A hot upstairs or a climbing power bill usually traces back to attic air leaks. We find the big gaps and close them.
Attic air sealing in Aliso Viejo closes the gaps between your rooms and the attic, around light fixtures, wiring, plumbing pipes and flues, so the cool air you pay for stays in your rooms instead of leaking up into the attic.
Most people who call Quality Aliso Viejo Insulation Services start with a hot upstairs, a room over the garage that never feels right, or a power bill that seems high for the house. I started out hauling hose up into attics like yours, and I still climb into most of them myself, because what's actually up there decides the job. Insulation alone won't stop a draft, and laying it over a gap just hides the leak.
What moves the price is how many big openings your attic has, how much room there is to work, and whether old insulation that's wet or full of droppings has to come out before we can reach the gaps. The schedule turns on the same things, plus any repair that has to happen first. You'll see your own number once I've been up there, and I write down what I find so you know what has to happen first.
You'll deal with me and our own crew from the first look to the last check. Here's how it goes.
I've run this business in Aliso Viejo since 2013, and I come out to look over your attic myself. The estimate lists each step and anything that has to be fixed first, so you can see the order before you agree to anything.
The people working in your attic are our crew, and they do the steps in the order the estimate lays out. We're licensed and fully insured.
Aliso Viejo allows construction from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or federal holidays, so we schedule your work days inside those hours. Before we call the job finished, I climb up and look it over myself.
We go after the big openings first, because that's where the savings are. That means the tops of interior walls, dropped ceilings that box down over kitchen cabinets or a hallway, and the space behind kneewalls, which are the short walls under a sloped ceiling. Narrow gaps get caulk or spray foam, and bigger ones get a rigid piece cut to fit and sealed in place, since the fluffy insulation up there slows heat but doesn't stop air. Chasing every hairline crack costs you more and saves you less, so we don't.
Air sealing is usually the first half of a bigger job. Once the gaps are closed, retrofit insulation tops up what's already in your attic without starting over. Spray foam insulation costs more because it seals and insulates in one pass, and I only lean toward it when your ductwork runs through the attic. Otherwise, sealing the gaps and adding loose fill usually gets you more for the money.
The order matters more than any one step, because sealing over a wet spot or insulating over an open gap just hides the problem.
Dirty patches in the insulation show where air has been moving, so they point us to the leaks. I also note how many inches are already up there and how old the house is, since both shape what comes next.
Wet insulation, moldy or rotted framing, a fan blowing moist air into the attic, little or no ventilation, and knob and tube wiring, the old wiring strung on porcelain knobs in homes from before 1930, all get handled before any sealing starts. If we find vermiculite, a flaky gray mineral about the size of a pea, an approved lab tests it first because it may contain asbestos.
Our crew works through the openings in the order the estimate lists, starting with the big ones described above. We stop where the next crack would cost more to chase than it would save.
We keep the eave vents along the edge of the roof clear, because a buried vent stops the attic from breathing and moisture starts showing in the framing. If you're adding insulation next, it goes down over a sealed ceiling at full depth out to the edges, not just piled in the middle.
Send us a few lines about your attic, and we'll get back to you within one business day to set up a visit. The estimate at your home is free, there's no pressure to book, and I'll write down what I find so you know what has to happen first. Call (949) 619-8040, email office@alisoviejoinsulation.com, or use the form.
(949) 619-8040Your home may be a good candidate if you have drafty rooms, rooms that sit at different temperatures, high heating or cooling bills, or dust settling in the rooms right below the attic. Those signs point to air moving between your rooms and the attic. If I go up and the gaps aren't worth sealing, I'll tell you that instead of selling you the job.
Yes, seal first. Once insulation covers the ceiling, the only way to reach the gaps is to pull that insulation back out, which means paying for the work twice. When new insulation is in the plan, we put the sealing first.
It usually is, but in some cases sealing can cause gas or oil appliances that vent on their own draft, without a fan, to send combustion gases back into the house, which isn't safe. ENERGY STAR suggests having a Home Performance Contractor test those appliances before and after the sealing.
A licensed contractor, unless the job counts as minor work. California lets someone without a contractor's license take a job only up to $1,000, and only when the work needs no permit and that person has no employees. Anything bigger, or any job with hired help, falls outside that exception, so it's worth asking any contractor about their license before work starts.
We check how each light is built first, because a can light with slits or holes in its housing isn't IC rated to sit against insulation. Lights like that are a serious fire hazard when anything flammable is packed around them. Ask us how we'll handle yours, and I'll go over it with you before the crew starts.
The city lists Climate Zone 6 in its building design requirements, so the energy rules that apply to your house are written for our mild coastal weather. Most calls we get here are about heat, an upstairs that bakes on summer afternoons while downstairs feels fine. A lot of homes around here are two-story with a room over the garage, and that room is often where a homeowner first notices the problem.
We're based in Aliso Viejo and work in cities across Orange County, including Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills and Lake Forest, plus plenty of cities nearby without a page of their own. The attics in those cities look a lot like ours, and we do the work the same way.
Call (949) 619-8040 and tell us about any gas or oil appliances in the house, so I can plan around them before I come out.
If something in your attic has you wondering, send us a message and I'll take a look.
Tell us about your project
