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UFFI foam insulation in an old house © Daniel FriedmanHow to Identify UFFI - Urea Formaldehyde Building Insulation
Was UFFI a source of hazardous formaldehyde outgassing?

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about how to recognize UFFI Urea Formaldehyde Insulation in buildings and its effects on the property

UFFI recognition & identification in buildings: this article illustrates and describes UFFI - urea formaldehyde foam building insulation and describes where it is found, when it was used in buildings, how to look for it, how to distinguish this from other building foam insulation products, and its health effects.

We include identification photographs and a description of a very simple field test that can immediately distinguish between 1970's vintage sprayed or pumped UFFI insulation and more contemporary icynene or polyurethane spray foam insulation jobs.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

UFFI Insulation - What Was the Urea Formaldehyde Insulation Worry

UFFI, Cellulose, and Fiberglass Insulation Retrofit © Daniel FriedmanThe fun photo above shows an insulation retrofit series of projects. In the center of the photo we see pink fiberglass insulating batts.

Below the fiberglass insulation we see blown-in loose-fill cellulose insulation. And in the foreground (and under our © notice) we see a crumbly, cracked slab of UFFI foam insulation as well.

UFFI or Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation was an insulation retrofit product used in the 1970's. This expanding foam insulation was mixed on-site and then pumped into building wall or other cavities in older buildings which were not previously insulated.

For a time some consumers were concerned about a possible health hazard from formaldehyde outgassing that might have occurred during the curing phase of this insulating product in some installations, particularly if the UFFI was improperly mixed.

Article Series Contents:

UFFI In Buildings: A Summary of What You Need to Know

UFFI foam insulation retrofit © D Friedman at InspectApedia.com Our photo (below left) illustrates that even when there is no evidence of a UFFI retrofit from outside the building (wall plugs) nor inside the building (wall plugs in the occupied space or attic stair walls), a thorough inspection of rarely-entered (tight) attic or crawl space areas can discover UFFI that exuded into the space when it was pumped into the building walls.

The photograph shows UFFI as it was found in a small attic crawl area in a New York home during a 2008 inspection. We estimate that the home, built perhaps in the 1940's, had been insulated with UFFI in the 1970's.

Color of UFFI Insulation

Interesting in this image is that the characteristic yellow-gold skin color of the UFFI sprayed foam insulation is not always present, and a second slab of UFFI was stark white.

Early cancer research on UFFI

Some earlier research on the carcinogenic effect (cancer causing) of urea formaldehyde foam insulation suggested that formaldehyde out gassing from the insulation formed a significant cancer risk.

Eventually, additional study suggested that the initial cancer risk from formaldehyde was not supported, at least in this application.

The level of formaldehyde that out gassed from UFFI depended in part on how the foam product was mixed at the site, and not all building insulation projects using this substance produced the same level of formaldehyde.

The level of outgassing formaldehyde from UFFI insulation declined steadily with age. This was an open-cell foam that did not retain its gases long term.

No formaldehyde outgassing found after the foam aged: More interesting was the observation that perhaps largely because this insulation formed an open-celled foam, even if there were high initial formaldehyde out gassing levels, after months or at most a few years, even careful measurements were unable to detect any levels of ongoing formaldehyde out gassing from this material.

Only people hypersensitive to chemicals such as sufferers of MCS (multiple chemical sensitivity) and some people with other respiratory illnesses seem to have any remaining reaction to this material, and even in that case a study of such reactions is complicated by the observation that higher levels of formaldehyde out gassing from building products occurs from some furniture padding and from some glues or finishes used in chipboard based cabinets or sub flooring.

Yet at the peak of the UFFI enviro-scare, and exacerbated by inconsistent advice offered by government and private health experts, some buildings were sold at a significant discount to allow for extensive gutting, cleaning, and re-insulating of building cavities.

See also UFFI HAZARD RESEARCH Dust, Formaldehyde offgassing

Should You Avoid Buying a UFFI-Insulated Building? Conflicting answers from the U.S. CPSC

The short answer is no, in our opinion, but there may be some insulating defects (such as shrinkage) and a modest resale impact to consider.

