Hi folks! I'm trying to seal gaps around some natural gas, hot, and cold water pipe penetrations in the ceiling of my finished basement. The area is next to a garage, and even though it has passed building inspection, I've noticed gaps in the drywall through these penetrations. I realize that fireblock foam shouldn't be visible in living spaces, and I ended up applying it a bit messily on my first try.
I've got some photos here for context: [https://imgur.com/a/MiBpCjt](https://imgur.com/a/MiBpCjt)
The problem I'm facing is:
* I used fireblock foam, but a few spots expanded too much and are showing between the pipes and the drywall, which doesn't look great.
* Since the area is finished, I can't easily pull back the drywall to trim the excess foam.
* I know that fireblock foam shouldn't be exposed, especially in a laundry room.
I'm looking for advice on how to neatly finish or cover these exposed foam gaps without tearing everything apart. Any help would be appreciated!
1 Answer
You might want to check out fire blocking paint! It’s not super cheap, but it’s easy to apply, and you can get it tinted to match your decor. My building inspector even recommended this after I had a similar mishap with my basement. Just paint over the foam, and it should be fine!
That's interesting! But I thought the concern was that uncovered foam burns more easily than drywall, needing a thermal barrier like drywall to cover it?