Spray Foam Insulation in Dallas, TX

Dallas covers nearly 386 square miles and reaches into five counties, so an insulation job here can mean almost anything. A 1920s bungalow in Oak Cliff, a 1950s ranch house in Preston Hollow, a newer slab home north of LBJ Freeway and a warehouse off Stemmons all lose heat in different places. About one in five homes in the city was built before 1960, back when pier and beam was still the standard foundation for Texas houses. Newer homes mostly sit on slabs, with the air conditioning up in the attic.

Homes in Dallas

Winnetka Heights in Oak Cliff, two miles from downtown, went up mostly between 1908 and the 1920s, and pier and beam is nearly universal there. The M Streets filled in with Tudor-style houses in the 1920s, and Lakewood grew from the early 1900s into the 1950s. Older homes in East Dallas and the M Streets often still rely on pier and beam, which leaves an open crawl space under the floor. In winter, cold air down there pulls heat through the floorboards and every gap around pipes and wires. Closed cell foam on the underside of the subfloor and along the rim joists closes those gaps and adds about R-6.5 per inch. At 1.5 inches and thicker it also acts as a vapor retarder, which matters over a dirt crawl space. Our crawl space insulation page covers the details.

Homes built after about 1970 mostly sit on slabs, and the standard Texas practice was to put the air handler and ductwork in the attic. On a summer afternoon a Dallas attic can pass 130°F, so the air in those ducts picks up heat before it reaches a single vent. Open cell foam sprayed on the underside of the roof deck, about 5.5 inches for roughly R-20, brings the attic inside the conditioned space along with the ducts and the air handler. That’s the job described on our attic spray foam page, and it’s where we’d start in most slab homes.

If your attic floor holds old insulation that’s packed down, dusty or full of rodent droppings, we can vacuum it out before we spray. Once the roof deck is sealed, the attic floor doesn’t need insulation, so there’s no reason to leave a mess up there.

Warehouses and commercial buildings in Dallas

The Design District, northwest of downtown along I-35E, began as a warehouse district. Once levees took away the Trinity River flood threat, John Stemmons and Trammell Crow put up single-story warehouses with offices in front. Industrial space still lines the Stemmons corridor, and the inland port in southern Dallas County, near I-20 and I-45, adds newer warehouses and distribution centers.

A big low-slope roof takes the full Texas sun all day, and in an older warehouse there may be little between that roof and the people working under it. Closed cell foam sprayed under the roof deck adds about R-6.5 per inch, seals the seams where hot air and dust get in, and stiffens the deck. On a metal building it also stops condensation: when warm, humid air touches steel that cooled overnight, water forms and drips onto stock, equipment and floors. Closed cell at 1.5 inches or more keeps that moist air off the metal. See commercial spray foam for warehouses, office/warehouse buildings and churches, and metal building insulation for the condensation fix.

Neighborhoods and ZIP codes we cover

We work across all of Dallas, including Lakewood (75214), the M Streets (75206), Winnetka Heights in Oak Cliff (75208), Pleasant Grove (75217), Lake Highlands (75231, 75238 and 75243), Preston Hollow (75220, 75225 and 75230) and Far North Dallas (75248, 75252, 75254 and 75287), where the city crosses into Collin and Denton counties. Commercial work includes the Design District, the Stemmons corridor and southern Dallas.

Dallas spray foam questions

Can you insulate under a pier-and-beam house in East Dallas or Oak Cliff?

Yes, as long as we can get under it. We need enough clearance to crawl and spray, and we look for plumbing leaks, standing water or wet soil first, because foam shouldn’t seal in a moisture problem. Then closed cell goes on the underside of the subfloor and the rim joists. Foam that stays exposed in a crawl space may need an ignition barrier coating, and if yours does, it will be in the quote.

Our older Dallas house has a gas furnace up in the attic. Is that a problem for foam?

It’s something to settle before we spray, and usually not a reason to skip foam. A furnace or water heater that burns gas draws the air it burns from the space around it, and in a vented attic that air comes in through the vents. Seal the roof deck and that supply changes. We check the setup during the free measure and tell you what, if anything, your HVAC contractor needs to handle first.

Do you work in the parts of Dallas that are in Collin and Denton counties?

Yes. Far North Dallas, between LBJ Freeway and the George Bush Turnpike, is split between Dallas, Collin and Denton counties, and we cover all of it. Most of that area was built in the late 20th century, so the typical house there sits on a slab with the ducts in the attic, and open cell foam under the roof deck is usually the place to start.

How thick does foam go on a warehouse roof?

Usually 2 to 3 inches of closed cell on the underside of the deck. Two inches gives roughly R-13, and three inches gives roughly R-20. Anything past 1.5 inches also works as a vapor retarder, which is what stops condensation on steel. Where foam stays exposed inside the building, it may need a protective coating, and we’ll tell you during the measure. The price table on this page shows typical ranges.