Real cases: what actually happened when homeowners called us

What this page is

Most people reach us one of three ways: a cold call or a doorstep visit from someone claiming to be an inspector or from a “register”; pressure from a removal company after an inspection it carried out itself; or a surveyor’s report that flags spray foam during a sale. The four cases below are one of each of the first two, plus two that started with a survey.

We have published them because the pattern is consistent and rarely written down: what a homeowner is first told about their roof is often not what is actually wrong with it — in both directions. In one case here the diagnosis was invented. In another, the doorstep diagnosis was wrong but the paperwork revealed a genuine fault nobody had mentioned.

Case 1: The “surveyor” who found damp that wasn’t a problem

Open-cell foam · West Midlands · not selling · trigger: doorstep “surveyor” visit · outcome: removal carried out — on their timetable, not the salesman’s

A couple in the West Midlands rang us shortly after a “surveyor” had been round their property. He’d told them their roof was damaged, that damp readings of 12–14% were dangerously high, and that putting it right would cost thousands — the spray foam had to come out that week, with multifoil insulation installed straight away.

Almost none of that survived a second opinion. Moisture readings of 12–14% in a loft are within the normal range, not a red flag. Open-cell foam — which is what they had — very rarely causes damage severe enough to need removal within days. And the “remove it and re-insulate straight away” package couldn’t be done as described anyway: after spray foam is removed, our guidance is that roof timbers need around six months to breathe before new insulation goes in. What they’d been given wasn’t a remediation plan. It was a sales script.

So we started from zero, the way we always do: with the paperwork from the original installation. That’s where the real issue showed up — the open-cell foam had been sprayed directly onto bitumen felt, which isn’t a correct installation. A genuine problem, worth resolving. But because they weren’t selling, there was no emergency and no deadline.

They decided they wanted it dealt with. Our vetting department sourced three quotes from professional companies covering their area, we went through the options together and chose the one that suited them best, and we made one condition non-negotiable: the job would finish with a full chartered surveyor’s report, not just a completion certificate. As with every job we recommend, they paid nothing until their NSFA advisor had inspected and signed off the completed work. Only then did they pay the company — and they now have a spray-foam-free roof and nothing left to worry about.

The lesson: the doorstep diagnosis was wrong on every point — but the paperwork found a real issue the “surveyor” never mentioned. Independent advice first, decisions second.

Case 2: Getting ahead of it — a roof put right before it ever became a problem

Closed-cell foam · Hertfordshire · not selling · came to us directly · outcome: removal completed with independent sign-off

A homeowner in Hertfordshire contacted us with a question a lot of people can’t answer about their own roof: what kind of spray foam do I actually have? She wasn’t selling — but she wants to pass the property to her son in good order, which means getting it back to a position a mortgage lender would accept.

We started, as always, with the paperwork, and went through her documentation together. The foam was closed-cell — the rigid type — installed in 2022. Given the type of foam and the risk it carries for mortgageability, removal was what she wanted, and in light of the Building Safety Regulator’s 2024 research into the moisture risk of spray foam applied to timber sloped roofs, together with current lender guidance, we agreed internal removal was the right route. Notably, the installer’s paperwork didn’t even record how much of the roof had been treated, so we measured the property ourselves and established it was around 50m². That gap says a lot about why paperwork-first matters: if the original job isn’t properly documented, every later decision starts with a question mark.

Our vetting department gathered quotations from trusted companies covering her area, and we went through them together. The company she chose stood out for one reason in particular: it offered an independent sign-off of the completed work — exactly what she wanted, so her son inherits a roof with the evidence attached, not just her word for it. The removal was completed along with a mineral-wool top-up to the loft floor, a concern she’d raised herself at the first call. As with every job we recommend, she paid nothing until the work had been completed and signed off.

Where lender positions come up, our dated lender table records what each lender has published, with a last-verified date on every row.

Case 3: The “spray foam” that wasn’t spray foam at all

Probate sale · Kent · trigger: surveyor’s report · outcome: no removal needed — sold at full value

A family in Kent came to us at a difficult time. Their father had passed away, and as they prepared his property for sale, the surveyor’s report landed a blow: spray foam in the roof, and all of the insulation would have to be removed. On top of a bereavement, they were now looking at a costly job and a devalued sale.

Except that isn’t what was in the roof.

We went through it properly — a long process of back and forth, working from photographs of what had actually been installed. What emerged was this: the loft had rigid board insulation, a completely standard product, with a small amount of foam applied between the boards to seal the gaps. That is nothing like a spray foam installation. No foam had been sprayed across the roof, no timbers were concealed, and there was nothing a lender needed to fear.

With a second opinion confirming exactly that, the property was revalued — and sold at its original value. Total spray foam removed: none. Total cost of “fixing” the roof: nothing.

This is the case we’d ask every homeowner to remember. The words “spray foam” on a survey are a flag, not a diagnosis. A surveyor seeing foam in a loft will note it — that’s their job — but what kind of foam, how much, and what it means for the property are separate questions, and they’re the ones that decide whether you need a removal crew or just the right paperwork. If this family had gone straight to a removal company, they’d have paid to strip out perfectly good insulation. Instead, one independent look at the evidence saved the sale and the money.

Case 4: The “register inspector” whose diagnosis was tens of thousands of pounds of work — from his own company

Closed-cell foam · Norfolk · trigger: cold call · outcome: removal completed properly — the “rotting roof” didn’t exist

A couple in Norfolk took a call from a number they didn’t recognise. The caller claimed to be from a spray foam register, appointed by the manufacturers to inspect their foam. It sounded official — official enough that they let him in.

