Spray foam insulation

[Treeclimber2]

I need to get my loft insulated before the winter. I’ve had a couple of spray foam companies contact me. Quote is reasonable (£1500 for a big loft), but I’ve heard some horror stories about it such as people not being able to sell their house when they’ve had spray foam.. as it can’t be removed. The companies see very reputable with great reviews, so I’m not sure what to believe.

Any experience of spray foam insulation, good or bad?

Spray foam insulation means that you cannot sell or remortgage your house. The companies will not touch it. Just yesterday I had a conversation about mortgaging and one of the first questions asked about the house was ‘is there spray foam insulation in the loft’. It’s not easy and expensive to get rid of it too.

If you care about your emissions as well as your bill, try something else. Spray foam, depending on the type, has a global warming potential of as much as 3000 times that of CO2.

I remember seeing it covered on a consumer programme (Watchdog) and it is generally a very bad idea in the roof and it can cause roof damage, mould and other health issues

There's an article on the Which? website:
www.which.co.uk/reviews/insulation/article/spray-foam-insulation-ajTlp7t5K7lT

It won't necessarily be a problem with mortgage lenders but they're wary of poorly-installed foam insulation that results in condensation and damage to wooden structural supports.

Did these companies contact you or did you seek them out?

Personally, I wouldn't have it done, but then I take a cautious long-term approach to everything. What if it needs removing for some reason? Does it have to be chiselled out? At least with rolled insulation it's easy to roll up and chuck in a skip.

Thank you all so much, very helpful. Decision has been made and I definitely won’t be doing it.