Wall Insulation in Beaverton, OR

Wall insulation is the hardest part of an older house to upgrade, because the cavities are closed behind drywall or plaster on one side and siding on the other. In Beaverton, homes from the 1950s through the early 1970s often have exterior walls with little or no insulation, and some later homes have voids where batts were never installed or have slumped. Those walls make rooms feel cold near the windows and keep the furnace running.

Finding out what is in the wall

Before recommending anything, we check. Removing an outlet cover on an exterior wall, looking from the attic down into the top plate, or pulling a piece of siding usually shows whether there is insulation and what kind. A thermal camera on a cold day can show which bays are empty. If the walls already have insulation in good shape, we will tell you that wall work is not where your money should go.

Existing walls: dense-pack

Closed walls are filled by blowing loose insulation in under pressure. We drill a hole into each stud bay, or remove a course of siding and drill through the sheathing, insert a fill tube and pack cellulose or fiberglass tightly enough that it will not settle. Fire blocking and horizontal framing inside the wall mean some bays need more than one hole. HomeGuide puts dense-pack cellulose at about $1.60 to $4.20 per square foot, and notes that wall insulation for an average 2,000-square-foot home runs about $1,700 to $8,500.

Drilling from outside or inside

• From outside: siding is removed in a strip, holes are drilled through the sheathing, and the siding goes back on. There is no interior mess, but it works best with lap siding that can come off and go back without damage.
• From inside: small holes are drilled through drywall, then plugged and patched. Texture matching and paint are often extra; HomeGuide lists drywall hole repair at $300 to $1,500 or more per hole when done separately.

We pick the approach for your house and put it on the quote, including who handles patching and paint.

Open walls during a remodel

When drywall is off for a kitchen or bathroom remodel, or siding is off for re-siding, the walls are open and the options widen. Batts can be cut to fit each bay and split around wiring, or open-cell or closed-cell spray foam can fill and seal the cavity. The current Oregon code calls for R-21 in above-grade walls for new work. A 2x4 wall cannot reach that with standard batts; closed-cell foam or higher-density batts get closer, and adding exterior insulation during re-siding can make up the rest.

Lead paint and older homes

Drilling through painted surfaces in a pre-1978 house can disturb lead-based paint. If we will be drilling or removing painted siding or trim on an older home, we discuss lead-safe work practices with you at the estimate and plan the job accordingly.

Moisture in walls

Wet winters make it important to keep water out of the walls in the first place. Before insulating, we look for signs of leaks around windows and at the siding, because insulation packed into a wall that takes on water stays wet. If we see a leak, we tell you so it can be fixed before the wall is filled.