(♪♪)
>> Tom: This week on
"Marketplace".
>> I'm afraid for the children
and, you know, what they've
been exposed to.
>> Tom: Insulation nightmares.
>> I think we've got what we
need for the lab.
>> Tom: It's a popular energy
saver.
>> When It's installed
properly, it's really -- it's
a bullet proof product.
>> It's gotta come out, the
foam's gotta come out.
>> Tom: That could put you out
of house and home ...
>> You're playing kind of a
game of Russian Roulette with
this.
>> Tom: And transform your
life into a renovation horror
story.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: It's a scorching
June day.
We're driving into the Caledon
Hills, north of Toronto,
and into a nightmare.
The house of their dreams,
now haunted.
The owners living in a camper
steps from the front door.
This is a refuge for Robert
and Sonia Franceschini
and their two kids.
I guess it won't be a long
tour.
>> No probably not.
So this is where we've been
living.
>> Tom: Wow, yeah.
>> This is the trailer.
The kitchenette area.
>> Tom: Right. 
So you've got two young
children.
Are they asking lots of
questions about why are we
in here?
>> We try not to talk too much
in front of them so they don't
get worried or frightened.
>> Tom: What could be so
frightening?
Wow, big house.
Nice.
It's just 14 years old he says.
3000 square feet.
Mortgage free.
But right now, he couldn't
sell it if he tried.
The reason?
There's something in the air.
Ok the bedroom.
Oh yeah, I can smell that.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Tom: Geez.
>> It's pretty bad.
>> Tom: Pretty strong, yeah.
foul.
Like bad fish smell.
>> The hotter it gets the
more, the more it smells.
>> Tom: Right.
>> The more it smells.
>> Tom: And if you stay in
here long, what happens?
>> Well, you'll see within the
first five minutes you'll
probably start getting a
headache.
>> Tom: Actually I'm getting a
headache now, honest to God.
I'm feeling something here.
Yeah, it's quite, uh, it's
insidious.
It's not just the bad smell
that's made their home
unliveable.
>> Well I started feeling like
excruciating pain, joint pain,
in the knees and I had swelling
in my legs and my feet.
And, uh, I just looked at
Robert and I said, Robert, I
think I need to go to the
hospital.
>> Tom: They feel as if their
house is attacking them.
The trouble started this
spring they say.
Just days after their attic
was treated with spray foam
insulation.
Did you call the company and
explain you were having
problems?
What did they do?
>> I brought them up to the
bedroom where the main problem
was and they said they really
couldn't smell anything.
And I was flabbergasted.
>> Tom: So what did you think
when the company said we don't
smell anything?
>> Well, I knew exactly where
this was gonna go.
And this is why were still
here two months later.
>> Tom: You heard right.
On our visit, they'd been out
of their home for two months.
When she has to go inside,
Sonia wears a mask.
>> We thought we were doing
something to improve our home
and instead they basically
destroyed my home.
They ruined it.
We can't live in it anymore.
> Tom: Not the kind of
testimonial the spray foam
industry wants to hear.
Over the past decade, it's
become the hottest trend in
Canadian home insulation.
The industry is growing by 30%
every year.
Why the boom?
High heating costs, government
tax credits.
>> They introduced spray foam
which I absolutely love.
>> Tom: And those home reno
shows.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: The spray foamer those
stars rely on?
>> Sorry I can't remember all
the shows, there's so many.
>> Tom: Alex Schuts, who
started his own business while
in high school.
>> I've been doing it 22 years.
I live and breathe insulation.
It's good for the environment
because we save on burning of
fossil fuels.
It doesn't let drafts through.
when It's installed properly
It's really a bullet proof
product, right.
>> Tom: Hmm, when it's
installed properly?
>> It's not simple, and you
don't just pick up the gun and
start spraying.
>> Tom: Nope, it's more like a
science project right in your
home.
The sprayer is mixing two sets
of serious chemicals he's
specially trained to handle.
The conditions have to be just
right.
And the foam has to be sprayed
in thin layers, so it can cure
allowing the chemicals to
stabilize.
It's sophisticated stuff that
promises an energy efficient
home.
And Alex Schuts says it works
that way almost every time.
>> There's a lot of foam being
sprayed, there's a lot of
happy customers.
>> Tom: In fact, the
Franceschini's were happy when
they had a family property
spray foamed this past spring.
But after their attic job at
home, Sonia says not only did
she feel ill, she says her
daughter broke out in rashes.
>> I'm afraid for the children
and, you know, what they've
been exposed to and, um, you
know, is there going to be any
long term effects to what
they've been exposed to and
it's just really upsetting.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: Fear, stress,
uncertainty for two months.