In sum: confusion among home owners and buyers who considered whether or not UFFI should be considered a problem in homes originated in a formaldehyde offgassing problem that occurred in some UFFI installations, principally due to improper ingredient mix, exacerbated by conflicting opinions offered to consumers by the U.S. CPSC.

In the 1970's we made three successive telephone calls to the US CPSC to inquire about the hazards of UFFI in a home we were evaluating. Because UFFI is an open-cell foam product, even if excessive formaldehyde was present early in the insulation's life, it off-gassed rapidly. It is highly unlikely that today you will detect formaldehyde offgassing from insulation retrofits performed in the 1970's and 80's. However there may be high indoor formaldehyde levels from other sources such as particle board or Chinese laminate flooring.

Today most experts agree that unless there are other related problems such as water leaks into the insulated cavities, UFFI in buildings is not a health hazard.

Range of "Expert" Advice on Buying a Home with UFFI

However back in the 1970's we received these four different answers from three different people answering the CPSC UFFI hotline on the same day:

  1. Do not buy the home under any circumstances. The cost to remove the UFFI and clean the wall cavities will be greater than the value of the home.
  2. Buy the home but remove the UFFI insulation. The remaining scraps in the wall cavities will be insignificant as a formaldehyde source.
  3. Buy the home and don't do anything about the insulation: the health hazards have been exaggerated and are probably very low if any.

    Today, in 2008, we add an updated opinion:
  4. Don't refuse to buy a home because of the presence of UFFI in its walls or ceilings;
    • purchase some test kits and actually measure the formaldehyde level;
    • realize that the foam is open-celled and that all of the formaldehyde will leave the building;
    • if the insulation was added more than five years ago there is almost no chance that you will detect any formaldehyde from the insulation;
    • any remaining formaldehyde problems will probably be from other sources such as carpet padding or some composition wood-product building materials like chipboard shelving.
    • examine the insulation in wall cavities to see if UFFI shrinkage has left so many gaps that you need to improve the building insulation. Shrinkage of the insulation product produces openings which may permit significant air leakage or simply thermal bypass leaks, reducing the effectiveness of the insulation system - a problem referred to in the industry as thermal drift.
    • Realize that a few future buyers may have an irrational fear of the UFFI - a condition that might have a (probably small) impact on property resale - see Enviro-Scare, the Cycle of Public Fear

Inspecting several such projects it was interesting to note that the one real defect of this insulation product was that depending on how it was mixed, it shrank after installation, leaving gaps of no actual insulation at the top and sides of wall cavities - it wasn't the perfect insulating seal that was promised, but it was not the carcinogen that was feared. The shrinkage problem with UFFI is discussed

at UFFI SHRINKAGE, THERMAL BYPASS LEAKS.

Details about the possible impact of the presence of UFFI insulation in buildings on the sale price or time on market of a home or other building for sale are

at UFFI INSULATION IMPACT ON HOME SALE PRICE.

To consider other formaldehyde off gassing sources in buildings

see FORMALDEHYDE HAZARDS - home and also

see FORMALDEHYDE in LAMINATE FLOORING

Current Health Canada Statement on UFFI

UFFI, which is foamed in place and used to insulate buildings, has been banned in Canada under the Hazardous Products Act (HPA) since December 1980. UFFI was banned due to the high levels of formaldehyde that were given off during the installation process, as well as the continued off-gassing of formaldehyde from poorly installed insulation.

The amount of formaldehyde released by UFFI was highest when first installed and decreased over time.

As a result, UFFI installed before 1980 would have little effect on indoor formaldehyde levels today.

If UFFI gets wet, however, it could begin to break down and may release more formaldehyde. Wet or deteriorating UFFI should be removed by a specialist and the source of the moisture problem should be repaired. Some provinces require homeowners to declare if they have UFFI installed, and this issue is generally raised during the re-sale of older homes.

For more information on UFFI please see Health Canada's It's Your Health factsheet on Formaldehyde or the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) - Health Canada, "Formaldehyde in Indoor Air", Health Canada . Sante Canada, retrieved 29 March 2015, original source: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/air/formaldehyde/fact-info-eng.php

See also

UFFI CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, CANADA

 

Research on UFFI Health Effects

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2020-10-17 - by (mod) -

PRobably UFFI foam insulation in a home (C) InspectApedia.com DominicI can't quite say with certainty, Dominic because the photo is a bit blurry.

