I finally got why old-timers hate those foam gasket sealers

Was at a hardware store in Red Deer last weekend and overheard this older guy telling the clerk that spray foam window seals are "just trouble waiting to happen." I laughed it off at first, you know, like another boomer hating on new stuff. But then I pulled out a window I'd foamed up 4 years ago during a reno and sure enough, the foam had pushed the frame out of square. He was right - that stuff expands way too much if you don't know what you're doing and it traps moisture against the wood. Has anyone else had their windows start sticking or getting drafty a few years after using expanding foam around them?

4 comments

4 Comments

baker.holly6d ago

Oh man, SAME thing happened to me with my basement windows. I put that stuff in about 5 years ago thinking I was being SO smart, and now THREE of them are completely stuck shut. The foam actually buckled the vinyl frame on one window, now there's a gap you can stick your finger through. I had to chisel out chunks of the old foam just to get the window to move at all last spring. It's like that stuff never stops expanding, even after it's supposedly cured. Learned my lesson the hard way, now I just use the backer rod and caulk method like my grandpa always told me to.

smith.nancy5d ago

That expanding foam has a real way of making you feel like you planned ahead when really you just signed up for future problems. @charles640 seems like too many of us get sold on these modern fixes when the old ways just work better. Backer rod and caulk never swells up and crushes your window frames five years later. Same pattern with spray insulation in attics or those magnetic vent covers that fall off every time the furnace kicks on. Whole bunch of stuff marketed as a quick solution that ends up being someone else's problem down the line.

charles6405d agoMost Upvoted

You know what, I used to be one of those guys who swore by that expanding foam stuff. Thought everyone complaining was just doing it wrong. But after reading THIS and seeing those pictures on the other thread? Yeah, I'm FULLY converted. I was about to foam up a gap around my new patio door this weekend, and now I'm GLAD I saw this before I made a huge mess. Backer rod and caulk sounds SO much smarter, honestly. I'd rather spend an extra ten minutes than deal with that nightmare down the road.

harper9145d ago

The whole foam thing is just one piece of a bigger pattern where we've convinced ourselves that faster and easier means better, even when it clearly isn't. Saw the same thing happen with those peel-and-stick tile mats that were supposed to be a miracle for kitchen backsplashes. Everyone I know who used them ended up pulling off chunks of drywall when the adhesive failed. @smith.nancy nailed it about quick fixes becoming someone else's problem down the line. Same story with those magnetic screen doors that fall apart after one season, or the "miracle" gutter guards that just trap debris on top. Sometimes the old, boring method really is the right one, even if it takes a few more minutes.