# tiger foam versus great stuff



## DaveM195352 (Oct 2, 2008)

Need help - confirmation about cost for using the great stuff insulation in a can versus buying the Tiger Foam Kit.

somewhere along the line (can’t find it now) I saw where a 16 oz can of great stuff will fill a void of about .8 cubic feet.  HD/Lowes sells for about $5./ can.  PLEASE CONFIRM - IS THE .8 CF CORRECT?

The larger Tiger Foam kit contains about 600 board feet for about $650.00

Is my math right?  that 600 board feet is equal to 50 cubic feet? 
and IF that is so, than $650 / 50 cubic feet = $13.00 per cubic feet?

and IF great stuff is $5.00 for .8 CF than a cubic ft of great stuff would be $6.25 per cubic feet.

Just doesn’t sound right to me - BUT am I wrong?  and Where am I wrong????

I have a miserable crawl space to try to seal (and insulate) the rim and buying a bunch of cans would sure be easier to work with IF the cost of the material is anywhere near the same.  Am more concerned about the sealing aspect of the installation than the insulating aspect.

Thanks for your help and advice

Dave from Maine


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## Duetech (Oct 2, 2008)

Hello Dave,
     The 600 board feet does equal 50 cu. ft. on my calculator. All I could come up with was a 12 oz can of regular great stuff which is 29.45 cu. in. @ 2.5 in. dia x 6" height (i.e. 1.25" x 1.25" x 3.1415 x 6") and that leaves no room for propulsive gas displacement. If all things are equal a 16 oz. can will give you 39.266 cu. in. displacement. A cubic ft. is 1728 cu. in. and divided by the 39.266 cu. in. you would need 44.007 cans to make a cubic foot with zero expansion. .8 cu. ft. = 1382.4 cu. in. divided by the 16 oz. can displacement and you would need 35.02 cans or a 35-1 expansion ratio to do it with one can. I can't find any displacement information for the foam when expanded but there is a general reference to only fill the gap to less than 50 percent x 1 hr. cure to fill the void. That's 2-1 or 3-1 expansion ratio.
     Great Stuff does have a wide gap filler that may be what you were looking at for the .8 CF figure and it may be that the expansion rate of the wide gap filler is greater. I've used the 12 oz. regular cans to make broad-head targets for bow hunting and it seems it took about 2 cans to make an estimated 1 ft. cube.
     At two cans of Great Stuff you are still under cost of the Tiger foam but as an added precaution Great Stuff is probably a greater fire hazard than the Tiger Foam as the Tiger Foam is fire retardant treated. Great Stuff warns of a potential fire hazard if exposed to temperatures  above 240 deg. f. Great Stuff warns of flammable propellant gas and since your are working in a crawl space you might want to consider ventilating it while applying the foam to prevent fire or even possibly toxic gas accumulations. I do not know if the propellant for Tiger foam is flammable. Wish I could be more help to you...Cave2k


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## smokinj (Oct 2, 2008)

I have used both and if you need to knock out some sq.ft tiger foam will get it done in a quick way! My foundation has 4 in. of that stuff all the way around,if need be i think it could float! (tiger foam can be sprayed in a 8-10 in fan pattern)


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## SE Iowa (Oct 2, 2008)

Is there no flat roofig contractors up there who have a foaming rig?? I got quoted ~$3/sf for 3.5" of open cell foam installed in a attic which includes the vacuum job of the old cellulose.  My friend dose this kind of work and I believe can sell kits for DIYer's.


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