apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Make sure you use the softer, flexible Great Stuff around windows and the like. Anything that needs clearances or moves/expands & contracts and such that might be affected by rigid foam - the cans are marked that way if I recall correctly.

It's fun though, isn't it?

Please people be very, very careful when using this product. YOU MUST WEAR GLOVES! Of course I didn't...and for the better part of a week had this stuff permanantly attached to my hands....not very attractive. Also when I tried to peel it off...the top layer of my dermis came along with it. BEWARE.

We're remodeling our second bathroom, and were looking for a soaking tub. They guy at the showroom suggested using this stuff for the sides of the tub before it's installed; said the hot water would loose no more than 2 or 3 degrees over the course of a half hour. Pretty cool...er, warm!

as noted above, while a good product, it can get messy and all over the place (including all over you)... gets on your hands. you touch your glasses. it's one your glasses. you take them off and put them on your dresser, it's on your dresser. the only solvent for it is acetone/lacquer thinner which isn't kind to any surface save metal and glass, so be extra careful around plastics and porous materials. the infomercials make you think that it's spray-and-stick, but gravity has it's effects on it like anything else... sometimes when you squirt a run of it, it all falls to the floor (as opposed to sticking to the wall/crack/void)... so tape/blanket off the areas surrounding it accordingly. once dried, you can carve off the excess pretty easily as long as it's a carve-able surface (i.e.: not your hands). and the cans only work when inverted, so application up-high can be a challenge... hilti makes a can where the hose bends back to seal the can... otherwise, the cans are single-use only...

OMG! i so needed to see this post! this is a great idea for solving my bat dilema. i have many, many cracks and gaps in my attic apartment, due to a shotty contractor. this aloud a bat to frquently visit me, day and night, in my bedroom. i saw that thing squeeze in through a small gap! apparently they can get in down to 3/8" hole.

so i got some heavy gauge steel wool, which apparently is the only thing they can't gnaw, unlike a rat, and plugged the larger holes. then i actually used a flexiable sealant from a tube over some of it, and even molding over other areas. but i still have areas around outlets and wiring that are open, and some gaps in the closet with the paneling. this stuff will surely do the trick!

and reading all the helpful tips for handling was also great to read! thanks everyone!

Is it true the Hilti stuff can be used multiple times? If so, that is AWESOME and is worth the extra cost. I usually have to throw at least half-full cans away since it's not reusable.

Blkbrry, I hope you've successfully evicted the bats. And that contractor is shoddy, not shotty, unless they were drinking from small glasses or using firearms during the project.

Blkbrry, please see http://www.cdc.gov/RABIES/bats.html. Yes, bats are deserving critters with a valuable place in the ecosystem, but it's not normal behavior for them to be in your bedroom and those are the very ones most likely to be sick. If it were me, I'd expect the landlord to have the building sealed by professionals. I wouldn't sleep there until it was done. Oh wait, I'd just move today, since it would take weeks to negotiate anything with my landlord, and even if he had the job done it would be on the cheap and half-assed, so I'd never be able to sleep again anyway.

I used a similar sealant and while it's effective it's still messy and after a few weeks the foam turned dark yellow. It's kinda ugly, especially if you try to trim away the foam, like if you accidentally spray too much. I managed to get some on my bathroom floor and sink and I'm still trying to scrape it up.

Be very careful with this stuff! I can be great when used correctly, but devistaing when not.

My neighbor had a handyman over doing some repair work. He used this to fill in a void in a wall and then proceeded to patch the wall up. Well within that same wall, the pilot lighter came on to the water heater. The inside of the wall went up in flames. Apparently, AS the foam is expanding, it releases a flammable gas but once its fully expanded, its fine. Since the fire spread quickly within the wall, the fire-extinguisher was of no use. Needless to say, BE CAREFUL!!

on the hilti can, the "straw" bends backwards allowing the can to stay sealed -- thus (in theory) allowing for multiple uses. i've only been able to get 2-3 uses out of a hilti can before it gunks up... ymmv.