A Calgary area couple is warning homeowners about health and financial hazards that can arise when spray foam insulation is not properly applied and managed.

Bob and Noreen Leasak said they hired the company R-Value Solutions to apply foam insulation inside a barn which they had built to store vehicles, but were left with an expensive mess to clean up when they later found out the wrong foam was used and not installed correctly.

“It’s almost to the expense of knocking it down and building a new barn,” Bob told CTV News in an interview this week.

Noreen said the estimates so far suggest it will cost about $70,000 for the cleanup and to reinstall the insulation.

The couple said they chose the foam company because of positive reviews online and because the company said it had a time slot available to do the job on Aug. 26.

“There were no red flags banging or horns blowing when we were talking to the guy. I guess we were zeroed in on, ‘Oh, he can do it before winter,'” Bob said.

He said R-Value Solutions told him the job would be finished in one nine-hour shift, but after working for five days and not allowing the Leasaks to see it, the couple said they asked the company to leave.

That’s when the Leasaks got a look inside the barn and said they found globs of uneven, sticky foam, some of it ruining doors, wiring and asphalt in the building.

“Such a mess,” said Bob.

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