Time to find out if this foam
has taken possession of their
home.
We call in Frank Haverkate.
Frank, how are you doing.
>> Hi Tom, how are you,
nice to see you.
>> Tom: He's a certified
indoor air quality specialist.
He's trying to figure out what
chemicals might be floating
around.
>> Let's take a reading in the
bedroom where we smell odours.
>> Tom: He pulls out his
computerized air detector.
And the small tins gather air
samples for later.
>> All these samples are going
to be here for 48 hours.
>> Tom: Then we enter the
belly of the beast.
If an attic can be a belly.
>> So we just want to get a
cutaway of the inside of the
core closest to the bottom.
>> Tom: Frank also wants to
test a foam sample.
>> I'm not wearing any nitral
gloves or any gloves because I
don't want the chemicals from
the nitral affecting the sample
that I'm cutting.
>> Tom: Could this be what's
giving off bad fumes?
>> I don't know if you want to
take a sniff of that but it
has a pretty good odour to it.
>> Tom: Mmm, it's that fishy
odour again, right?
Same smell from the bedroom.
we're right above the bedroom,
right here.
>> I think we've got what we
need for the lab.
>> Tom: Excellent.
>> Great.
Let's get out of this sauna.
>> Tom: I agree with you.
There is no graceful way to do
this.
Foam samples in hand, Frank
heads out, and offers a few
last minute instructions to
the family.
>> Stay out of the bedroom.
just leave everything the way
it is I'll be back in a couple
of days to pick it up.
>> Tom: The Franceschini's may
feel alone in this horror show.
>> We all felt burning like
ammonia.
>> Tom: Turns out they're not.
>> We live with a nightmare
still.
>> Tom: Tales from the deep
south.
Reveal more foam invasions.
>> You're playing kind of a
game of russian roulette with
this.
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
>> Tom: we're investigating a
renovation horror story,
and our journey into the dark
side of spray foam has taken us
south to the sunshine state.
>> Tonight action 9 exposes a
growing threat to local home
owners.
>> Tom: Where we heard more
reports of foam invasions.
>> My heart just started
racing and racing, and I was
hyperventilating and I fell to
the ground.
>> Tom: I'm in Kissimi,
Florida, an Orlando suburb.
on the way to meet Joan and
Mike Roth.
Driven from their house by
spray foam three years ago.
So your trailer was over here?
>> Yes, it was over on thisre?
side.
That was a nightmare.
that's how we list everything
that happened to us, just the
overall category, we call it a
nightmare.
>> We all felt burning like
ammonia, it was an awful
experience.
>> This just gives you a sense
of how deep this is.
>> Tom: Their home video is
now the Rothi's personal
horror flick.
It started when they spray
foamed the attic.
They wanted to cut their
energy costs.
It was the cost of their
health and home that
blindsided them.
>> We say before the foam
and after the foam.
I mean, It's changed our
lives.
>> Tom: First the installer
and manufacturer claimed there
were no problems.
Then tried some repairs.
nothing worked.
>> So I actually got on the
phone and called remediation
companies,companies that take
out asbestos, and that type of
thing, deal with mould
problems; none of them had a
protocol for spray foam.
Nobody was going to touch it.
>> Tom: What the Roths were
learning is that North
American spray foam industry
has no official guidelines for
taking out a bad job.
>> So we said we're going to
have to pull the sheeting off
the roof, pull the whole thing
off, and have someone
mechanically go in and scrape
every piece of wood and every
piece of drywall and take it
and throw it away.
>> Tom: And how did that go?
>> What was it, 16 days?
>> Sixteen days it took.
>> Finally they got 90-some
per cent of it out.
>> Tom: Safely locked away in
the garage, Mike is keeping
some relics from their ordeal.
Looks like candy.
>> It does not smell like
candy.
>> Tom: Oh, yeah, yeah, sort
of a fishy smell.
There are other reminders that
are far more upsetting.
Their son Julian has suffered
from asthma and joint pain
ever since, reacts to the
chlorine in the pool.
But the Roths say he was fine
until the morning the spraying
started, when he was
sleeping.
>> This is Julian's bedroom.
this is where they sprayed
first.
I'm still upset when I think
about that crucial time when
he was in the room when they
were spraying right over his
bedroom.
Makes me sick.
Makes me sick to think about.
>> Tom: In fact, the whole
family was inside that day.
>> They didn't say anything
about leaving the house and
here they are spraying these
chemicals up there and we're
still in the house.
>> Tom: Health issues.
Smelly foam.
Living in a trailer.
The Roth's story is eerily
similar to our Canadian case.
