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Phone Works Insulation Experiment



My friend has an old house in Boston with high heating bills during the cold winter months. I experimented with my Ryobi Phone Works Inspection scope see what kind of insulation was in his walls. I used my PhoneWorks thermometer to see how adding expanding insulation would impact the performance of the room. The interior surface temperature of the wall before I added insulation was about 63 degrees. It took me about 10 minutes to add insulation to a 2 foot section of the wall and afterwards the interior surface was about 68 degrees. You should consult with a qualified construction professional before impacting your building envelope. Expanding foam should be used with caution. Too much foam can occasional warp window frames. It is a great insulator but should not be used near fireplaces or other points of combustion.

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  1. Project Steps

    1. Step: 1

      Scan walls looking for insulation weak spots. I used the Infrared thermometer to look at the surface temperature of the wall. Cold spots tell me where there is little thermal resistance between the interior and exterior.

    2. Step: 2

      Drill a Hole through the drywall I drilled a ½” diameter hole just through the drywall. This hole will let me poke the Inspection scope through and see inside the wall.

    3. Step: 3

      Inspect I used to the inspection scope to look inside the wall. I moved it all around and found that there was virtually no insulation in the wall. I was also able to see what the structure of the windowsill looked like. Everything was pretty solid and I didn’t see any exposed old wires so I decided to add spray foam.

    4. Step: 4

      Spray Foam I used Greatstuff brand spray foam to fill up the wall cavity. This is a messy product and expands rapidly to fill all gaps and crevices in the wall.

    5. Step: 5

      Patch the holes Once the spray foam had fully expanded and dried I sealed the holes with putty.

    6. Step: 6

      Test I used the Infrared Thermometer to scan the wall again and found it was now significantly warmer than before due to the added insulation.

Comments (3)



  • It really sucks trying to set up this camera!
    By BigdaddyT, on November 30, 2016


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Phone Works Insulation Experiment

by Homemade Modern
Apr 01, 2015

My friend has an old house in Boston with high heating bills during the cold winter months. I experimented with my Ryobi Phone Works Inspection scope see what kind of insulation was in his walls. I used my PhoneWorks thermometer to see how adding expanding insulation would impact the performance of the room. The interior surface temperature of the wall before I added insulation was about 63 degrees. It took me about 10 minutes to add insulation to a 2 foot section of the wall and afterwards the interior surface was about 68 degrees. You should consult with a qualified construction professional before impacting your building envelope. Expanding foam should be used with caution. Too much foam can occasional warp window frames. It is a great insulator but should not be used near fireplaces or other points of combustion.

Project Steps

  1. Step: 1

    Scan walls looking for insulation weak spots. I used the Infrared thermometer to look at the surface temperature of the wall. Cold spots tell me where there is little thermal resistance between the interior and exterior.

  2. Step: 2

    Drill a Hole through the drywall I drilled a ½” diameter hole just through the drywall. This hole will let me poke the Inspection scope through and see inside the wall.

  3. Step: 3

    Inspect I used to the inspection scope to look inside the wall. I moved it all around and found that there was virtually no insulation in the wall. I was also able to see what the structure of the windowsill looked like. Everything was pretty solid and I didn’t see any exposed old wires so I decided to add spray foam.

  4. Step: 4

    Spray Foam I used Greatstuff brand spray foam to fill up the wall cavity. This is a messy product and expands rapidly to fill all gaps and crevices in the wall.

  5. Step: 5

    Patch the holes Once the spray foam had fully expanded and dried I sealed the holes with putty.

  6. Step: 6

    Test I used the Infrared Thermometer to scan the wall again and found it was now significantly warmer than before due to the added insulation.