The “inspection” lasted over two hours. By the end of it, they’d been told their roof was at high risk and rotting, and were being sold a package of roofing work running to tens of thousands of pounds. The detail worth sitting with: the inspector owned the roofing company that would do the work. The man diagnosing the disease was also selling the cure.

Something felt wrong, so they went online, found us, and rang one of our advisors. We started where we always start — the original paperwork from the installation — and talked them through what they actually had and what their real options were.

Their foam was closed-cell, and here honesty matters: closed-cell is the harder case. In our experience it’s sprayed directly onto the underside of the roof covering in the vast majority of installations, which makes removal genuinely difficult — it takes a specialist assessment to establish whether internal removal is even possible, and that’s exactly why every company we vet works on a no-deposit basis, with sampling on the first day of removal to confirm the job can be done cleanly before anyone is committed.

They wanted it resolved, so we looked together at the vetted companies covering their area and chose one. The removal was carried out to the correct standard — and the rotting, high-risk roof from the two-hour “inspection”? It didn’t exist. No major roof work was needed at all. The couple now hold all the paperwork they’d need to sell the property without any hassle.

If someone rings to say they’re from a register or a manufacturer and need to inspect your foam: no such body cold-calls homeowners. Take their details, close the door, and get an independent opinion first. We have written more about how to tell a genuine insulation scheme from a sales script, including the people who present themselves as surveyors or inspectors.

Case 5: Five quotes for a new roof — when the real question was removal

Closed-cell foam · Bournemouth · trigger: surveyor’s report during a sale · outcome: internal removal pursued instead of roof replacement

When his father passed away, a gentleman in Bournemouth took on the job every family dreads: preparing the property for sale. The survey came back with the finding that stops so many sales — spray foam in the roof, removal required.

He did what most people would do: called removal companies. One after another came out, and one after another told him the same thing — the only option was a completely new roof. Not one of them, in his words, “seemed interested in exploring whether the foam could actually be removed from inside the property.”

When he reached us, we started where we always start: with what was actually installed. The foam was closed-cell — the rigid type, and honestly the harder case. Closed-cell is usually sprayed directly against the roof covering, which is exactly why it needs a specialist assessment rather than a doorstep verdict: whether clean internal removal is possible is a technical question, answered by sampling — not a sales script, answered by whoever profits most from the biggest job.

Assessed properly, internal removal was a genuine route for this roof. We put him in touch with vetted companies covering his area working to our standards — no deposit, sampling on day one, and the job isn’t finished until it’s independently verified. The “only option” he’d been quoted five times over was never the only option.

His own summary: “What had initially felt like a huge, expensive problem became something I could actually get sorted.” You can read his full account in his own words here.

The lesson: a roof replacement can be worth many times more to the company quoting than an internal removal — so that’s the job some of them will quote for. The company selling the work should never be the only voice telling you what work is needed.

Case 6: The “quick look” that was a sales appointment

Open-cell foam · Shrewsbury · trigger: cold call · outcome: no on-the-spot decision — options understood before any commitment

A lady in Shrewsbury took a phone call about the spray foam in her property and agreed to what she understood was a visit to look at it. What arrived was a sales appointment: she was told the foam needed to come out, shown the replacement insulation to go in after, and offered savings — if she signed there and then.

She didn’t. Something about being asked to make a major decision on the spot didn’t feel right, so she stepped back to do her own research — and found us.

Her foam was open-cell — the softer, breathable type — and that matters, because open-cell foam very rarely presents the kind of emergency a doorstep deadline implies. There was no reason on earth this decision needed making in an afternoon. We went through her situation the way we always do: what’s actually installed, what it means for her property and her plans, and what her real options were — with nobody’s commission riding on the answer.

The emergency evaporated the moment the pressure did. Whatever she chooses to do about her roof, it will happen on her timetable, with the facts in front of her — not on a salesman’s clock.

Her advice to others, in her own words: “do your own research and speak to National Spray Foam Advisory before agreeing to anything” — her full account is here.

The lesson: “you must decide today” is never advice — it’s a closing technique. A genuine option is still available tomorrow. If a cold call starts the conversation, an independent second opinion should finish it.

Our process, every time

1. Paperwork first. The original installation documentation, before anyone looks at a quote. It is where most of the real answers are — and where the gaps show up.
2. Establish what is actually installed. Foam type, how much of the roof is covered, how it was applied. As Case 3 shows, this alone can end the matter.
3. An independent view on whether removal is needed at all. Not from anyone who would carry out the work. See do I need to remove spray foam insulation?
4. Vetted quotes, if removal is the answer. From companies we have vetted, covering the homeowner’s area — they choose, we do not choose for them. What removal costs is set out on our price guide, and what the work itself involves — stage by stage — is on our removal guide.
5. Chartered or independent sign-off on completion. Evidence a surveyor or lender can rely on, not just a completion certificate.
6. The client pays nothing until their advisor has signed the work off.

Our own advice is free at every stage, and we carry out no removals ourselves.

Talk it through before you commit to anything

If any of the above sounds like your situation, the useful first step is the same one every case here started with: an independent look at what you actually have. Call us free on 0800 494 7163, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, or ask us to look at your case. We carry out no removals and take no payment from lenders or installers.