As spray foam's popularity has
spread, so have more troubling
stories.
>> You're playing kind of a
game of Russian roulette with
this.
>> Tom: Bernie Bloom is a kind
of foam buster.
>> It doesn't matter if you
did it right twenty times in a
row, the twenty first home
might be different.
>> Tom: People such as Bernie
are in demand across the U.s.
they're expert advisors for a
number of class action
lawsuits currently underway.
a leading indoor air scientist
for 40 years, he's involved
with dozens of bad spray foam
issues, six of them here in
Florida.
>> We have more and more
houses being sprayed.
I expect there's going to be
more, not fewer, problems.
>> Tom: The man who helped
design ventilation systems for
the international space
station believes spray foam
is a formula for trouble.
>> The foam itself is
manufactured in the house, not
in a factory.
If you spray it too thick and
it gets too hot, then the
reactions that happen are not
what was designed in the
factory or in the laboratory.
You got a runaway reaction.
>> Tom: So that fishy smell?
Bernie says it means the
chemicals in the foam weren't
mixed right and didn't
stabilize.
>> When it works, it does fine.
When it doesn't work, and if
you're in the house, you can
become chemically sensitized
which is a dreadful condition.
>> Tom: Bernie's not a doctor.
but experience tells him
that's what happened to the
Roths.
Why would they be there or why
wouldn't they be told to
leave?
>> If you tell somebody, um,
we're going to spray the
stuff, It's great stuff, but
we want you not to be in the
house for a day or two.
which is conventional industry
Internal guidance, some people
are going to ask, why?
Is there something wrong?
Is it toxic?
>> Tom: The day their attic
was sprayed in Caledon, the
Franceschinis weren't worried
about the foam because they
say, they didn't know about
staying out of the house.
>> Most of the time we were
out here while they were
spraying.
If we needed something we'd
run in the house and get it.
When the salesman was here he
may have mentioned it, but
I don't recall.
But out of all pamphlets,
paperwork I got, or all my
quotes, nothing in there that
says I should have stayed out
of the house, cause that would
have stuck in my head.
>> Tom: And here's their job
quote.
Nothing about staying out of
the house.
Nothing in the company
brochures either.
Meantime, It's been more than
three months since they've had
a family meal in their dining
room or kitchen.
>> What took you so long?
>> Oh, please.
>> Tom: Can it really be that
bad in the house so long after
the job was done?
(♪♪)
>> Tom: Oh, yeah.
It's still there.
There's still that fishy smell.
>> It's still off gassing.
>> Tom: Yeah, you can still
smell it.
>> We'll turn that fan on,
ventilate the whole house,
open up all the windows, shut
it down and it's right back.
>> Tom: Remember -- we tested
the bad air in the master
bedroom and the foam above it.
Now Frank Haverkate is back
with some unsettling results.
The air samples reveal a
laundry list of chemicals.
>> In a nutshell you've got
some Toluene issues, you've
got MEK issues.
>> Tom: Some of those things
can be linked to cancer.
>> Ethylbenzene.
>>Tom: Frank believes the
spray foam job's to blame but
can't conclusively prove it.
Now for the foam results.
>> One of the surprising things
is we found formaldehyde.
Now, it's --
>> Tom: Formaldehyde?.
We're surprised.
The manufacturer of the
Franceschini's foam says their
insulation doesn't contain
formaldehyde or similar
compounds.
>> Again, they're low levels
but, uh, it really shouldn't
be there.
>> Tom: Frank thinks It's the
installation job gone wrong,
creating new, dangerous
chemicals.
What do you think about what
you're hearing.
>> Needless to say It's scary.
>> Tom: You scared?
>> Yes, very much so.
>> Tom: So what's your advice
to them?
>> You're gonna have to get
the product removed.
>> Tom: Desperate times,
desperate measures.
>> Well, you can only stay in
a trailer for so long.
>> Tom: you're about to see
one extreme makeover.
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
>> Tom: The Franchini's
are tired of trailer living.
>> Go into our room, go.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: Tired of being spooked
by the spray foam in their
attic.
>> I'm still in disbelief.
I can't believe that somebody
would do this to a family
and not want to take ownership
for what they did.
>> I need to get back into my
house.
>> Tom: And they're tired of
searching for answers.
The foam manufacturer had the
air and the foam tested and
said its product wasn't
causing problems.
Then, an independent group
determined a section of foam
was too thick and emitting
chemicals.
The manufacturer eventually
agreed.
the family has heard enough.
>> It's gotta come out, the
foam's gotta come out.
(♪♪)
>> It's gotta come right out.
Yep.
>> Tom: Removing bad foam is
what Alex Schuts is up to
today.
