Covering spray foam: trace the required thermal protection and received decision
A cabin owner wants the loft’s spray foam left visible. The team has a coating brochure but no received decision connecting that coating, the actual foam and the required protection for the loft.
Find the protection required for the actual foam and building location before treating the installation as complete. A coating marketed as fire-resistant is not automatically an accepted thermal barrier. NRC’s DC315 evaluation illustrates conditional approval: it identifies the foam scope, performance basis, applied thickness and installer requirements. Use the project’s actual design and authority process, including any permitted alternative, rather than importing a generic attic or crawlspace exemption.
Give each foam location a protection reference
- Trace the required covering. Link foam locations to the current details and protection requirements. Identify the actual wall, ceiling, service area, hatch and exposed edge conditions. Establish the responsible designer or authority question when the covering is missing or unclear. A room’s label alone does not settle the required protection, and an inaccessible-looking loft is not automatically an exempt installation.
- Check the proposed board or coating assembly. Obtain its current product and applicable evaluation information and compare the required performance with the received design. For a coating, confirm the actual compatible foam, required coverage, film-thickness basis and application conditions. Do not exchange wet-film and dry-film values or substitute a familiar paint. Where a board detail applies, retain its complete attachment and joint requirements.
- Agree installation and checking responsibilities. Identify the qualified installation requirements, actual measurement and quality records, access needs and required reviews. Locate surfaces that the proposal omits, including relevant framing and awkward edges. Refer discrepancies before application or concealment. A pail count or a uniformly coloured photo can assist a record, but neither alone proves the specified installed thickness or complete covering.
- Record the received outcome by area. Retain the approved protection reference, installed-work checks, corrections and actual review scope. Keep unfinished or damaged areas visible for follow-up and coordinate repairs with the applicable method. Distinguish permanent protection acceptance from construction-period fire controls. Calling the insulation done should not erase the separate covering work or imply that photographs certify the entire building’s fire performance.
Common mistakes
- Treating a fire-resistant paint label as assembly approval.
- Assuming an attic or crawlspace always has an exemption.
- Mixing wet-film and dry-film thickness.
- Using colour or pail count as the whole acceptance check.
Checklist
The foam-covering record includes
- Located foam and current required protection reference.
- Actual proposed board or coating scope and performance.
- Received design or authority decision where needed.
- Installation requirements, measurement and review responsibilities.
- Checked areas, corrections and unfinished limits.
Check your understanding
The coating brochure says fire-resistant. Does that allow the loft foam to remain otherwise exposed?
