# fire retardant for foam?



## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

There are enough people here that use foam in their haunts I figured someone would know a good fire retardant to use. 

I had closed cell polyurethane spray foam installed in part of my home today. The upper area above my dining room is going to become a kids cave area. Put a window in yesterday for an escape route in case of fire. You have to crawl through a 2x2 foot door to get in and it is it's own play area with a 3 foot high center ceiling which is now foam filling the rafters. I need a fire retardant paint that will coat it so to give my kids more time if ever needed. 

Does anyone have any suggestions? Yes I have searched google and found a lot of options but I want real world use here. 

Ok Go......


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

Most of the urathane foams that are used today don't easily support normal combustion. Once cured its takes a lot of heat to get it to burn. That space would be an oven by the time it starts to flame. And when its does. It's a slow burn. A small flame tends to put itself out. Some of these spray foams that the pro installers use have a fire retardent in the mix. 

Theatrical supply company's sell paint on fire retardents. I have never looked for it at any place like lowes or home depot. However there are also building materials you can use as well. Fire rated sheetrock. And some lumber yards that cater to comercial client have lumber with pre applied fire retardents. You can also find paint on and spray on if you have access to a store like grainger. They only sell to commercial customers.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Well I do have access to grainger, as we are an HVAC company that I work for. I did try to burn a piece of the foam last night and it went out. But when tossing it on my fire in the fireplace, it went pretty quickly with the sustained flame underneath. Although a lot of the foams have a bit of a fire retardant to them, by code, if it is exposed it needs painted with a flame resistant paint, and it doesn't hurt for piece of mind either knowing I will have a kid up there potentially. The whole thing is going to be painted with a dark color of latex after the fire retardant paint to give it that cave feel. 

So I am still looking for a good recommendation.


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Check out this site:
http://www.onecoatfireproofpaint.com/index.htm


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks for the link Stick, but sadly it is just another link in the mix. I have looked at the links of 7 different fire retardant paint makers. Contego looks the most promising, but there are many out there and who knows what works and what doesn't. 

I also looked at coating the surface with a monster mud style mix so it has a coating on it and is much cheaper. 

One of the problems becomes a kid will poke into the foam with just about anything so it is going to get messed up quickly if it isn't protected. I did look up the hotwirefoam factory and they have a foam coat that makes foam harder and adds a bit of fire resistance as well. That may be the way to go to protect the foam and keep it covered. 

Unless I get a user on here who swears by a product. Probably ordering in the next week or so.


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## AdamC (Sep 16, 2012)

Have you tried calling the companies from your links? Could just ask them directly what materials it supports if your uncertain.


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