Spray foam for Houston homes, assessed honestly
Attics, roof decks, walls, garages, crawl spaces and new construction. We look at the whole house, tell you what is actually happening up there, and put a scoped price in writing. Most attics are done in a day.
Six places, one standard
Attic and roof deck
Foam at the underside of the deck brings the attic inside the envelope, so ductwork and the air handler stop operating in 140°F air. Full attic page.
Exterior walls
Sprayed into open stud bays before drywall. Insulates and air seals in a single application, which is why builders specify it.
Crawl space and pier and beam
Closed-cell at the perimeter and subfloor, where its Class II vapor retarder performance earns the higher cost in a humid climate.
Garages and bonus rooms
Rooms over or beside a garage are usually the worst in the house, because the envelope boundary was never continuous there.
Band joists and top plates
Small areas that leak disproportionately. Often the best value in an older home.
New construction
Coordinated before the walls close, when foam depth, protected surfaces and product selection can still be planned rather than patched.
Your air handler lives in the hottest room in the house
Most Houston homes were built with a vented attic and insulation on the attic floor. On paper that works. In practice the attic reaches 130 to 140°F on a July afternoon, and almost every house puts its ductwork and air handler up there.
So the equipment responsible for cooling the house spends the entire cooling season in the hottest air in the building, pushing conditioned air through ducts surrounded by that heat. Meanwhile ceiling penetrations, top plates, recessed lights and duct chases let conditioned air out and humid outdoor air in.
Foam at the roof deck moves the insulation boundary from the attic floor to the roof line. The attic becomes a partly conditioned space inside the envelope, typically within a few degrees of the house rather than 60°F above it. That is why the change is felt in humidity and system runtime as much as temperature.
It is not automatically the right answer
A sealed attic changes how the house handles moisture and combustion air. If you have atmospherically vented gas appliances in the attic, or a roof with an active leak, those get addressed first. We tell you when your house is not a good candidate rather than sell you the job anyway.
Foam is permanent. Everything under it gets found first.
Inspect the substrate
Roof leaks, water staining, rot, pest activity and framing condition. If we find something, you hear about it before we start.
Check the mechanicals
Combustion appliances, flues, recessed lighting clearances and ventilation paths, so the sealed assembly does not create a new problem.
Confirm conditions
Ambient, substrate and humidity have to be within the manufacturer's range. Spraying outside it causes shrinkage, poor adhesion and odor.
Photograph everything
Before, during and after, including depth readings. Once foam is in place it cannot be inspected, so the record is made while it can.
What does spray foam cost in Houston?
Nobody else in town will put a number on the page. We will. Slide the square footage, pick the foam, and see the installed range before you talk to anyone. The real quote comes after we see the attic.
- Ranges reflect what this market actually charges, installed
- Attic roof decks usually run open-cell. Metal, crawl and coastal work usually run closed-cell.
- Access, height, removal of old insulation and prep move the number
Two liquids, one reaction, and a clear rule about when you come back in
Spray foam is installed as two liquid chemicals that react on site. During application and for a period afterward the area has to be empty and ventilated. There is no universal reentry number, and a contractor who gives you one without checking the product is guessing.
Before we start, we post the manufacturer's reentry time for the exact product going into your house. You get it in writing, and we confirm it with you before we leave the site. People and pets stay out until then.
What you get at completion
- Written certification of installed thickness, R-value and coverage area
- The posted reentry time and ventilation instructions
- Manufacturer product data sheet and material warranty documentation
- Our workmanship warranty terms
- Photographs of the installed foam before anything covers it
Residential questions
Do I have to remove my old attic insulation?
Not always. If the existing insulation is dry, clean and not in the way of a proper air seal at the roof deck, it can stay on the attic floor. If it is wet, rodent damaged or contaminated, removal is priced into the quote and done before we spray.
Is my house a good candidate for a sealed attic?
Most Houston homes are. The exceptions are houses with an active roof leak, unsound decking, or atmospherically vented gas appliances in the attic that need combustion air. We check all three on the assessment and tell you honestly.
How long does the job take?
Most attics are one day. A whole house project with walls, garage and bonus room cavities is usually two. Reentry time is posted in writing each day.
What do I get when the job is done?
A written certification of installed thickness, R-value and coverage area; the posted reentry time and ventilation instructions; the manufacturer's product data sheet and warranty; our workmanship warranty; and photographs of the foam before anything covers it.
Do you offer financing?
Ask us when you call. Terms change, and we would rather tell you what is available today than print something on a web page that goes stale.
Find out what your house actually needs
We look at the attic, tell you what is happening up there, and put a scoped price in writing.