Dependable Spray Foam Solutions

I hired Micah Laboucane, operator of Dependable Spray Foam, now known as “Spray Today” (spraytoday.ca) to insulate my two story garage. This garage is a labour of love and when I looked him in the eye and said “I need a great job done.” he answered with an emphatic “Yes”. Micah came across as a guy who knows his stuff and he seemed very capable to me. The following is how the job went.When he showed up his system was on the fritz and what was sprayed did not expand so he had to scrape the gunk off the area he started with and stop. He left to come back another day. I was then told another fellow was going to take over the job, one with more experience than he had. So I started thinking that is better to have a fellow with years more experience than Micah anyway. Then a few days later Micah showed up to do the job. This time his equipment worked but it turns out Micah has trouble doing a good job let alone a great one.To try and save some money I had said I would do a lot of the masking off with plastic, removal of over spray on studs and the cutting back of the half pound in the lower ceiling. I had showed him how a board was to cover the stairs when he sprayed the stairwell (some had finished surfaces). That did not happen. It’s incredibly hard to remove this stuff. He knows this (I did not), you would think he would be a little more conscientious about spraying finished surfaces. When I removed the 1/2 lb. foam that expanded past the ceiling joists it exposed cavities all throughout the ceiling. As I did not want the very messy high pressure foam system back in the garage (had moved my stuff back in from neighbor's garage), the best solution was a DIY kit that I used to fix it. He agreed to pay for the kit because he said it’s what it would cost him to come out and fix it. So far, so good.Then the following winter I had moisture dripping from the main ridge beam in the upstairs. I dug out the insulation to access the area above the beam and guess what? No foam insulation up in there, it was freezing and building up ice that dripped through the beam (5 engineered beams nailed together). For Micah, if he can’t get up in a tight area that should have insulation, he does not come up with a solution to do it. He just sprays over it and I the owner will never know the difference. Until a problem results down the road.I knew I was going to have this fixed or fix it myself but it was involved and did not rush to deal with it. So this fall I got around to making some diagrams and sent them to some other larger insulation companies for their recommendation. They said indeed it needs insulation above the beam and to cover the two sides of the beam as well. At this time I also observed a curious thing. When the roof had a little snow or frost and the LED pot lights where on it melted circled on the roof. I thought, now are there air cavities above those pot lights just like above the beam. I removed the foam to access above the pot lights and yes indeed there was nothing but air space where there should be foam.So I made the case in an email to Micah, that I had problems because of his job (again). Got no response and I had to follow up again and he then said he hears me loud and clear and he would get back to me the following week. I bought a $350 DIY kit. I made nozzle extensions out of copper tubing. I removed the insulation to get access to the cavities. Cut holes in drywall to access some areas. Applied the foam. After about 20 hours of my time and a second DIY foam kit (I ran out) it worked out very well.After not hearing back for three weeks I sent an email telling Micah I had fixed it all with a lot of time and $650 worth of spray foam DIY kits. I told him I felt what would be fair is like last time, I was willing to put in all the time and he can pay for the insulation. 20 days ago he agreed to that and told me he would have someone “drop off a check next week”. Great news! That is now two week ago. I followed up in an email offering to meet anyone, anywhere, anytime and has so far been unanswered.