Removing Spray Foam from Formby Homes

Which Formby homes do we usually find foam in?

Formby grew a great deal in the second half of the twentieth century, and much of its housing is private, low-rise and spacious, set back from the pinewoods and dunes. That mix shapes where foam ends up and how hard it is to reach.

• BungalowsLow-pitched roofs often leave a shallow loft. Foam sprayed down towards the eaves is tight to reach and can block the airflow that keeps the roof dry.
• Dormer bungalowsUpstairs rooms sit inside the roof, so foam may be behind sloping plasterboard and in the knee-wall voids either side.
• Detached family housesLarger, often hipped roofs with a lot of surface area, which adds time to the job but usually gives good working room.
• Extended homesWhere an extension roof joins the original, foam is sometimes sprayed into the junction and hides how the two roofs meet.

Dormer bungalows: the awkward one

In a dormer bungalow there is rarely one big open loft. Instead you have a small triangle above the upstairs ceiling and two long, low side voids behind the knee walls. Installers often sprayed foam into all three spaces, and sometimes onto the sloping rafters before plasterboard went back up. To remove it, we normally work through existing access hatches first. If foam sits behind fixed plasterboard, some panels may need to come out and be made good afterwards. We tell you that before any work starts, not halfway through.

These side voids also tend to be where condensation shows first, because warm air from the bedrooms meets the cold roof. Damp patches on the lower part of a sloping ceiling are worth mentioning when you call. Our spray foam survey and inspection can identify the cause before you commit to anything.

Does Formby’s coastal weather make a difference?

Formby is open to wind coming in across the sands, and rain arrives at an angle more often than in sheltered inland towns. A roof in good order copes perfectly well. The difficulty with foam is simply that it hides the covering, so a cracked tile or perished felt can go unnoticed. Once we have cleared the foam, any weak points are photographed so a roofer can see exactly what needs attention.

How a Formby job usually runs

1. You call and tell us the house type, where the foam is and whether a sale or remortgage depends on it.
2. We visit, look in each roof space and confirm whether the foam is soft open-cell or rigid closed-cell.
3. You receive a written quote explaining the access needed, especially in dormer voids.
4. We remove the foam, clean back the timbers and bag all waste for disposal.
5. We check the roof structure and send you a photo report.

If the foam is the softer type, our page on open-cell spray foam removal describes how that work differs. After removal, the loft is normally insulated again with mineral wool at ceiling level, and we cover that on the re-insulation page.

We are a local spray foam removal service covering the Sefton coast, including Crosby to the south and Maghull inland.