Foam board insulation is a type of building insulation that is based on installing closely spaced foam core boards, made of polystyrene or polyisourethane foam all around the building, either on the inside or on the outside, in order to reduce thermal exchange and prevent unwanted heat losses.

Foam board insulation proves to be highly efficient in it's role of insulating buildings, with numerous advantages over other previously used types of insulation, yet it still has some inherent problems which must be dealt with if one wished to achieve as close to perfect an insulation as possible, not only from a thermal point of view, but also, regarding the comfort levels provided by it, and not lastly regarding some common sense safety provisions that are of concern for every homeowner.

Among others, one matter that is of utmost concern is the foam core board fire protection. While some buildings, like those made mainly from wood are obviously more vulnerable to fire hazards than concrete or brick buildings, and therefore require more serious preparative and certain materials applied over the structure or insulation, fire protection must be taken into account by any homeowner.

By itself, foam core board insulation is quite difficult to ignite, but when that happens, the foam core board keeps burning steadily, while emitting a dense, toxic smoke, which proves to be full of harmful chemicals.

Before attempting to fireproof your house's foam board insulation it is a good idea to check local fire protection codes and requirements that are required in your area. Sometimes these can vary from very strict one to nonexistent ones, yet they should not be ignored when dealing with insulating your house.

There are various methods to achieve an efficient fireproofing of the foam board insulation, depending on the building and the type of foam core board. Some metal faced foam core boards are designed especially for areas where the fire risk is higher and are designed such as to act as their own fire proof barrier. In other cases the most common methods is applying one gypsum wallboard at least half inch thick over the foam board insulation.