In summer at room temp 70-75 F., material at stable same temp for days I tried to spray foam insulation with the large heavy containers of Part A and Part B. I followed instructions, talked to seller for tips, slowly rolled the containers, but nothing produced the kind of expansion of the spray that I expected. Moving slow, moving medium, moving fast, nothing worked. I would only get minimal expansion. It took 5-6 applications to get even 3" thickness. It took over $6600. worth of their kits to do a 32' x 32' metal building with 10' walls and 15' peak height. Seller offered no solution. Recently on Discovery Channel a brief clip of professional soybean spray insulation impressed me. A single application with a professional sprayer resulted in 4" of expansion in seconds. Is the reason for this that the professional sprayer puts down a huge amount of mixed material compared with a DIY kit? Did I have defective material or is this a typical experience with DIY kits?

You failed to mention the manufacturer and product name or type. There are several formulations, of the DIY product, that perform differently. You could have had one that provides minimal expansion characteristics. The product specifications should state the coverage and expansion ratio, so the question back to you is; did the kit provide the quantity of material that was stated in the product specs? The kits I've seen provide 600 bd ft (50 cu ft). If your walls are 3 1/2" thick then one kit would fill up 17' of your 10' high wall section (17 x 10 x .292 = 49.64 cu ft). With a perimeter of 128' that would require almost 8 kits. At roughly $650/kit that would be $5200 and that's NOT including the ceiling. A product with an expansion ratio of 8:1 would require multiple passes. Unless you have a product that drastically exceeds the specs I'm using then it sounds like your system performed to the manufacturers specifications. You'll note that professional insulation spraying contractors use specialized equipment for the application; including heaters, compressed air, and delivery systems... and almost certainly a different formulation of the product.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gone2dMtns,

That is all very helpful. I didn't mention the name because I didn't write something that was not allowed. It was TigerFoam E-84 , the fire retardant type rated at 600 board-feet per set of canisters. Is Tiger-Foam generally thought of as a good DIY kit?

What kind of money would be involved to get set up to spray that soybean based material where in one pass it expands in seconds to 3-4"? Would it be a good section 179 expense before 12-31-06? I am looking for something to get NOW. If you're in business you know what I am talking about. The DIY kits just weren't very satisfying for me. What kind of expansion rate is the souybean spray I described from a TV show? Is it the case that the professional sprayer is putting down a dramatically larger amount of material in one pass, by virtue of the pressure and volume pushed thru the heated tubes?

This HGTVPro Article has some useful information and a few links that may be helpful in answering some of your questions. Someone else with knowledge of the soy based material will have to chime in to add to the commentary on that product type.

I believe Tiger-Foam, Dow Froth Pack, etc. are more or less for small DIY applications; filling pitch pockets, small insulation jobs, artificial rock scapes, etc. It's pretty obvious that they very quickly become cost preventative when the application calls for using larger quantities. The smaller expansion ratio allows for better application control.

I am a contractor in Port Saint Lucie Florida. I had a large High Pressure Heated Machine for years, got sick of upkeep. I tried everything to make it easy and came up with http://soythane.com/

It worked out great for me. I own three of the spray units so I can have 1 of my guys spraying or three. The soy is a bonus.

James