fire resistant foam sealing, any suggestions?

[EricU]

I tried some "great stuff" fire resistant foam, and it was anything but great. Was sealing from the basement, and it wouldn't stick to anything. Which means it was falling all over things, mostly me. To compound things, the valve on the can was defective, and now I have a giant pile of foam. I have never had that problem with their cans before. I've had cans that wouldn't work a second time cause they got stuck, but not had all the propellant leak out.

I'm thinking about getting a foam gun, but all they sell at the borgs is the "great stuff" gun. Granted, the local supply of foam is nice, but i'm not that happy with the foam. Fine Homebuilding had a review of the guns a while back, I don't remember which one they recommended.

[Bob10]

I would call them and ask what they thought caused the result you had and try again

[Cooler]

I accidentally got some "Great Stuff" on the surface of my air conditioner and it was impossible to remove. There is still some residue.

I find it incredible that it does not stick. Is there something on the wall?

If you buy this in aerosol cans it is going to get expensive.

Here is an alternative: http://tigerfoam.com/sprayfoaminsulation...CFUMXHwodvNsA4w

[blackhat]

What and why are you fire stopping? If it's a code requirement you may need a collar or intumescent caulk. Can foam is a giant PITA whenever it can be IMO.

[Rick in Ontario]

fire resistant foam

[Mr_Mike]

blackhat said:

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What and why are you fire stopping? If it's a code requirement you may need a collar or intumescent caulk. Can foam is a giant PITA whenever it can be IMO.

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Agreed. Many ways to solve that don't require gooey sticky stuff. I think rock wool is also acceptable. I usually use the fire rated caulk. I try to make holes that are easily bridged with caulk instead of needing to be filled with foam.

[EricU]

yeah, well, my house was built by people that were a lot more concerned that the hole not be too small, or possibly out of position. So the gaps are large. I am just sealing penetrations to keep air from moving, but I saw this stuff and thought it would be nice to use in places where it should be required. At work, they used some kind of clay. I was thinking about trying to track some of that down.

Cooler said:

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I accidentally got some "Great Stuff" on the surface of my air conditioner and it was impossible to remove. There is still some residue.

I find it incredible that it does not stick. Is there something on the wall?

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I assume it has something to do with the fire rating. For one thing, it's not as foamy and it's not nearly as sticky. It barely stuck to the floor, just in some places, where the regular stuff would stick anywhere it touches.

Where does code require fire stopping? Just in the garage?

[EricU]

so I checked out both Lowes and HD tonight. They have the same gun. Lowes is $38 or something and HD is $50. They have 2 types of foam, one is for windows (low foaming, I assume) and the other is gap filling. But the interesting thing about the gap filling stuff is that it's fire resistant. Old yeller stuff is gone. Huh

[Curlycherry]

I'll second the Tiger Foam. I've used it but it requires some extreme care when using. You MUST wear a respirator. Get some in your lungs and you will be in bad shape in a hurry. Same with the Great Stuff foam too but it does not spray around and bounce back like the Tiger Foam does.

For the Great Foam stuff it is imperative that the cans be stored upright for 24 hours before use. My friend and I used over 100 cans of the big Great Stuff foam when building his house and we quickly found that if they were stored on their side they did not work right. We called their tech support line and they said keep them upright and also at room temperature.

[EricU]

that's interesting. My can was in the bin with caulk-like objects, so it was on its side.

I'm cleaning out my basement, but I don't think I want to get it down to the point where I'd feel comfortable spraying mass quantities of foam.