Foam removed: was it done properly?

    Spray foam removed, but the loft still couldn't breathe

    Walsall · Recent inspection · Post-Removal Verification

    The house

    End-terrace in solid brick: slate main roof, two-storey clay-tiled rear wing and single-storey lean-to, so three roof spaces. No soffits, and no vents seen.

    The foam

    Open-cell, sprayed in 2021 under the Green Homes Grant and removed about five years later, leaving the original felt. A few strips and crumbly residue remain in the felt overlaps, typical of hand-stripping.

    The paperwork

    Quotation, invoice, warranty card, insurance-backed warranty notice and TrustMark lodgement. Gaps: no report from the charged-for pre-installation survey; 12 m² of gable walls recorded as sprayed, with signs of foam on one small gable only (no conclusion drawn); no removal completion document supplied.

    Why they called

    Unsure the removal was complete, the homeowner wanted independent evidence before deciding anything further.

    What was measured

    • Loft air 2.2 to 4.7 g/kg wetter than outside in all three roof spaces; in a well-ventilated loft the two are normally close.
    • 15 timber readings: 13 at or above 20%, highest 21.1%, lowest 16.6%, from ridge to floor. Nothing soft, no fungal growth seen.
    • Main loft dew point 18.5 °C, coldest surface 23.4 °C: a 4.9-degree margin on a warm afternoon.
    • Eaves 60–80% blocked by loft insulation in every roof space; a photograph of the main loft, reported as pre-foam, shows insulation heaped to the rafter feet.

    What it means

    With the foam gone, this is a cold roof, relying on air moving through to carry moisture away; with packed eaves and no vents seen, there is close to none. Timber readings were much the same in all three roof spaces, ridge to floor, pointing to trapped moist air rather than a leak. The exception: a gable corner showing daylight, where a leak could not be ruled out.

    What happened next

    No further removal work needed for the roof's sake. A roofer to check the daylight corner and flashings first, then ventilate all three roof spaces and clear the eaves; then re-read the same 15 timber points after a winter and a spring.

    For other homeowners

    Here, removal alone did not make the loft breathe: ask what will happen at the eaves. Ask, too, for any pre-installation survey you paid for; it may be the one record of your timbers before the foam.

    Read the guide: After spray foam removal: is there a 'removal certificate', and what should you get? · Spray foam removed: what now?

    The honest limit

    One afternoon visit, not a winter night. Timber under the loft insulation was not inspected, and the effect of five years of foam on the timbers cannot now be separated out.

    In a similar situation?

    Get the facts before you spend money on anything. Independent inspection £295 · report in 48–72 hours · England & Wales, from a North West base.

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