Spray Foam Insulation in Arlington, TX

Arlington grew from 7,692 people in 1950 to 261,721 by 1990, and the houses built during that run still make up most of the city’s housing. The median single-family home here was built in 1984, and more than 65 percent of Arlington’s housing went up before 1990. That adds up to a lot of attics where the original insulation, if it is still there, is 35 years old or more, and where the ductwork has spent every one of those summers in the heat. Most of what we recommend in Arlington starts from that fact.

Homes in Arlington

The city’s own history describes neighborhoods spreading into far north Arlington in the 1970s and 1980s, then growth moving south after the late 1980s, where thousands of houses were built. Census figures show more of Arlington’s current homes dating from the 1980s than from any other decade, followed by the 1970s. The older homes sit near downtown and in East Arlington. The newest are in Viridian, the 2,300-acre community at the north city limits where construction began in 2011, and in parts of south Arlington.

In homes from the 1970s on, the layout is usually the same: a slab foundation, and a furnace or air handler with its ductwork in the attic. That attic can pass 130°F in July. We usually recommend open cell foam on the underside of the roof deck, about 5.5 inches for close to R-20. That brings the attic, the ducts and the equipment inside the conditioned part of the house. Our attic spray foam page explains how the job runs, from the measure to the cleanup.

If there is a gas furnace or gas water heater in your attic, we check how it gets combustion air before anything is sealed. That check is part of the measure, and what we find can change the plan.

Clearing out old attic insulation

After 35 or 40 years, the loose-fill on an attic floor has often settled, been packed down along the path to the air handler, and in some houses given rodents a place to nest. Once the roof deck is sealed with foam, that old layer is no longer the main barrier between your rooms and the heat. If it is clean and dry, it can often stay where it is. If it is matted, stained by an old roof leak or full of droppings, we vacuum it out before spraying.

The vacuum sits outside with a hose run up into the attic, so the old material leaves through the hose instead of being carried down your hallways in bags. Removal is also worth doing before a remodel, or any time you want a clear look at the ceiling drywall and wiring before new work starts. See insulation removal for how we handle it.

Neighborhoods and ZIP codes we cover

We cover all of Arlington, including Viridian (76005), far north Arlington, downtown and the blocks around UT Arlington, East Arlington and the newer subdivisions of south Arlington. That takes in ZIP codes 76001, 76002, 76006 and 76010 through 76018. We also work in Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens, the two small towns Arlington surrounds.

Arlington spray foam questions

I own rental houses in Arlington. Can you work between tenants?

Yes. About 46 percent of Arlington’s occupied housing is rented, and the stretch between tenants is the easiest time for this work. With nobody living there, no one has to leave for the roughly 24 hours after spraying, and we can vacuum out old insulation and foam the attic before the next lease starts. If a tenant is in place, we schedule a day they can be away and explain what to expect.

Do you insulate warehouses, offices and churches in Arlington?

Yes. We start with the roof and wall assembly. Steel roofs and walls usually get closed cell, which stops condensation on the metal and stiffens the panels. Wood-framed or decked roofs over offices and sanctuaries can take open cell. Large buildings can be done in sections so a business keeps operating, and for churches we plan around services. See commercial spray foam.

We live near the stadiums. Do game days affect scheduling?

They can. On days with big events at AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field or Six Flags Over Texas, traffic around the Entertainment District slows down, and our spray rig needs to park close to the house for the hose run. Tell us you are in that area when you book, and we will check the event calendar and plan the day around it.

Our house in the north Arlington hills has a steep roof with lots of angles. Does that change the job?

It changes the quantity, not the method. When we foam the roof deck, we measure the underside of the roof itself, not the floor below it, and steep pitches, dormers and hips all add surface. Two houses with the same square footage can need very different amounts of foam. That is why we measure on site instead of quoting from square footage alone.