A Tribute to the Early SPF Pioneers

“My SPF experience began in the early 1960’s. My family lived through the struggles that start-up spray foam companies often face during their early transition. Today, I want to be the lighthouse that guides them in the right direction—the direction of long-term success!” J Davidson, CEO Spray Foam Insider

Seeing Spray Foam for the First Time: “It’s Going to Change Everything!”

During the early-1960s, my father was a general contractor who became one of the earliest pioneers in spray foam business. I can clearly remember the day he came home from work completely animated with excitement. You need to understand that my father rarely became overly excited, so this had to be something big. He gathered the family around and said, “Watch this!” He placed a Styrofoam coffee cup on the kitchen table, took out two small containers of mysterious liquids and poured them into the cup at the same time. The contents of the cup quickly expanded until it mushroomed over the lip of the cup and solidified right before our eyes. The whole concoction resembled an ice cream cone. “What the heck is this stuff?” I asked, looking to my father for an explanation. “This “stuff” is going to revolutionize how insulation and coatings are done everywhere around the world. It’s going to change everything, and I’m going to do it,” he announced proudly. At that moment, I don’t think the family fully grasped how this was going to change the world as well as our lives.

The Little Gusmer Machine That Built Spray Foam Empires

My father’s first spray foam machine was a Gusmer. He hauled it to jobs in the back of his pickup truck and set it near the tail gate, so he could work on it and get it ready to operate. I can’t remember if it was a new or used one, but I remember him making a lot of adjustments, using a little profanity, and tinkering with it to get it to perform just right. His mechanical skills came in handy. The Gusmer was an impressive, portable machine that seemed to last forever. My dad’s D-Model spray gun did the job. I’m not sure what was used for lubricant in those days. Today’s spray foam guns and machines are space-age by comparison. New technologies have eliminated a lot of the guesswork and are more user-friendly. Who would have guessed that the little Gusmer machine would help build spray foam empires for a lot of folks? Glas-Craft had a machine too, but my experience was with the Gusmer.

“What You Can’t Scrape Off Will Eventually Ware Off.”

My father worked hard and came home later and later. Eventually, he didn’t come home for weeks at a time because he was doing out-of-town jobs. When he finally did come home, he looked haggard and was covered in tiny beads of spray foam that stuck to his skin, hair, coveralls and made walking a few steps more in his foam-covered work boots next to impossible. Remember, this happened at a time when specialized safety gear, disposable suits, etc. either were not invented yet, readily available or wearing them not enforced. His daily routine was go to work, come home, remove foamed-covered coveralls that could stand in the corner all by themselves, sit down at the dinner table, take out his pocket knife and try to scrape the thousands of tiny beads of foam off his arms, hands and face. “You can’t get this stuff off. What I can’t scrape off will eventually ware off,” he said. Then, he would eat supper and pass out in bed until it was time to do it all over again. My father was always up at the crack of dawn going over blueprints, planning his day or working on solutions for unexpected problems. He often received and made business calls at all hours of the night because of time differences across the country. I don’t think he ever got a normal night’s sleep.

Into the Trench

I worked with my father on many local jobs. I helped with everything, such as prep work sandblasting, spray painting, painting walls, floors, doors and structures by hand, loading hoppers for other applications, applying various coatings, even hot tar roofing and finally spray foam. On the spray foam jobs, I hauled equipment, worked off scaffolding, helped with roof tear-offs, drug hoses, sprayed, ran for tools and supplies and did lots and lots of clean up. I learned to completely focus on the job to avoid thinking about the discomforts associated with long, physically demanding work. Keeping busy made the days seem to go faster. At the end of each work day, my father would inspect the job to make sure all areas were squeaky clean. An excellent piece of advice my father gave me was to always, always make the job looks cleaner than you found it. That was how he got call backs to do more work. His philosophy of “do more than the customer expects” was right and holds true to this day.

Drive-By Lessons in Spray Foam

My father could never drive past a roof without pulling over and carefully examining the work. I had a ring-side seat at roofing “school” as he explained why roofs turned out good, not good enough or why they had completely failed. Like a shrewd detective, he pointed out every nuance of the problems, explaining how moisture, humidity, being on ratio, manufacturer’s recommendations, application methods, thickness, substrate prep, etc. affected the performance of the job. According to him, most SPF roof problems were a result of inexperience applicators. With all the training available today, there’s no excuse for poor application performance.

Not as Easy as it Looks

When commercial SPF roofing and insulation first came on the scene, there was no formalized training. Those who watched experienced applicators spray thought it looked all too easy, so people jumped into starting their own businesses in droves. But, spraying SPF just wasn’t as simple and easy as people thought. I talk with start-up company-owners almost daily and urge them to get professional training. That way, they have a much better chance of becoming successful. Sometimes they listen and thank me for helping. Sometimes they don’t. My family lived through the struggles that start-up spray foam companies often face during their early transition. Today, I want to be the lighthouse that guides people in the right direction—the direction of long-term success. I understand that their family’s’ hopes, dreams and hard-earned money are all on the line.

Accidents, Safety and the Families Who Paid the Ultimate Price

Shortly after the introduction of commercial SPF, people began flocking to the SPF “gold rush” in droves. Those who watched seasoned spray foam applicators got the mistaken impression that it was easy to do. As a result, some company-owners suffered hard consequences. Some lost everything they had when projects failed. Some paid for mistakes with their very lives or the life of a crew members who made one fatal error. Some dads didn’t come home to their families. I’ll never forget learning of a father and son who were working together on a 5-story roof. The son was busy spraying and wasn’t checking behind him as he moved backwards. Absorbed in his work, he took one last step backward and fell through a sky light.

There were many reports of crew members stepping backwards off the edges of roofs, falling from towers, water tanks and other structures. Unfortunately, it can still happen today if safety is not taken seriously. Sometimes people fell because of unsafe rigging or worn safety lines. Worse yet, I witnessed workers on other jobs with no rigging or safety lines at all! I remember one applicator who accidentally sprayed a hole completely through his hand. The stories are endless. Safety on the job just wasn’t monitored or enforced as strongly as it is today. Please—take a moment of silence to honor those who paid the ultimate price and helped paved the way for better job safety.

My Father’s Dream

My father was a pioneer, visionary, and problem-solver extraordinaire. Years before the age of the Internet, my father said, “This industry needs a way to connect with manufacturers, distributors and suppliers. It’s hard for contractors to find what they needed quickly or access information that could help them do their jobs better. Their projects would go much faster and smoother if they could just connect with the right people, get what they need fast, learn more about what’s out there and shop prices better before bidding jobs.” It was my father’s dream to somehow find a way to make this path central to the industry. Sadly, my father passed away just as the Internet was making its debut. I wish I could have brought the Internet to him and said, “Dad, this is going to revolutionize the way contractors get what they need anywhere in the world. It’s going to change everything, and I’m going to do it!” I wish he and I had 5 more minutes together, so I could say, “Look, Dad, I made your dream come true!”

If our reading audience has old-time SPF, polyurea or coating stories or photos to share, please email us or give us call. We’d enjoy hearing from you!

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