Is that a crumbly foam material? Installed perhaps in the 1970s?

If so it's perhaps UFFI? Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation.

See those details in the article above on this page.

This Q&A were posted originally at INSULATION IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

On 2020-10-17 by Dominic C

Hi Any idea what type of insulation this is? Asbestos?

On 2018-06-25 - by (mod) -

Looks like good work; and now you can inspect the cleaned cavities for leaks while you're at it.

Yes in some of my renovation jobs on NY homes insulated in the 1970's I found both shrinkage cracks like your UFFI and also gaps at the top and smaller gaps at the sides of the blocks of UFFI between the wall studs. Gapping and cracking appear to be an artifact of just how the UFFI was mixed prior to pumping into building cavities.

We'll be sure to keep your photos with the article above as I edit it.

I'd welcome further questions, critique, comments, suggestions.

DF

On 2018-06-24 by Thomas A Salisbury

Hi Dan, here are some images of the first round of vacuuming. I started with a bathroom exterior wall. The images include the safety gear worn, the UFFI above the window header, the UFFI shown at the top of a stud cavity, the UFFI separated around the electrical wire runs through the wall, and a shot of the walls after vacuuming.

Overall, it went quite well and the Nikro did a heck of a job sucking up the bricks/dust. Some dust escaped into the air, so the safety clothing and gear is definitely needed. The vapor barrier helped to keep the UFFI contained as I moved from top to bottom. A bristle brush attachment after removing much of the UFFI helped to remove the UFFI still clinging to the exterior wall and stud.

I used an air monitor instrument to check on the air contamination. The dust contamination scale never rose beyond moderate, but mostly stayed in the good range. The formaldehyde quality never moved from good as did the Air Quality scale. I wore a 3M mask that protected against formaldehyde and had a P100 dust protection.

Looks like I can only send one image at a time, so I will send successive images.

IMAGE LOST by older version of Clark Van Oyen’s Comments Box code - now fixed. Please re-post the image if you can. Sorry. Mod.


On 2015-06-16 by Carolyn

Considering purchase of a building with UFFI. Put between exterior and interior brick. Done in 1970s, no formaldehyde in air. Must we still remove it?

This Q&A were posted originally at FOAM SPRAY INSULATION TYPES

On 2015-06-16 - by (mod) - should I remove UFFI from an old building?

In my opinion there would be no justification whatsoever for removing UFFI from a 1970's installation.

Even if there was an original mis-mix of the insulating foam and formaldehyde outgassing, that outgassing would have finished decades ago. If there were a formaldehyde problem in your building I'd suspect it of coming from newer materials.

There may be a more subtle issue. Homes I disassembled where UFFI had been pumped into walls often had incomplete insulation and air leakage around the sides and top of each wall cavity stud bay because the UFFI shrank.

See details at UREA FORMALDEHYDE FOAM INSULATION, UFFI - topic home

On 2013-01-26 7 by wadewoman

We took down the wallboard in our kitchen for a remodel project. We found Kimsul, blown in cellulose insulation and what I think is UFFI. We just bagged it all and put it in the dumpster. We work respirator face mask labeled for mold and lead. Do I have more to worrie about

On 2012-12-11 by Arif

Nice thanks for very good info. God bless you

On 2012-09-23 - by (mod) - can UFFI lead to structural wood rot?

Sean,

Your suppostion is reasonable but in my OPINION incomplete, and the hidden damage that occurs if we have leaks into an un-vented foam- filled building cavity is not peculiar to UFFI but rather to any un-vented, foamed cavity, especially if the foam is an
open-celled foam that is more able to absorb and hold water.

The root problem is a leak into a cavity on any building. And the ensuing damage isn't caused by the foam. Even a conventionally-framed wood stud wall or "hot roof" insulated with fiberglass will suffer rot and risk insect attack aggravated by
trapped moisture.

While there are widely-liked experts who tout the hot roof design, practical field experience shows that roof leaks do happen over the life of a building, due to construction errors or events in nature (a falling tree branch, a hurricane that blows off roofing,
etc), or due to aging and wear and tear. And leaks into an airtight cavity tend to go unnoticed until the damage is severe.

On 2012-09-23 by Sean

Hi!

