Cold floors, a musty smell or a damp wall down there? We fix the water first, then foam the walls so the room stays comfortable.
Basement insulation in Longview means lining the inside of your foundation walls with spray foam or rigid foam board, so the walls stop letting in damp air and drafts and the rooms above stop feeling cold underfoot.
Most folks call me after they notice the downstairs room never feels right, and plenty of them have never looked behind the paneling down there, which is exactly why I come out and look. What moves the price is how much wall there is, whether there's water to fix before we start, which foam we use and how thick it goes on, and how the foam gets covered, since paint for a storage room costs less than drywall for a den. The schedule mostly turns on that water, because a damp wall gets fixed and dried before anything goes on it, and my estimate lays out which areas and which materials the job covers so you know what you're paying for. If your house sits over a crawl space instead, that's a different job, and our crawl space insulation page walks through it.
When you call, I'm the one who comes out to look at your walls and write up the estimate. Our own crew lead and installers do the work, so the people in your basement are folks I sent, working from the same notes I took.
I started out blowing insulation into neighbors' attics on weekends around Longview and went full time in 2013, so that's 13 years now. We're best known for doing jobs in the right order, and a basement gets the same treatment, with water first and foam last.
We're licensed and fully insured, so you're not the one carrying the risk while our crew works in your house. When you're ready to talk it over, call (903) 309-1886 or send the form on this page, and I'll set a time to come take a look.
Expect a reply within 1 business day, and a lot of the time I'm the one calling you back. I'll set a time to come look at the space, and the estimate is free, done on site and comes with no obligation, listing which areas and which materials the job covers. If you know roughly how many square feet the basement is, or you've seen water or dampness down there, put that in the form.
In Longview, permit applications go to the city's Building Inspection Department, and it wants every application filled out completely before it's turned in. I won't guess whether your basement job needs one, so before work starts we check with the building office for the city your house is in, and if a permit is needed, we take care of it as part of the job and tell you up front. The city's online portal is set up for contractors and licensed trades, so if you'd rather pull a homestead exempt permit yourself, you can reach the city's Development Services department in person or by phone to learn how that works.
Most of Longview sits in Gregg County, with a small piece of the east side reaching into Harrison County, and we work both sides of that line plus the cities around town, from White Oak to Kilgore, Tyler and more. Around here a below-ground room usually spends years as storage for the holiday boxes until somebody decides to make it a real room, and that's often when we get the call.
Across the US, insulating a basement usually runs about $4.50 to $6.40 per square foot. That's a national guide, not our price, and things like water repair, the foam you pick and how it's covered move your job from there. Our estimate spells out the areas and materials so you can compare it fairly.
Yes, the leaks come first. Federal guidance says to inspect the foundation walls and fix any water leaks or moisture problems before insulation work starts, so a damp basement should plan that repair as step one. It's the first thing I look for when I come out.
Foam is the best choice, and closed-cell spray foam gives the best moisture control of anything you can put on the inside of a foundation wall. Open-cell foam has to go on thicker to slow moisture, so ask any contractor which foam they're planning and how thick it goes on. DOE guidance also says fiberglass batts and cellulose shouldn't touch foundation walls, so a quote that puts them there is worth questioning.
It depends on the product, because each spray foam has its own re-entry time, the wait before people can come back in. One maker's guide tells its installers to have people and pets leave during spraying and stay out afterward until that time is up. I'll tell you which foam we're using and what its wait is before the day we spray, so you can plan around the kids and the dog.
Usually it's moisture trapped in the wall, either by an air gap behind foam board or by a finish that won't let the wall dry. Rigid foam boards need to stick fully to the foundation with the edges and seams sealed tight, and DOE guidance keeps plastic sheeting, vinyl or foil wallpaper, and epoxy, oil or alkyd paint off inside basement walls for that reason. If you're finishing the room later, ask us before you pick a wall covering.
