Organizations Representing The Spray Foam And Pest Control Industries Are Working Together To Prevent Termite Infestations Within Homes
You may recall seeing online articles last summer that described how spray foam insulation can make termite-detection more difficult for professional pest controllers. This blog also described how the popularity of spray foam is making the lives of pest controllers and inspectors more difficult. Officials with popular pest control organizations and their publications, such as Pest Control Technology Magazine, have also voiced their concerns about how spray foam insulation can obscure termite infestations within homes. Even the Environmental Protection Agency has chimed in on the negative affect that spray foam insulation has on the ability to detect termite infestations. In fact, officials with the EPA evaluated consumer complaints and even lawsuits filed against companies that installed spray foam insulation within homes. These lawsuits, all of which were filed by homeowners, claim that the installation of spray foam within their home prevented termite infestations from being detected. Therefore, the spray foam installed within these peoples’ homes contributed to costly structural damages inflicted by growing termite infestations that had been obscured behind the popular form of insulation. Not surprisingly, due to all this bad press, the spray foam insulation industry took a major hit. Now, in an attempt to save face and boost revenue, several organizations representing the spray foam industry have teamed up with the Pest Management Association (PMA) in an effort to develop new methods of spray foam insulation that will not interfere with termite detection.
The American Chemistry Council’s Spray Foam Coalition (SFC) and the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance (SPFA) have teamed up with the Pest Management Association in order discuss the problems that spray foam insulation has been posing to termite detection procedures within homes. The primary goal of this new coalition is to find a way in which spray foam can be applied while not hindering the process of termite detection. The American Chemistry Council has already released an educational text that describes how spray foam installers can recognize termites. Now, future installers must undergo required training to detect particular termites and the signs of a termite infestation within a home before becoming licensed.
If you have spray foam insulation in your home, do you now fear that it may be hiding termite infested wood?
