Attic Insulation & Air Sealing in Tallahassee, FL

Attic insulation and air sealing work together. Insulation slows heat moving through the ceiling; air sealing stops the cooled air in your house from leaking up into the attic around lights, vents, wires and the hatch. In a Tallahassee summer, when Wikipedia's airport records show average July highs of 92.1F, a sunny attic gets far hotter than that, and every gap in the ceiling becomes a path for heat and humidity. Signs you need it: thin or uneven insulation you can see the ceiling joists through, hot second-floor rooms, dust streaks on the insulation around lights and vents, or an AC that never catches up.

How much insulation is enough

The Insulation Institute's summary of the 2023 Florida Building Code, Energy Conservation lists R-38 for ceilings in Zone 2, which covers Leon County. For older homes the Department of Energy suggests R-49 to R-60 if the attic has nothing, or adding R-38 to R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already in place. The City of Tallahassee Utilities grant uses R-38 for homes heated by gas or a heat pump and R-49 for homes with electric resistance heat. Blown fiberglass or cellulose usually reaches those levels at the lowest cost on an open attic floor.

Air sealing comes first

Before any new insulation goes down, we seal the holes that let air through the ceiling. The usual suspects in Tallahassee homes: recessed can lights, bath and kitchen fan housings, plumbing vent stacks, the chase around the flue of a gas water heater or furnace (sealed with the right fire-rated material), wiring holes in the top plates of interior walls, dropped soffits over kitchen cabinets, and the attic hatch or pull-down stairs. Insulation laid over these gaps still lets air move through, so sealing is what makes the new insulation work.

Ducts in the attic

Many houses here have the air handler and ductwork in the attic. That raises two choices. Keep the attic vented, seal and insulate the attic floor, and make sure the ducts are sealed and well insulated; or spray foam under the roof deck so the ducts sit inside a semi-conditioned space. The first is usually less expensive. The second helps most when ducts are long, leaky or hard to reach, or when the attic holds a bonus room. We lay out both options when both make sense.

Rebate programs, honestly

The City of Tallahassee Utilities ceiling insulation grant pays 80% of the installed cost up to $400, or up to $500 for income-qualified customers, on jobs of at least $500. It requires a free energy audit, uses contractors from the city's approved list, and covers only blown fiberglass and loose-fill cellulose, not foam, batts or radiant barriers. Duke Energy Florida's attic insulation program requires a free Home Energy Check, existing insulation of R-19 or less, and a Duke-prequalified contractor. We tell you upfront whether your job fits either program and how that affects who can do it.

Old, damaged insulation

Some attics need cleanup before anything is added. Insulation soaked by a roof leak, soiled by rodents or raccoons, or packed down from storage does not perform. Our Insulation Removal & Replacement service covers that. Where the old fill is dry and clean, we usually leave it and build on top of it.

What the visit covers

We check the depth and condition of what is there, find the air leaks, look at the ducts, the bath fan exhaust and the soffit vents, and check for roof leaks and wiring that should not be covered. The quote lists the air sealing, the material and depth, the R-value reached and the price. Get a free estimate