Spray Foam Insulation in Ironton, MN

Spray Foam Insulation in Ironton frequently means working on an older house. The city was platted in September 1910, incorporated the next year, and reached its peak population of 1,165 in the 1920 census during the iron mining years. A lot of its homes date to those early decades, and the way houses were framed then leaves air paths that newer homes do not have.

Where old houses leak

In many early 1900s houses, the wall cavities are open at the top and bottom, so air can rise from the basement straight into the attic. Other common bypasses are chimney chases, gaps around plumbing stacks and the dropped ceilings or soffits added during later remodels. Each one acts like a small chimney pulling warm air up and out.

Why we seal before adding anything

Piling insulation on an attic floor that still has these open paths leaves the drafts in place. We find and plug the bypasses first. Spray foam works well for this because it fills irregular gaps and sticks to old framing. Near chimneys and flues, where foam is not appropriate, we use fire-rated materials instead.

Walls in an older home

If the walls have no insulation at all, there are a few choices. In existing homes, a common route is dense-pack blown insulation fed in through small drilled holes. When a wall is opened for a remodel, spray foam can go in the open bays. We look for old wiring and moisture before recommending anything inside a wall.

How cold it gets

Minnesota's energy code county list places Crow Wing County in Climate Zone 7, and for an attic with no insulation in that zone, the Department of Energy's figure is R-60. In a small, older house, the attic is often the easiest place to make a large improvement.

Ironton is small, with 576 residents in 2020, and most homes are on compact town lots. That makes access easy for our equipment in most cases. Let us know the age of your house and what you have noticed, and we will quote the work after we see it. Get a free estimate