Hot rooms upstairs and a power bill that keeps climbing? We seal the gaps and add insulation where your older house needs it.
Retrofit insulation adds insulation to a Longview house that's already built, usually by sealing the air leaks, topping up the attic and filling closed walls through small holes, so the hot rooms even out and the AC isn't running all afternoon.
Most folks who call me about this have an older house that's sound but uncomfortable, with a room over the garage that bakes in July, floors that run cold in January and a power bill that creeps up every year, and nobody wants to rip out drywall to fix that. The price mostly comes down to how many areas we're doing, how many inches are already in the attic and what shape they're in, how easy the attic is to move around in, and whether old material has to come out first. The schedule turns on the same things, plus whatever we find once we're up there, which is why the estimate spells out which areas and which materials the job covers before anyone starts. If the walls are what's bothering you most, our wall insulation page goes deeper on that side of it.
I come out to look at the job and write the estimate myself, and our own crew lead and installers do the work. Plenty of folks haven't been in their attic since the day they moved in, so I'll tell you what I found up there and what isn't worth the money.
I got started blowing insulation into neighbors' attics around Longview on weekends and asking a lot of questions. In 2013 it became my full-time work, and 13 years in, attic work done in the right order is still what we're known for.
We're licensed and fully insured, so you're covered while our crew is up in your attic or drilling into your walls. When you're ready to find out what your house needs, call (903) 309-1886 or request an estimate online.
Tell us which rooms bother you and what's in the attic now, even a quick description of the old insulation helps, by the form, by calling (903) 309-1886 or by emailing sales@insulationlongview.com. Expect a reply within 1 business day, and a lot of the time I'm the one calling you back to set up a free estimate at your property. You'll get the areas and materials in writing, with no pressure and no obligation.
What the City of Longview publishes doesn't settle whether adding insulation to an existing house needs a permit, so before work starts, we check with the city's building inspection office, whose staff help homeowners and contractors alike with code requirements before a permit is issued. If your job needs a permit, we take care of it as part of our work and tell you up front. We're based in Longview and work in the cities around it across East Texas, including White Oak, Kilgore and Tyler, and we do the same check with the building office for whichever city your house is in.
Longview sits in climate zone 3A, the warm, humid zone that covers the rest of Gregg County too, and that humidity is why I bring up your AC when a house gets a good bit tighter. One spray foam maker's retrofit guide warns that in a climate like ours, an oversized system can cool the air before it pulls the moisture out, leaving the house clammy, and it says an HVAC contractor should inspect the system and decide whether changes are needed. We're insulation folks, not AC folks, so on older houses here, where we usually find settled insulation and ductwork running through the attic, I'll suggest that check when the job closes the house up that much.
There isn't one price, because it depends on how many areas we're insulating and what's already in your attic and walls. Foam at the roofline costs more than sealing the gaps and topping up with loose fill, and old insulation that has to come out first adds to the job. Once I've seen the house, the estimate breaks it out by area, so you can drop anything that isn't worth it to you.
Federal energy guides put the average at up to 20% off heating and cooling costs, or up to 10% off total energy costs, from adding insulation to attics, floors and crawl spaces and cutting air leaks. That's an average and a ceiling, not a promise. A house with only a few inches in the attic usually has more to gain than one that's already well covered.
Yes, because federal guidance for contractors warns that money spent on insulation can be wasted unless the holes and gaps in ceilings, walls and foundation are sealed first. That's why air sealing, closing those gaps, is the opening step on our retrofit jobs, and you'll see it on your estimate.
For dense-packed walls, one builder's guide notes you can usually stay home and go about your day, while spray foam means everyone clears out. For foam, federal product safety staff advise leaving during the install and for at least 24 hours after, and talking through safety steps with your contractor ahead of time. We'll go over that re-entry time, the point when the kids and pets can come back, before any foam job goes on the calendar.
That sounds like vermiculite, a pour-in insulation that looks like small pebbles, and the EPA says to treat it as if it contains asbestos. Its advice is to leave it undisturbed or have a trained professional remove it, so don't go digging around in it. We won't disturb it either, and if I spot it on the estimate visit, I'll tell you before we plan anything else up there.
Dense-packed cellulose or fiberglass is the favored way to insulate closed walls in an existing house, because packing it tight fills the cavity, keeps it from settling and slows air moving through the wall. If you're replacing siding on an uninsulated wood-frame wall, a federal guide suggests drilling the sheathing and blowing insulation in before the new siding goes on, so call us while the old siding is still off.
Added loose fill should meet or exceed what the building and energy codes in force call for, spread as evenly as possible over the whole ceiling. Ask any bidder what level your attic will reach and whether baffles are included, since baffles keep the eave vents open and stop insulation from falling into the eaves. A deep middle with thin edges is a common miss, and it's backward.
