Where to buy EPS insulation for a concrete foundation?
ncolovos
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
What brands are available for unfaced EPS insulation under the foundation slab? I’ve only found one option at Home Depot (Amvic Multipurpose High Density Insulation Kit R10).
I did a web searches using EPS foam board, but I’m not getting results on places to buy the unfaced foam. I’m obviously not using the right search terms so I thought if I had manufacturer names I could look up who distributes their products and find options that way.
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Replies
User-7148569,
First of all, can you tell us your name? (I'm Martin.)
It would be helpful if you would tell us where you live. Everyone in New England seems to buy EPS from Branch River Plastics in Rhode Island. If you live somewhere else, GBA readers may be able to help you.
More info:
Branch River Plastics
15 Thurber Blvd.
Smithfield, RI 02917
401-232-0270
If you live in Virginia, you may want to contact:
Mid Atlantic Foam (Cellofoam North America)
57 Joseph Mills Drive
Fredericksburg, VA 22408
Another address:
Cellofoam North America, Inc.
326 McGhee Road
Winchester, VA 22603
540-662-0882
Web: http://www.cellofoam.com
Hi Martin,
Sorry about that, I didn't have my profile filled out properly.
Thank you so much for the information!
Nicole
Dana Dorsett always seems to have his pulse on good supplies of used foam. Maybe he will chime in.
Got a ZIP code?
22301, thanks Dana!
Nicole,
Sounds like Virginia. So you need to contact Mid Atlantic Foam / Cellofoam North America.
Insulation Depot (www.insulationdepot.com/ ) has a facility in Williamsport, MD, which should have reasonable shipping costs to northern VA. They typically have a few square miles of reclaimed roofing polyiso that you DON'T want to put under a slab, but they also have varying quantities & thicknesses of reclaimed EPS.
Repurposed Materials Inc ( http://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com) has a facility in Marcus Hook PA (south of Philly), which is also reasonably close to northern VA.
Most reclaimed roofing EPS will be either Type VIII (1.25lbs per cubic foot nominal density) or sometimes Type II (1.5 lbs nominal), either of which is fine for sub-slab applications.
If your target value is R10, anything 2.5" or more will fill the bill. While 2.5" is a fairly common thickness for roofing EPS, 3" and 4" are probably more common. Reclaimers won't always have the exact thickness you're looking for, but it'll be cheaper (by far, and greener too) than virgin-stock R10 EPS from a molder. If using reclaimed XPS, assume it's R-value to be the fully-depleted R4.2/inch, which is where it's R-value will stabilize. So R10 would still take 2.5" of used XPS (even thought it might be labeled R12.5).
If none of them have the right stuff in stock when you call, they will eventually. If you have a place to store it and have the luxury of time you can keep checking back.
You can also might also be able to find smaller local reclaimers by running this search every week or so:
washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/nva/sss?query=rigid+insulation
http://www.thermalfoams.com/
http://insulationdepot.com/index.cfm
http://www.universalconstructionfoam.com/