MANITOWOC, WI–April 24, 2013–Concrete lifting has been a money-saving alternative to concrete replacement for some time now, and lifting with polyurethane foam has only recently entered the picture. Even still, foam lifting and leveling has been increasing in popularity, with no indication more clear than the response at the 2013 SPFA Convention & Expo, where an entire breakout session focused on concrete lifting with polyurethane foam.
The session was a comprehensive overview of concrete lifting and the ever-increasing role polyurethane foam plays within it, including: historical methods of concrete lifting; the development of foam lifting; the equipment required to lift concrete with foam; conversion costs; and primers on marketing, pricing, and estimated returns on investment.
It was evident during the breakout session that spray foam insulation contractors are looking at foam lifting as a means of providing a wider array of services and establishing a larger customer base. Indeed, general interest was substantial by all accounts, and for industry leader HMI, increased attendance to the company's post-SPFA training seminars was directly attributable to the breakout session.
"There have been people who said the only reason they went to SPFA was because they had a foam lifting session," said HMI's Jen Mazur.
The increasing popularity of foam lifting has been attributable to several factors, with the most significant being, as stated above, the ability for foam contracting companies to provide a new service and thus a new source of revenue.
"There are a lot of people who are really looking to know more about foam lifting," Mazur said. "It's pretty exciting right now because it's so highly sought-after."
Furthermore, the process of lifting concrete is much less intense than that of spraying foam insulation or roofing systems, because the foam is injected, rather than sprayed, so both safety precautions and cleanup efforts are minimized.
A more recent contributor to the buzz around foam lifting has been the development of a process-simplifying spray gun adaptor. HMI's FusionPro is a front-end replacement for the Fusion spray gun that is designed to reduce maintenance, hole re-drilling, and the occurrence of gun-backups.
"It's an upgrade to the AP [air-purge] Fusion gun," said Mazur. "We designed a front-end with different side seals that will basically protect the inside of the gun from material coming back up through."
According to Mazur, material backup has long been a fundamental issue for foam lifting, as pressurized material would occasionally come back up through the spring-loaded side seals. The FusionPro replacement not only solves gun-related issues, but also streamlines the injection process.
"We designed a gun that utilizes the air-purge portion of the gun, which is important in keeping the injection holes open between lifts," Mazur explained, referring to how applicators lift concrete slowly by injecting small amounts of foam hole-by-hole. "It's very incremental, and the air purge is what keeps the injection hole open and allows for continuous, paced injections, and minimizes re-drilling."
The process improvements have made the FusionPro something of a hot commodity, and inquiries about it have been increasing since its debut in December 2012. However, HMI does not sell the unit by itself.
"The reason the FusionPro works so well is that we designed it around our materials," said Mazur, who explained that HMI bundles the FusionPro in a package that also includes specially formulated lifting material and training. The package is of particular benefit to new-entrant contractors, which there seem to be more and more of these days.
