Drafty rooms, a hot upstairs or dust settling under the attic? We seal the big leaks so your house holds its heat and its cool.
Attic air sealing in Chico closes the gaps where air from your rooms leaks up into the attic, so the heating and cooling you pay for stays in the house. The biggest gains come from plugging the large openings, not chasing every little crack.
Your house leaks air into the attic through gaps you can't see from the rooms below, around the tops of walls, light fixtures, pipes and the hatch. In summer that hot attic air works its way down into the rooms, and in winter your heat drifts up and out. Insulation slows heat, but it doesn't stop air moving through it, which is why the sealing matters.
What moves the price is how many big openings your attic has, how hard they are to reach, and whether something needs fixing before we seal. The schedule turns on those same fixes, plus a permit if your job needs one. I'll note all of it when I come out, and the estimate lists what we'd do and anything that has to happen first.
Sealing closes the attic up, so anything wrong up there gets trapped with it. These are the things I look for first, and they get handled before our crew starts.
Damp insulation, moldy or rotted rafters, and vents blowing moist air into the attic all need correcting before we seal. The same goes for an attic with little or no ventilation, because those signs usually point to a roof leak or trapped moisture that sealing would close in.
Houses wired before 1930 may still have knob and tube wiring, the old cloth-covered wire run on ceramic posts, and it can be a fire hazard when insulation touches it. If your house is that old, ask about it when I come out, because it has to be corrected before we seal.
A tighter attic can sometimes make a furnace or water heater that vents on its own draft push combustion gases back into the house. ENERGY STAR suggests having a Home Performance Contractor test an oil or gas appliance before and after sealing, so I'll ask about yours at the estimate.
Some attics hold vermiculite, a light, gray, flaky fill about the size of a pea, and it may contain asbestos. It should stay undisturbed until an approved lab tests it, and your local health department can name a lab, so if I spot it, nothing moves until you know.
From the first call to the final walk-through, here's who you'll deal with at each step and where a permit can affect the start date.
Call (530) 399-1513 or use the contact form, and we'll get back to you to set a time. It helps to mention which rooms feel drafty and whether you have gas or oil appliances.
I come out, go through the attic and the rooms below, and note anything that has to be fixed first. Then I write up an estimate covering the sealing and anything another trade needs to handle before we start.
If your job needs a permit, we apply first. Some simple jobs get one on the first visit, but most wait on plan review, which can set the start date. Then our crew lead and installers seal the attic.
I check the work myself before we call it finished. Then we walk you through what we sealed and where, so you know exactly what was done up there.
We start with the big openings, because they make the most difference. That means the tops of walls where they tie into the attic floor, the boxed-in areas over dropped ceilings, and the spaces behind and under kneewalls, the short walls in rooms tucked under the roof. Then we work down to the smaller gaps around can lights, pipes and the attic hatch, which get missed more often than they should.
If you want more insulation too, the sealing gets done first, because insulation laid over open gaps just fights a draft and buries the leaks where nobody can reach them. After that comes retrofit insulation on top of what's already there, or spray foam insulation in the spots where foam earns its cost. Either way we keep the eave vents clear so the attic still breathes.
Sealing the openings and then adding blown-in insulation, loose fill blown through a hose, is usually the better buy. It costs less than foam and handles most attics well, so it's what I'll suggest unless your attic points another way.
Foam costs more, but it seals air while it insulates. If your heating and cooling ducts run through the attic, foam can be worth the extra, and I'll tell you at the estimate whether yours is that kind of attic.
We reply within one business day to set a time for me to come out. The estimate is free, done on site and obligation-free, and it lists the sealing work along with anything that has to be fixed first.
(530) 399-1513The City of Chico's Building Division issues permits for additions, alterations and repairs to houses, and its list doesn't name attic air sealing, so whether your job needs one isn't settled. I'd rather ask than guess. If your job needs a permit, we handle the application and inspection with the city or county office that covers your address, and we'll tell you which office that is.
We work across Chico and the cities around it, including Durham and Paradise. We see older houses that need more checking before anything gets sealed, and newer ones with ducts running through the attic. On every one we check first, fix what needs fixing, seal, and only then add insulation.
I started this business in Chico in 2020, after learning insulation on other contractors' crews. I'm the one who comes out to look at your attic and write the estimate, our crew lead and installers do the work, and I check it before we're done. If your house needs another trade first, I'll tell you and wait rather than seal over the problem.
California licenses insulation contractors to install insulation for temperature or sound control, so that's the license to ask any contractor about. We're licensed and insured. Our promise is satisfaction guaranteed on every job. When you're ready, call (530) 399-1513 or send a note through our contact form, and I'll come out and take a look.
If your attic already has some insulation but not enough, retrofit insulation builds on it once the leaks underneath are closed.
Where ducts run through the attic or a spot needs air sealed and insulated in one layer, spray foam does both jobs at once.
We do the same attic work in the cities listed here as we do in Chico. If you don't see your city, give us a call and ask.
Drafty rooms, rooms that run much warmer or colder than the rest of the house, high heating or cooling bills, or dust collecting in rooms under the attic can all mean your home is a good candidate. Any one of those is worth an attic check, and I'd rather look than guess from a phone call.
Your price comes from what I find in your attic, so you get a real number after I've seen it on site. Tight crawl room up there, a lot of dropped ceilings or kneewalls, or a repair that has to happen first can push it up, while an open attic with a few big gaps keeps it down.
ENERGY STAR puts it at about 1 to 2 days when you hire a contractor, and rates it a difficult project that takes a do-it-yourselfer about 1 to 3 days. I'll tell you what your attic looks like at the estimate. To get ready, clear a path to the hatch and move anything stored under it.
Only on small jobs. California lets an unlicensed person take work up to $1,000, but only when the job needs no permit and that person employs no one. Past that, you want a contractor the state licenses for insulation work.
You apply at the Permit Counter in the Chico Municipal Building, and many permit types can be applied for online through eTRAKiT. If your sealing job turns out to need a permit, we take care of the application and inspection for you.
We answer seven days a week from 8 AM to 9 PM, so call (530) 399-1513 when it suits you or send a message through the form.
