Drafty rooms, cold floors or a hot upstairs? We seal the gaps and add insulation to your attic and walls so your house holds its heat.
Retrofit insulation adds insulation to the attic, walls, floors or crawl space of a house that's already built, and when it's paired with sealing air leaks it can lower what you pay to heat and cool your house in Carson City.
Most calls start with a room that's never comfortable, like the room over the garage, cold floors all winter or an upstairs that bakes in July, and a power bill that keeps creeping up. In an existing house that usually means the attic is thin, the walls are close to empty or air is slipping through gaps nobody sealed when the house went up. We're J&K Carson City Spray Foam Insulation, based in Carson City, and we do this work across the cities around it, from Reno and Sparks down to Gardnerville and up to Incline Village.
The price moves with how many square feet we're covering, how many inches are already up there, whether old insulation has to come out first and whether the walls are part of the job. The schedule depends mostly on what has to happen before new insulation goes in, like clearing the attic, sealing gaps or checking with the city on a permit. When I come out, I go over what I found with you and put together an estimate for your house, so you're deciding on real numbers instead of a guess.
It's a short list, and you'll know who's in your house at every step.
Call or send a request, and most of the time it's me who calls you back to set up a visit. I spent years behind a desk before I traded it for a flashlight and a tape measure, so I'd much rather hear about your drafty bedroom than file a report on it.
I do every estimate visit myself, and I've been at it since I started this business in 2017 after learning the trade on an insulation crew. We go through the attic, crawl space or walls together, I tell you what I see, and then you get an estimate to think over.
If you go ahead, our installers prep the space, do the work and clean up after themselves, with a lead installer in charge of the job. We're fully licensed and insured, and when the crew is done I walk you through the finished work so you're not left wondering what we did up there.
In an older house I look at the walls as well as the attic, because homes built before 1980 often have little or no insulation in the walls. On the job we seal the air leaks first, then fill the walls, usually by blowing insulation in through small holes so nothing gets torn open, and then bring the attic up to an even depth. Older houses just get a little more planning. Lead safety rules apply in homes built before 1980, depending on how much the work disturbs the walls, and insulation can't go on or around knob and tube wiring, the old wiring strung on porcelain knobs, so tell me if you know your house has it and ask me how we'll follow the lead rules on your walls.
Some houses call for a different approach. Spray foam insulation costs more and seals air while it insulates, and it usually earns that price when your ductwork runs through the attic, but for most attics, sealing the gaps and topping up loose fill is the better buy. If the attic is the only thing that needs work, our attic insulation service covers that job on its own.
Most insulation problems I find in attics come from good material put in the wrong order. Here's how our crew runs a retrofit job.
We look at the old insulation first, because covering material that's been soaked or is full of droppings just buries the problem. If it has to come out, I'll tell you at the estimate and not halfway through the job.
We do the air sealing, which means closing the gaps around can lights, pipes, wiring holes and the attic hatch, before any insulation goes down. National energy guidance puts sealing the attic floor first, and we agree, since insulation laid over a gap just fights the draft coming through it.
We keep the vents along the eaves clear as we work, because a buried vent stops the attic from breathing and moisture ends up in the framing. It's easy to miss on the day and a real headache to fix later.
We bring the attic to an even depth out to the edges instead of piling it deep in the middle and leaving the edges thin, which is backward. Then we clean up so the only sign we were there is a more comfortable house.
Tell us the year your house was built and which areas feel drafty or cold, and if you've had a home energy checkup, the step national guidance suggests before an insulation upgrade, send those results too. We respond within 1 business day to set up a time, and the estimate is free and done on site with no obligation. I'll go over what I found with you before you decide anything, or you can call (775) 227-5588.
(775) 227-5588Insulation in Carson City usually costs about $1 to $5 per square foot, depending on the material and where it goes. Foam costs more than loose fill, and pulling out old material or filling walls adds work, so the estimate visit is where you'll get the number for your own house.
Often, yes. The common way is called drill and fill, where small holes go near the top of each wall cavity, the space between the studs, and insulation is blown in through them. The holes can go on the inside or the outside of the wall, so ask which side suits your house, and I'll tell you which one I'd pick and why.
The Carson City Building Division issues construction permits and handles inspections, and documents for altering an existing house go through its online portal. Only the property owner, an authorized agent or a licensed contractor can sign and submit a permit application, so we check with the city and, if your job needs a permit, take care of that paperwork for you.
Clear out anything stored on the attic floor that would keep the new insulation from lying flat, since boxes and old furniture leave low spots. National attic prep guidance also calls for vent fans ducted to the outside and wiring junction boxes covered and flagged so they show above the new insulation, so ask us about those when we're up there.
A lot of the houses we see around Carson City got some attic insulation years ago and nobody ever touched the walls, so the upstairs runs hot and the back bedroom never warms up. We also hear from landlords who want a cold rental fixed between tenants, and we do the same work in Reno, Sparks, Dayton, Gardnerville, Incline Village and plenty of places in between.
Permit rules aren't the same in Carson City, the counties and the cities around us, so we check with whichever office covers your address before we start. If you'd rather improve a house you live in yourself, with no plan to sell or rent it out, the Nevada State Contractors Board is where you apply for the owner exemption.
We answer seven days a week, from 7 AM on weekdays and 6 AM on weekends until 9 PM, so call (775) 227-5588 or send us a request whenever it suits you.
If you're not sure your house needs anything at all, ask me, and I'll tell you straight.
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