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Spray Foam Removal, Done From the Outside
Spray foam removal done the only way that actually works: the covering comes off from the outside, every rafter gets checked and photographed, and the roof goes back on new membrane and battens. Free written quote, fully insured, 10-year workmanship guarantee, and the waste goes with us.
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Why spray foam is stopping house sales
Spray foam was sold hard for about a decade as a cheap way to warm a loft. The problem turns up later, when you come to sell or remortgage. A surveyor cannot see the rafters through the foam, so they cannot sign the roof structure off, and a lot of lenders will not lend against the property until it is gone.
There is a second problem that has nothing to do with paperwork. Closed cell foam sprayed straight onto the underside of the tiles stops the roof breathing. Moisture that used to dry out now sits against the timber, and the rafters rot from the top down where nobody can see them.
What is included
- Scaffold, and the roof covering taken off in sections so the house is never left open
- All foam and old underfelt removed from the roof and taken away
- Every rafter, purlin and batten checked once the covering is off
- Rotten or damaged timber cut out and replaced
- New breathable membrane and new treated battens
- Roof re-covered, tiles reused where they are sound or matched like for like
- Chimney and parapet leadwork renewed and dressed in
- Photographs of the timbers once the foam is off, for your surveyor
Worth checking
Signs the foam is already causing damage
- Dark staining or damp patches on the rafters where you can still see them
- A loft that smells musty or feels warm and airless in summer
- Foam that has pulled away from the tiles in places
- A survey or mortgage valuation that has come back referring to the roof insulation
- Tiles slipping, because the foam is holding them rather than the battens
- Condensation on the inside of the roof in cold weather
Start to finish
What a spray foam removal in Norfolk actually looks like
A bungalow in Norfolk with closed cell foam sprayed straight onto the underside of the tiles. This is the whole job, in order.
1. What was up there
Closed cell foam over the rafters and hard against the underside of the tiles. Nothing behind it can be inspected and nothing behind it can dry out.
2. Off from the outside
Covering lifted in sections and the foam broken out from above. It is the only way to reach all of it, and the only way anyone gets to look at the timber.
3. Out and away
Every bag of it off site and disposed of. That is in the price, not an extra that appears at the end of the job.
4. Built back properly
New breathable membrane and new treated battens across the whole roof, so the void ventilates the way it was meant to from the start.
5. Re-covered
Tiles back on, dry verge fitted, scaffold down, and the house left as we found it apart from the roof.
6. The loft afterwards
Breathable membrane between the rafters, every timber in plain sight, and air moving through the roof again. A loft a surveyor can actually inspect.
Why scraping it off from inside is not the answer
There are firms who will go up into the loft, scrape off what they can reach between the rafters and call it removed. It is cheaper and it does not work. Closed cell foam bonds to the underside of the tiles and to the felt, so a scrape leaves residue everywhere, the surveyor can still see it, and you end up paying twice.
The only reliable way to get it all off is from the outside with the covering lifted. That is also the only way anyone can actually look at the timber underneath, which is the whole point of doing it. It makes this a roofing job rather than an insulation job, and it is why we do it with the scaffold up.
What we put back
A roof that has had foam on it has usually been robbed of its ventilation for years, so we put that right on the way back up. Breathable membrane across the whole roof, new treated battens set to the right gauge for your covering, then the tiles or slates back on. Sound tiles get reused. Anything broken is matched as closely as we can get it.
What drives the cost of spray foam removal
Nobody can give you a real figure down the phone, and anyone who does is guessing. Five things move the number, and you can work out roughly where you sit before we even come out.
- The size and shape of the roof. A straightforward bungalow hip is a very different job from a period house with valleys, dormers and three chimneys.
- Open cell or closed cell. Closed cell bonds harder to the tiles and the felt, so it takes longer to get off cleanly.
- Whether the tiles can be reused. Sound tiles come off, get set aside and go back on. Tiles that are spalling, or that were bonded into the foam, have to be replaced.
- How much timber has gone. This is the one nobody can see until the covering is off. We photograph it and price the timber separately rather than padding the quote up front to cover ourselves.
- Access and scaffold. A detached bungalow with a drive is cheaper to scaffold than a terrace with no side access.
You get a fixed written price once we have been up and had a proper look, with a separate line for any timber work so you can see exactly what you are paying for.
More detail in our guides: what spray foam removal costs, spray foam and your mortgage, open cell vs closed cell and the paperwork you get.
Spray foam work we do
- Open cell and closed cell foam removal
- Full strip out and re-roof in one go
- Timber repairs and rafter replacement
- Breathable membrane and re-battening
- Chimney and parapet leadwork renewed
- Loft cleared and all waste taken away
Recent work
Spray foam jobs we have finished in Norfolk
Two of them, both in Norfolk. A bungalow with closed cell foam hard against the tiles, stripped and re-roofed from the outside. And a large period house scaffolded in full, taken off in sections and put back in double pan terracotta pantiles on a breathable membrane.
See the bungalow job See the period house See the Diss job (Oct 2026)
Spray foam removal questions
Which areas do you cover for spray foam removal?
Will I need a whole new roof?
Can you remove spray foam without taking the tiles off?
Will removing it satisfy my lender or surveyor?
How long does it take?
How much does spray foam removal cost in Norwich?
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Spray foam removal and re-roofing. Based in Norwich, and we travel for this work.
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