Quote:
Originally Posted by lzuk
Easiest insulated ceiling might be rigid foam on top of the ceiling joists.
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I was wondering if anyone would suggest this; wasn't sure it was still a thing.
Back in the 1970s my Dad was in the plastics industry, he worked for the polystyrenics division of Arco Chemical selling the raw plastic material to molders and fabricators. So we got a ton of finished product to "beta test" in our home, including the then-nascent rigid foam insulation. Did our attic and garage entirely with 1" foam. I guess it worked.
But since I've lived in apartment buildings for the 40+ years since and rarely hang out in Home Depot, I wasn't sure if expandable polystyrene foam was still a go-to for insulation materials.
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Amusing story albeit thread-drift: When I was 18 and needed a job my Dad hooked me up with one of his clients who manufactured this aforementioned 1" rigid foam insulation. The way they make those 4'x8'x1" sheets of foam insulation is they mold a 4'x8'x3' block of solid foam -- fill the mold with loose polystyrene beads, blast it with steam to get the beads to expand/congeal -- and then they use an industrial hot wire knife to slice off 1" sheets. Anyway, the steam expansion process creates a lot of static electric cling, and so getting the 4'x8'x3' block out of the mold after it's been expanded is a bit of a chore. The job that I was offered involved whacking the side of this giant mold with a baseball bat to loosen the foam block until it fell out! $2.15/hour to smack a giant aluminum block with a baseball bat for 8 hours a day.
I declined the offer.
