Retrofit insulation in Bismarck ND - a house that holds the heat you pay for
Cold rooms, drafty floors or a heating bill that keeps climbing? We seal the leaks and add insulation where your house is short.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
How do you add insulation to a house that's already built?
Retrofit insulation in Bismarck means adding insulation to the house you already live in. Usually that's sealing air leaks and blowing loose fill over the attic floor, and sometimes it's filling the wall cavities from inside or out.
Most people call because a room upstairs is cold, the floor over the crawl space is drafty or the heating bill keeps creeping up, and they want to know where to start. The price moves with how much area we cover, whether old or damaged insulation has to come out, any repairs that need to happen first and whether you go with loose fill or foam. The schedule turns on those same repairs and on whether the city wants a permit for your job. I look the space over with you and send a written estimate that says what we'd do and why, so you can decide with the plan in front of you.
Is retrofit insulation right for your home?
An older, drafty house
Older homes often have thin, settled attic insulation and walls that were never filled at all.
A power bill that climbs
When the bill jumps every winter, heat is usually slipping out through the attic first.
The room over the garage
Rooms over a garage lose heat on several sides, so they're usually the first to feel cold.
Joists showing in the attic
If you can see the tops of the ceiling joists up there, there's room to add more.
How we handle retrofit insulation
In an older house I help you choose where to start, and it's usually the attic, while the walls get treated as their own project. Up there we deal with problems first, like wet or dirty old insulation, then seal the gaps around lights, pipes and the hatch, because insulation laid over a draft spends its life fighting it. We keep the vents at the eaves open so the attic can still breathe, then blow in loose fill, which is insulation blown through a hose, and spread it as deep at the edges as it is in the middle.
Retrofit work often runs into bigger jobs right next to it. If your attic needs more than a top-up, attic insulation is the full job, from clearing out to the finished layer. Where the gaps are too many or too awkward to seal one at a time, spray foam insulation seals and insulates together, and wall insulation picks up once the attic is done.
Attic seal and top-up
This suits most houses where the attic has some insulation but not enough, or it's settled thin over the years. We seal first and blow loose fill over what's there, so you keep the part that's still doing its job.
Walls as their own project
Filling wall cavities in rooms you live in is a more involved job than the attic, so we plan it separately, often after the attic's done. In a house built before 1980, wall work brings lead safety rules into play, so I talk you through the lead-safe steps we take when the work disturbs old paint.
Clear out, then start fresh
If the old insulation got soaked from a roof leak or is full of droppings, laying new material over it keeps the problem in your attic. We take the bad material out once the cause is fixed and insulate a clean space.
What happens when you call about retrofit insulation in Bismarck?
Call or send the form
Call (701) 299-5007 or use the form and tell us what's bothering you, a cold room, a drafty floor or the bill. We get back to you to set a time for me to come out.
I look over the space
I go through the attic, walls or crawl space with you and take photos so you can see what I see. I'll tell you what should be fixed first and what can wait, and if your insulation is fine, I'll say so.
You get a written estimate
The estimate says what we'd do and why, in the order we'd do it. It's written down so you can weigh each item on your own time, and nobody can talk you into work you don't need.
We seal, insulate, walk through
We handle the problems first and seal before we insulate. Before we pack up, I walk you through the finished work so you can see the sealed gaps and the depth for yourself.
Loose fill or spray foam for retrofit insulation?
Usually seal and top up, unless ducts are up there.
Spray foam costs more, and it seals air while it insulates, which is what it's good at. For most attics, though, sealing the gaps by hand and topping up with loose fill makes more sense for the money, and it's the plan I'll usually point you toward.
The exception is ductwork. If your furnace ducts run through the attic, foam can bring them inside the insulated part of the house instead of leaving them out in the cold, and that can change the math. I'll show you where your ducts run before we pick.
Insulation work up close
Look through these examples of insulation work, from attic floors and wall cavities to foam and air sealing, to get a feel for each option.
Find out where your house needs insulation first
Tell us when your house was built, which spaces you want insulated and anything odd up in the attic. We respond within 1 business day to set up a free in-person estimate, with no pressure to book.
Why Bismarck homeowners call us about retrofit insulation
I do every estimate myself
The person who looks at your attic and writes the plan is me, not a salesperson. I'm also on the jobs alongside our installers, so the plan doesn't get lost between the estimate and the work.
In business since 2023
We're best known for showing people what's going on in their house before we touch anything. If you know why we're doing something, you can judge whether it's worth it.
Licensed and fully insured
North Dakota requires anyone doing a job over $4,000 to hold a state contractor license, so on a bigger retrofit it's fair to ask to see it before you sign. Ask me for ours at the estimate and I'll show it to you.
I'll tell you if it's fine
If what's in your attic is doing its job, I'd rather say so than sell you more of it. Call (701) 299-5007 or send us the form and I'll come take a look.
Retrofit insulation questions we hear
How much does retrofit insulation cost in Bismarck?
Insulation work of any kind in Bismarck usually costs about $1,400 to $4,800 per job, and that's the range for the area, not our quote. Where yours falls depends on how much area we cover, whether anything has to come out first and whether it's loose fill or foam. I'll write up what we'd do after I've seen the space, and the work is backed by our satisfaction guarantee.
How do I know if my attic is ready for insulation?
Your attic is ready when none of the problems a federal attic air sealing guide says to fix first are there. That guide says to hold off when the attic has active knob and tube wiring, the old cloth-wrapped kind, or vermiculite, a pebbly gray-brown loose fill, or bathroom fans venting into it, and the same goes for a leaking roof or an unvented kerosene heater or gas fireplace. If I find one at the estimate I'll tell you, and if it's another trade's job I'll say who to call.
Should I seal air leaks before insulating my attic?
Yes, in most houses the leaks come first. NDSU Extension's advice is to deal with air leaks first and then insulate the areas that fall short. You can have both done as one job, and that's the order we work in.
How many inches of insulation should my attic have in Bismarck?
The extension service says its recommended attic level takes about 16 to 20 inches of loose-fill cellulose or fiberglass. What you actually get depends on the material, how dense it is and how evenly it's spread. I measure what's up there now and show you where it's thin, which is often at the edges.
What is the best way to insulate existing walls without opening them up?
Usually it's drill and fill, which federal guidance calls a common and fairly uninvasive method. Blown-in insulation fills each wall cavity through small holes near the top. If you're planning new siding, that's an ideal time to do it from the outside so the inside walls aren't touched.
Do I have to leave the house during insulation work?
For blown-in loose fill in the attic, most families stay home, since the work happens up there and through the hatch. Spray foam is different, because the foam maker sets a re-entry time, which is when you can come back inside, and we go by it. I'll tell you what that time is for the product before the job is booked.
Not sure where to start?
I'll come look the space over with you and send a written estimate that says what we'd do and why.
Related insulation services
Retrofit insulation permits and houses around Bismarck
The Bismarck Building Inspections Department handles permits and inspections in the city and the area just outside its limits, and its list of permitted work names remodels, basement finishes and HVAC but not insulation, so that list doesn't settle whether your job needs a permit. Before we start, we check with the city's building inspection office, and when a permit is needed we handle the application and wait until it's issued. Federal attic guidance says new attic insulation should meet or exceed the energy code currently adopted, and North Dakota has updated its state building code, so the level to aim for is today's code, not the one in place when your house was built.
We're based in Bismarck, and on jobs across Bismarck and Mandan and other cities around them, a lot of calls are about older houses with a thin, settled layer in the attic and walls that were never filled. That's why the attic usually comes first.