Told to remove it, or holding a removal quote
Holding a removal quote: order form says 100 m² of foam, roof measures about 52.7 m²
South-east London · Recent inspection · Spray Foam Inspection
The house
Two-storey semi-detached house with a hipped, tiled roof. Eaves shallow in places; no tile or other roof vents visible from the ground.
The foam
Open-cell foam with a third-party product approval, sprayed onto the roof underlay in 2021 and mostly financed at the point of sale. At the gable wall it was sprayed straight onto brickwork, a surface the product approval does not describe.
The paperwork
Order form, a warranty card with batch numbers, and a finance statement. Not provided: any damp survey, although the order form recorded damp before the work; the condensation-risk assessment the product approval required; and the warranty terms. The areas disagree: 100 m² on the order form, 60 m² on the warranty card, about 52.7 m² measured.
Why they called
No sale was under way. Holding a removal quote, and worried about selling and insuring later, the owners wanted evidence before deciding anything.
What was measured
- No measured timber was above the report's 20% action level; two deep readings sat at 19.9–20.0%, on the monitoring threshold.
- No active leaks, no rot in the exposed timbers, and one patch of foam discoloured in a way consistent with past moisture.
- Gaps in the foam up to about 355 mm, missed triangles, a bare rafter-to-wall area and a gap at the ridge board.
- Sprayable roof area measured on site: about 52.7 m².
What it means
Nothing measured was above the report's 20% action level, there was no active leak and no rot was seen, so on the day the roof did not force a decision. That made the order matter: removing this foam would destroy the evidence of how it was installed and, in the report's view, almost certainly end the warranty's value, so paperwork could come first.
What happened next
Written requests for the survey, condensation-risk assessment and warranty terms, and an explanation of the 100 m² figure. Then the moisture readings repeated at the same points in winter. Only then a keep-or-remove decision.
For other homeowners
Before acting on a removal quote, compare three numbers: the area on your order form, on your warranty card, and in your actual roof. Here: 100 m², 60 m² and about 52.7 m².
Read the guide: Do you need to remove spray foam? Removal, costs and what to check first · Spray foam cold calls and removal scams: how to check a caller
The honest limit
One non-invasive summer visit, with no tiles lifted and no foam removed for the inspection. Timbers fully covered by foam, and the underlay away from the gaps, could not be seen.