Retrofit insulation in Fort Worth TX - a house that holds its temperature upstairs too

Most people call because the upstairs runs hot, the room over the garage never gets comfortable, or the power bill keeps climbing in a house that already has some insulation. The price mostly turns on how much is already up there, whether old material that's soaked or full of droppings needs insulation removal first, how many gaps need sealing and whether foam or loose fill fits your house. The schedule usually depends on anything that has to be fixed first, like a roof leak or old wiring, because we don't insulate over a problem. I come out, look at your house and give you the estimate myself, so you get a number for your house and not a guess.

A retrofit starts with a checkup of your house as it is, because that tells us where your money does the most good. I go up in the attic, measure how many inches are already there, look for old insulation that's been soaked or full of droppings, and find the gaps around can lights, pipes and the hatch. If something has to come first, like a roof leak, I'll tell you that before we sell you anything. Then our crew does the air sealing, closing those gaps before any insulation goes in, so the new layer isn't fighting a draft. We keep the eave vents clear so the attic can still breathe, blow in loose fill evenly all the way to the edges where it's usually thinnest, and clean up before we leave.

Some houses need a different approach. Spray foam insulation costs more but seals air while it insulates, so it's usually the better pick when your ductwork runs through the attic. If foam is the right call, I'll tell you at the estimate when you'll need to step out and when you can come back. For most houses, though, sealing the gaps and topping up through our attic insulation work does more for the money.

The city builds by the national energy code with its own local changes to the energy code, so before we install anything, we check with the city's building office about what your job needs to meet, including how much insulation goes in and the fire and combustion safety rules.

Most of what we find here comes back to summer heat. A lot of houses around Fort Worth have their air conditioning ducts running through the attic, and when the insulation up there is thin or packed down, it shows up as a hot second floor and a garage room nobody wants to use. In older neighborhoods we often find old fill that has settled over the years, with gaps around lights and pipes that nobody sealed. We see the same thing on jobs in Haltom City and Burleson, and we handle it the same way.