Spray Foam Insulation in Birmingham, AL

Spray Foam Insulation in Birmingham usually means working on houses that are older than the people who own them. Point2Homes' summary of the Census Bureau's 2019-2023 American Community Survey puts the city's median year built at 1965. Nearly one in five homes (18.3%) went up in 1939 or earlier, and about 43% before 1960. Those houses were framed long before energy codes, and many still have the original empty walls, a few inches of settled attic fill and open-vented crawl spaces.

Jones Valley heat and humidity

The city sits in Jones Valley between long Appalachian ridges, with Red Mountain rising just south of downtown. The airport's 1991-2020 normals, as listed on Wikipedia, average 65 days a year at 90F or above and 70.4% relative humidity, with 56.62 inches of rain. Old houses here were designed to breathe, with tall ceilings, vented crawl spaces and attic vents. That worked before central air. Today the same openings pull humid air into crawl spaces where it sweats on ducts, and let attic heat soak into upstairs rooms.

What we usually find

In the older neighborhoods developed south and west of downtown, a typical visit turns up an attic with an uneven layer of old loose fill, a cut-in attic hatch with no seal, gaps around chimneys and plumbing stacks, and ductwork that was added decades after the house was built. Below the floor, there is often a block or pier crawl space with open vents, a thin or missing vapor barrier and fiberglass batts that have pulled loose. Walls in houses from before World War II are frequently empty behind plaster.

Where to start

For most of these houses, the best first money goes to the attic floor and the crawl space. Sealing the attic floor and blowing cellulose or fiberglass to depth is inexpensive compared with foam, and the Department of Energy recommends R-49 to R-60 for an uninsulated Zone 3 attic. Closing and insulating the crawl space stops the summer moisture problem at its source. Walls come next, usually with dense-pack cellulose through small holes so the plaster stays intact. Spray foam earns its cost on crawl space walls, rim joists, kneewalls and any attic that holds the air handler.

Vacant and renovated houses

The 2020 census counted 106,713 housing units in Birmingham, with 15.7% vacant, a much higher share than the suburbs over the mountain. Many houses are being bought and renovated, and a renovation with open walls and ceilings is the cheapest moment to insulate properly. If you are rehabbing a Birmingham house, call before the drywall goes up.

Tell us the neighborhood, the age of the house and what bothers you about it, and we will set up a visit and send a written quote. Get a free estimate