Drafty rooms, a hot upstairs or a power bill that keeps climbing? We seal the gaps, then add insulation where your older house needs it.
Retrofit insulation in Chico means adding or replacing insulation in a house that's already built, usually in the attic, the exterior walls or both, so the drafty rooms and the hot upstairs start to feel like the rest of the house.
Most calls start with a room that never feels right, like the one over the garage, or a power bill that keeps creeping up in an older house. The attic is usually the easier place to start, since blown-in insulation, loose fill blown through a hose, can go right over the attic floor in a vented attic, and the air sealing can happen in the same job.
The price moves with how much space we're covering, whether old insulation has to come out first, how many gaps need sealing and whether the walls are part of it. The schedule turns mostly on what I find, because old wiring or vermiculite can mean another trade goes first. I'll lay all of that out in the written estimate once I've seen the house.
Most retrofit problems come from skipping a step up top. These are the things I look at first, because they decide what the job really is before any new insulation goes in.
I measure how many inches are already in the attic and look at what shape it's in. Fresh material laid over insulation that got soaked or filled with droppings just keeps the problem in your house, so if the old stuff is bad, it comes out first and shows as its own line on the estimate.
Every opening through the attic floor, like can lights, pipes and the hatch, should be sealed before insulation goes in. That step comes first in the plan, so look for it on any estimate you get, ours included. Insulation laid over open gaps spends its life fighting a draft.
The vents along the eaves have to stay open so the attic can breathe, because buried vents trap moisture that ends up showing in the framing. We also watch the depth out at the edges, where it often gets left thin while the middle gets piled deep.
Here's how a retrofit goes with us, from the first call to the walk-through, and who you'll be dealing with at each step along the way.
Call (530) 399-1513 or send a message, tell us what's bothering you about the house, and we'll get back to you to set a time for me to come out.
I come out myself and look over the attic and walls, and I note anything that has to be fixed first. Then I write up an estimate that lists the work in the order it gets done.
Our crew lead and installers seal the gaps and put the insulation in, following the plan in the estimate. If another trade had to go first, we wait until that's finished before we start.
I check the work before we call it finished. Then we walk you through what we did, including where the marked junction boxes are, so you know what's up there.
With an older home, I help you decide between the attic, the walls or both, and I'll point you to the cheaper option when it'll do the job. For a lot of houses that's attic insulation with the gaps sealed first, because the attic is easy to reach and the walls mean drilling into the house.
Before I plan anything, I check for old wiring and for vermiculite, the gray-brown pebbly fill some older attics have. If there's live knob and tube wiring, the old cloth-covered kind on porcelain knobs, it has to be blocked off from the insulation or replaced by an electrician first. When something needs another trade, I'll tell you and we'll wait rather than cover it up.
Junction boxes, where wires join, get covered and flagged during prep so they're easy to find later and nobody has to dig through insulation to reach one. If the walls are part of the plan and your house was built before 1980, it's worth asking how lead safety rules apply, since that work opens painted surfaces inside or out. Where foam makes more sense, our spray foam insulation page explains how it works.
Sealing the gaps and adding loose fill over what's there usually costs less and does the job well in a vented attic. It's where I'd start for most older houses, as long as the old material is in decent shape.
Spray foam costs more, but it seals air while it insulates. If your ductwork runs through the attic, foam is often worth the extra, and I'll tell you plainly when it isn't.
Send the form and we'll reply within one business day to set a time. I'll come out, look over the attic and walls, and write up a free estimate on site, with no obligation to go ahead.
(530) 399-1513Whether your retrofit needs a permit is a question for the City of Chico's Building Division, so we'll check before work starts rather than guess. If it does need one, we handle the application and any inspection with the office that covers your address, and we'll tell you which office that is. Any contractor pulling a Chico permit for the first time needs a city business license number and a state contractor's license number.
On a permitted job, the insulating contractor hands an insulation certificate to the general contractor, agent or owner-builder, and it gets uploaded to the permit before final inspection. That's part of what we take care of. Butte County's Weatherization Assistance Program provides home energy saving services and products at no charge to low-income county residents, so check with them if that could be you.
We're based in Chico and work in the cities around it, including Durham and Oroville. Across the area we see a lot of the same calls, older houses with thin attic insulation, rooms over the garage that never stay comfortable and walls nobody ever filled when the house was built.
I grew up on a farm where you fixed things right the first time, and I learned insulation on other contractors' crews before starting this business in Chico in 2020. That's six years of doing the work in the right order, and I'm the one who comes out to look at your house and write the estimate.
We're licensed and insured. California licenses this work under its insulation and acoustical contractor class, which covers installing insulating material for temperature or sound control, so that's the license to ask any contractor about. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
When you're ready, call (530) 399-1513 or send us a message, and I'll come take a look before anyone quotes you a thing.
Start here if the walls can wait and the attic is the part of the house letting the upstairs down.
Worth a look when ductwork runs through the attic or a space needs to be air sealed and insulated in one pass.
We're based in Chico and do retrofit work in the cities around it, including Paradise, Gridley, Orland and Corning. If your city isn't listed, give us a call and ask.
Insulation in Chico usually costs about $1 to $5 per square foot, and that's the going range in the area, not our price. Where your job lands depends on attic or walls, how much sealing comes first and whether old insulation has to come out. I'll give you your own figure in a written estimate done on site.
Yes, usually, with drill and fill, which blows insulation into each wall cavity through small holes near the top. The holes can go on the inside or the outside of the wall, so you get to weigh which side gets opened and patched before we start.
Leave it alone and treat it as if it contains asbestos, which means it stays undisturbed or a trained professional removes it. If it has to come out before we insulate, plan on that professional going first, and we'll schedule our work after they're done.
Not right now. The city has stopped residential insulation inspections and will keep it that way until a new verification requirement takes their place. Pipe insulation is still verified, and on a permitted job the insulation certificate still goes on the permit, as covered above.
Crew time mostly turns on how much sealing comes first and whether old material has to come out, and I'll tell you what to expect when I write the estimate. If we're spraying foam, you'll stay out until the re-entry time, the wait before it's safe to come back, and you'll know that time before we start.
Clear a path to the attic hatch and move anything stored under it or on the attic floor, so the crew can reach every corner. Keep pets away from the work area, and point out any rooms you already know run drafty or hot.
Call (530) 399-1513 or use the form, and have your home's build year handy, plus anything you've spotted like vermiculite or old knob and tube wiring, so I know what to look for.