>> Mainly on this side.
This side too.
It's the middle section that's
the worst.
>> Tom: The stuff his man
sprayed isn't making anyone
sick and it doesn't stink but
It's cracking and peeling.
>> Never seen it this thick.
This is the worst I've ever.
seen, Tom.
It's terrible.
>> Tom: Yes.
TV's most famous foam sprayer
doesn't always get it right and
the industry agrees not every
job is perfect.
>> I hate the fact that it's
happening, but we're here,
we're here to fix it.
And it doesn't cost the
customer any money.
>> Tom: How common is it for
installers to have to take out
foam?
>> It's rare.
It's happening more now than
probably in the past because
there's a lot more newer
contractors out there.
>> Tom: In your view, then, if
an installer gets it wrong,
are they obliged to fix it do
you think?
>> Damn right.
Yeah, yeah.
If you're not doing what
you're supposed to be doing,
fix it.
>> Tom: So we're hitting the
road to Huntsville, Ontario,
to talk to the company that
spray foamed the Franceschini's
attic.
A family business called
Thermoseal Insulation.
Richard Clement is the owner.
So what do we have here?
>> So this is the chemical,
the two chemicals go together.
If It's not sprayed correctly
it certainly could be a
problem.
>> Tom: he's been in the
business for decades.
He figures the company's done
about 15,000 spray foam jobs,
and says it's their first case
like this.
>> I was in the bedroom, like
the master bedroom upstairs.
>> Yes.
>> Tom: That's where I got
that smell.
Did your folks go up there
when they first visited the
house?
>> When they went there and
couldn't, they couldn't detect
it -- I should qualify that,ct
that they did smell, but it's
the smell they are accustomed
to with a fresh application of
polyurethane foam.
They didn't detect a fishy
smell as the homeowner did.
>> Tom: Richard says
consultants told him only
about 1% of the foam was bad.
>> Tom: So why didn't your
company take out that foam?
>> We offered to take out that
foam.
The homeowner decided that he
wanted to have the entire
attic area, 13 or 1400 square
feet removed and that, in our
opinion, and every other
professional's opinion was --
unrealistic and unwarranted.
>> Tom: Given that um, the
wife got sick, days after it
happened, can you understand
why they'd probably want
to get rid of it, get it out of
their house?
>> We're sorry that the folks
got sick but we don't feel
that it's necessarily anything
to do with the foam.
>> Tom: He also disagrees with
the family's claim they
weren't warned about staying
out of the house.
There are guidelines that say
in a residence the family
shouldn't be in the house for
24 hours.
>> He was told that.
he was told that by three
different people from our
company.
>> Tom: Is there a reason it's
not on like the quote or the
contract or anything like that
written down?
>> Since that incident we have
put it in writing.
>> Tom: Here's Thermoseal's
new contract.
By signing, the homeowner
acknowledges: I have been
informed of the health hazards
and. I am not to occupy
my residence for a period of
one day (24 hours) after spray
foam is installed.
Spray foam is popular but
Clements suggests it's not
always the best insulation
choice.
>> Tom: You try to talk people
out of it.
>> Yes, we do.
So maybe people are using it
too much in their houses?
>> in some of the places we're
working it's become the
standard and there are,
I think there are better
applications out there.
>> Tom: So if you're thinking
of Insulating, learn the
risks, and benefits, of all
kinds of insulation.
If you pick spray foam, make
sure the installer is certified
and experienced.
Get a guarantee of foam removal
in writing, in case things go
wrong.
And stay away for at least a
day.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: As for the
Franceschinis, the disturbing
tale of the house in the 
Caledon Hills has reached the
end of the road.
Are they still in the trailer?
They got some relief?
Problem solved?
Trying to find out.
>> Well, a you can come in and
have a look.
As far as you can see, if you
look up there, the whole roof
was removed.
>> Tom: they've actually blown
the lid off their home
>> The only way to remove the
foam for safety reasons was to
Remove the whole roof.
>> Tom: This renovation horror
story ends with a domestic
decapitation.
Did they take it off in one
piece?
>> Yeah, the ceiling is still
underneath.
Well, we can see from the front.
(♪♪)
>> Tom: It's almost like a
skeleton in a way, right?
Its finally stopped haunting
you.
>> Thank God that it's outta my
house and we don't have to
breath any of this anymore.
>> Tom: After this long
nightmare and its dramatic end
Robert Franceschni is waking
up to a new realization.
He has to think about
insulation again.
>> And I have to be honest
with you, I haven't gotten to
That stage yet on what to do.
I guess it would be really
stupid to try and re-spray
foam.
So...
(♪♪)
