roofing work and on many occasions, a whole new roof had to be installed.
Spray foam insulation is completely different, it's an extremely soft and flexible open-cell product that flexes with a building and shouldn't be applied directly to the back of tiles. If no roof lining is present then a lining should be installed from inside to separate the insulation from the tiles.
Open-cell spray foam insulation is relatively new to the UK, one of the first being an open-cell spray foam called Icynene. Icynene was patented in Canada during 1986 to insulate timber framed buildings that were prone to extreme temperature variations like minus 40 degrees. Icynene, now known as HBS is used in over 30 countries and is potentially the best form of insulation in the world.
An installer network started to grow in the UK providing open-cell spray foam and companies started using social media platforms like Facebook to educate the population. This included spray foam as a loft insulation for the domestic sector. The product has so many worldwide approvals and certifications, it was no wonder it also acquired the British Board of Agrement and KIWA. It was part of the Government Green Deal, has subsidised VAT and was also recently part of the Green Homes Grant.
So roofers and builders started commenting on company's Facebook ads, statements like 'don't get that it will rot your roof' or 'you won't be able to remove your tiles' or you'll end up needing a new roof if you get that' and so on. It's understandable to some degree, the product is applied by spraying it in a similar fashion, it even looks alike to the untrained eye. But the real difference truly is like chalk and cheese, two completely different products entirely.
So much bad press from roofers and builders that eventually domestic home surveyors started picking up on the issue. Unfortunately, most surveyors had no education on spray foam insulation meaning that many spray foam applications fell under the same category.
It finally got to the point where many home surveyors would have a quick glance in the loft, see spray foam insulation and instantly jump to conclusions. They would write a report advising mortgage companies not to lend.
This has led to many meetings between various spray foam insulation companies and manufacturers with the powers to be like the Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA), the Property Care Association (PCA), the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and many more.
A set of guidelines has been put in place for spray foam insulation companies which includes providing the correct paperwork to homeowners. This paperwork for home owners can then be provided to domestic home surveyors so they don't write an incorrect report to the lenders.
Surveyors have also been invited to various training sessions to learn about open-cell spray foam insulation and sessions are already taking place at Huntsman's Centre of Excellence, Kings Lynn.
Unfortunately, this doesn't help homeowners who haven't got any paperwork. They may have inherited the product when they bought the home or they may have purchased from a sales company that didn't provide a warranty. Many sales companies have now shut down and most of them outsourced the installation anyway.
Whatever the reason it's certainly a problem.
