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Polyurethane foam insulation

In order to minimize the potential for mold growth a building envelope system has to meet all of the following criteria:

The building envelope must prevent water from penetrating. Therefore, the structure must be properly sealed and contain an effective drainage plane. A drainage plane in itself will not solve the problem if drainage away from the building is not provided by proper site positioning and grading. As basic as these principles are, it is surprising how often they are overlooked and lead to severe problems.

The building envelope must control the air leakage. Uncontrolled air leakage leads to condensation and mold growth within the envelope system.
In addition to mandatory requirements there are additional performance criteria an effective healthy building envelope should deliver. All building envelopes have the potential at some time to get wet. It is desirable that the building envelope system have the potential to dry quickly. Therefore the components of the building should resist moisture and once wetted should have the potential to dry quickly (they should be hydrophobic).
Over all cost and ease of application are the two factors that can not be overlooked. All components should be installed with relative ease and should not be installation-dependent for their ultimate performance.

On site spray applied foam insulation materials come closest to satisfying the criteria as specified above. However, rigid urethane foams used in the past had some serious drawbacks. The high cost of material, the rigid nature of the finished foam product and the restrictive application conditions created some less than desirable performance results. Rigidity prevents the foam from moving with the building envelope and promotes delamination. Such foam also requires a clean dry surface during application and is further restricted by a narrow window of application humidity and temperature requirements.