We do eight things, and they are all the same job in different parts of the house: stop air and heat moving where you do not want them to. This page sorts that work two ways, by the service you already know you want, and by the symptom that sent you looking.
If you cannot tell which one you need, that is normal. Tell us what the house is doing wrong, a cold floor, a bill that jumped and stayed there, a crawl space somebody just told you is soaked, and we will work backwards. Sometimes the honest answer is a few hundred dollars of air sealing instead of a foam job, and we will say so.
Start here if you already know what you want
Closed-Cell Spray Foam
Our flagship. About R-6 to R-7 per inch, air sealing and moisture resistance in one.
See what is involvedAttic Insulation
The biggest heat loss in most Seattle houses, and usually the fastest payback.
See what is involvedCrawl Space Insulation
The fix for cold floors, and our most common job in this region.
See what is involvedWall Insulation
Best done while the walls are open, during a remodel, re-side, or addition.
See what is involvedInsulation Replacement
When what is up there has settled, soaked, or been lived in.
See what is involvedAir Sealing
Often the cheapest real fix, and the step most crews skip before insulating.
See what is involvedInsulation Removal
Wet or rodent damaged material out and bagged before new work starts.
See what is involvedCrawl Space Encapsulation
Sealing the ground and vents so the space stops behaving like the outdoors.
See what is involvedNot sure? Work it out from the symptom
Houses complain in predictable ways. Here is what each complaint usually turns out to be in a Puget Sound home, though the only way to be sure is to get under the floor and look.
| What you notice | Where the problem usually is | Start here |
|---|---|---|
| Cold floors over the crawl space | Fallen floor insulation, open rim joists, vents | Crawl space insulation |
| High winter bills, cold upstairs | Thin attic insulation, unsealed ceiling penetrations | Attic insulation |
| Drafts, one room never comfortable | Air leaking at the top and bottom of the house | Air sealing |
| Musty smell, mold on the joists | Ground moisture and vented outdoor air | Encapsulation |
| Rodent droppings, chewed or wet material | Contaminated insulation you cannot cover over | Removal |
| Walls open for a remodel | Empty or barely filled stud bays | Wall insulation |
Cold floors are almost always a crawl space problem
Older Seattle houses sit over vented crawl spaces, and the batts stapled between the floor joists sag, fall, or get wet. On the dirt they do nothing. The fix is clearing the fallen material out, sealing the rim joists, then insulating the floor above or the walls of the space. If yours is damp as well as cold, read why Seattle crawl spaces get moldy.
A cold upstairs and a bill you resent is an attic problem
Heat leaves through the ceiling first. If the attic has eight inches of flattened insulation and a dozen open holes where wires, cans, and the bath fan come through, you are paying to warm the roof. Sealing the ceiling plane then bringing the depth back up is the best value in most of these houses. More in why are my heating bills so high.
If somebody has just been under your house, call before you decide anything
A plumber, a pest company, or an inspector saying the words soaked or rodents is the most common reason people find us. That is usually two jobs, not one: get the material out, then fix the reason it got wet. We would rather look first and tell you which half you need.
What each service actually involves
Closed-cell spray foam
Roughly R-6 to R-7 per inch, it stops air movement, and at sufficient thickness it works as a vapor retarder too. It earns its price in crawl spaces, at rim joists, on roof decks, and in cavities too shallow for anything else. It is also the product people get cheated on, which is why we publish the full open-cell versus closed-cell comparison. Closed-cell spray foam insulation.
Attic insulation
Either a vented attic done properly, meaning the ceiling plane sealed and the depth brought back up, or a conditioned attic with foam against the roof deck. Which is right depends on where your ducts live. If blown-in over a sealed ceiling gets most of the benefit for a fraction of the foam price, we will say so. Attic insulation.
Crawl space insulation
The most common work we do here. Usually closed-cell at the rim joists, then either the floor above or the stem walls, depending on whether the space stays vented. The moisture strategy matters more than the R-value, because the wrong assembly in a damp crawl space causes problems instead of solving them. Crawl space insulation.
Wall insulation
Straightforward when the walls are open for a remodel, a re-side, or an addition, and much harder when they are not. A 2×4 bay cannot fit enough of anything to hit a high number, so closed-cell often makes sense simply because it delivers more per inch. Wall insulation.
Insulation replacement
For material that has settled flat, taken on water, been crushed by storage, or run out of useful life. Laying new insulation over ruined insulation spends money and keeps the problem, so the old comes out first. When to replace old insulation covers how to judge yours. Insulation replacement.
Air sealing
Finding and closing the paths air actually travels: top plates, wire and pipe penetrations, chimney chases, attic hatches, rim joists, duct boots. It is cheap next to foam and it is the step that makes every other insulation dollar work. We will do it on its own if that is all your house needs. Air sealing.
Insulation removal
Contaminated material gets vacuumed and bagged out, the space gets cleaned, and the rodent entries or the water source get dealt with before anything new goes back. It is often the first line on a crawl space quote. Insulation removal.
Crawl space encapsulation
A sealed ground barrier, sealed vents, sealed perimeter, and the space brought inside the house instead of left open to the weather. It is the right answer when moisture, not just heat loss, is the problem. Not every crawl space needs it, so read spray foam or encapsulate first. Crawl space encapsulation.
What this work generally costs
Closed-cell commonly lands around $1.00 to $2.00 per board foot installed here, with open-cell lower at roughly $0.50 to $0.70. As a whole-project figure, 1,000 square feet at three inches often comes out around $2,200 to $5,400. Air sealing alone is a fraction of that. Removal, access, and how many inches the assembly needs move the number most. Anyone quoting a firm price over the phone without seeing the house is guessing. Full breakdown: spray foam insulation cost in Seattle.
Already have foam and worried it was done badly? Common worry, and a fair one. Here is how to tell whether your spray foam was installed correctly, including the parts you can check yourself.
Common questions about our services
If I can only afford one thing this year, what should it be?
In most Seattle houses it is air sealing plus whatever the attic needs, because the ceiling is where the most heat and money leave. If your floors are the complaint rather than your bills, the crawl space comes first. We will give you the order we would do it in, with prices, and you take as much or as little as you want.
Do you use closed-cell spray foam for every job?
No. Closed-cell is right where moisture and heat both have to be handled, or where the cavity is too shallow for anything else. In a generous vented attic, blown-in over a sealed ceiling often buys the same comfort for far less. We would rather put you in the cheaper material and be right than sell the expensive one and be wrong.
What happens if the old insulation has to come out first?
It becomes its own line on the quote, priced separately, so you see exactly what you are paying for. We will not spray over wet, flattened, or rodent damaged material to make a bid look cheaper. That traps the problem in the assembly and you pay for it twice.
Do you charge for an estimate, and is there a sales pitch?
Estimates are free and there is no closer with a tablet. Paul looks at the house, tells you what it needs, and writes it down with the reasoning. If the answer is that you do not need us, or that a smaller job fixes it, that is what you hear.