Is it true that UFFI could potentially lead to the rottening of the wood structure of a house because there was no air space left between the bricks and the house (the air space was filled with UFFI)?

Thanks!

On 2011-12-24 - by (mod) - health worries about UFFI centered on formaldehyde outgassing

JNZ

The original health worries about UFFI centered on formaldehyde outgassing - itself a controversy. Indeed having inspected old UFFI installations decades later, in addition to the shrinkage that we report above, we found that the material in-situ is quite fragile and is easily crushed or crumbled to powder by hand.

It would be very unlikely that one could detect airborne particles of UFFI in the interior of a building whose enclosed wall or ceiling cavities contain this insulating material. The dust issue should arise if there is demolition or remodeling work that has to disturb the material, in which case good dust control measures would be appropriate since in my OPINION any fine particulates are a potential respiratory irritant.

On 2011-12-24 - by (mod) - crumbling and dusting UFFI and no current offgassing issue

Ajefford, we agree with the question you raise, that there can be multiple sources of formaldehyde outgassing in a building.

And breathing any very small dust particles can be a respiratory hazard;

There is no data supporting a claim that homes insulated with UFFI in the 1970s have a formaldehyde off-gassing problem that would be traced to that insulation today.

Depending on how and where a test is conducted, however, an narrow down or even eliminate that confusion.

In our OPINION the bottom line is that even when improperly mixed and installed so that formaldehyde outgassing occurred in UFFI insulation jobs (typically during the 1970's in North America), the open celled foam outgassed completely over several years at most. It is unlikely that we can detect formaldehyde outgassing today from 40 year old foam.

On 2011-12-22 by JNZ@yahoo.com

Is crumbling and dusting UFFI a health problem or cause of breathing issues?

On 2011-12-01 by ajefford@yahoo.com - How can the Health Canada IAQ Test for formaldehyde GAS in the Building Envelope

How can the Health Canada IAQ Test for formaldehyde GAS in the Building Envelope in any way be a fair test procedure when their are 267 other formaldehyde sources of Formaldehyde being tested inside the indoor contaminated test area?

2nd How can this test result of a GAS in one area possibly relate in any way to a Quasi Pre-polymer Solid Cellular Plastic (UFFI) in a completely different Outside Area, separated by a Canadian Building Code Mandatory Vapor Barrier outside the indoor air test area.

3rd Isn't this just Junk Corrupt Canadian Government Science and Fear Mongering solely to extort industry kick backs, verifyable by UFFI Industry experts clearly advised that testing inside air only provides test results for the ubiquitous indoor formaldehyde gas from other indoor products?

4th How can Health Canada possibly justify the stigmatization of homes all across Canada for no just Scientific Health Safety Reason. Retrofoam Insulation a health safety hazard as claimed by Health Canada is seriously flawed It's impossible

Well what do you have to say about my comments?

Identify UFFI or Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation in buildings

This topic has moved to a separate article found

at UFFI, HOW TO IDENTIFY in BUILDINGS

Our photo (below) shows the dark dusty skin on UFFI insulation where it oozed from a wall cavity opening into a crawl space in the attic over a building garage.

UFFI Insulation in a building attic © Daniel Friedman  

How to Find & Identify UFFI Insulation in an Older Home by Visual Indoor Inspections: Insulation Retrofit Projects

At UFFI, HOW TO SPOT A RETROFIT INSULATION JOB we give specific inspection methods useful in building interiors and exteriors that will help spot the types of insulation that may have been added to a building over its life.

How to Spot UFFI Building Insulation in an Older Home by Visual Outdoor Inspections: Insulation Retrofit Through Siding

This discussion has been moved to UFFI, EXTERIOR INSTALLATION SIGNS

Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation UFFI Shrinkage and Air Leaks

Please see UFFI SHRINKAGE, THERMAL BYPASS LEAKS

Calculating the Heat Loss Due to UFFI Insulation Shrinkage

See UFFI SHRINKAGE LEAK IMPACT CALCULATION

Should UFFI Insulation Affect the Sale Price of a Home?

We have moved this discussion to UFFI INSULATION IMPACT ON HOME SALE PRICE

UFFI Urea Formaldehyde Insulation Class Action Lawsuit

This discussion is now found at UFFI CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, CANADA

 


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