Air sealing services in Pasadena CA - fewer drafts and a cooler upstairs
Upstairs too hot or drafty near the ceiling? We find where the attic leaks and close it, so your rooms hold their temperature.
- Service
- Air sealing services
- Call
- (626) 345-7649
How can you tell your house needs air sealing?
Upstairs stays hot
If the bedrooms upstairs stay warm long after the sun goes down, attic heat is usually getting in through gaps around lights, pipes and the hatch. Left alone, the AC runs against it all summer and the power bill shows it.
Drafts at lights and outlets
Air you can feel around ceiling lights, outlets on outside walls or the attic hatch is moving through the house where it shouldn't. More insulation won't stop that, so adding it before the gaps are sealed mostly wastes the money.
Dark streaks in attic insulation
Gray or black patches on the insulation over wall tops and around pipes mean air has been filtering through it for years and leaving dust behind. Those spots mark the leaks, and the longer they run, the more of your cooled air and damp air ends up in the attic.
What does air sealing actually do for a Pasadena house?
Air sealing services in Pasadena close the gaps in your attic floor, around ceiling lights, pipes, wires, wall tops and the hatch, with sealant, spray foam or rigid blocking, so less air moves between the attic and your rooms. That keeps attic heat out of the upstairs, keeps the air you paid to cool or heat inside, and helps keep moisture out of the attic framing.
Most people who call us have an older house that feels drafty or an upstairs that never cools off, and they've been told more insulation is the answer. Sealing comes first, because insulation laid over an open gap just has air blowing through it, which is why we often do it as the first step of an attic insulation job. The price moves with how many gaps your attic has, how easy it is to get around up there, and whether anything like wet insulation or old wiring needs fixing before we seal, and the schedule turns mostly on those repairs and on whether a permit is needed. Your written estimate lays out what gets done first and why. We're licensed and fully insured, and if your job needs a permit, we find out whether the city or the county covers your address and take care of the permit and the inspection.
Details to note before an estimate
- Rough size of the attic
- Rooms that run hot or drafty
- How you get into the attic
- Type and depth of insulation up there
- Gas furnace, water heater or other gas appliances
- Recessed lights in top-floor ceilings
How we handle air sealing services
I start by asking about your gas appliances, because a furnace or water heater that vents up a flue has to keep venting properly once the house is tighter, so checking that is part of the plan from the first visit. Then we look over the attic for anything that has to be fixed before sealing. When it helps, we use a blower door, a fan set in an outside doorway that pulls air out of the house, so we can see where your house really leaks instead of guessing at the usual seams. Our crew then seals the openings in the attic floor, with sealant on small cracks, foam around pipes and wires and rigid blocking over big gaps like open wall tops, and we keep the eave vents clear so the attic can still breathe.
People often ask whether they should just spray foam the whole attic. Foam costs more and seals air while it insulates, but sealing the gaps and topping up loose fill usually comes out ahead, unless your ductwork runs through the attic, where closed-cell foam insulation, a dense foam that also blocks moisture, can be worth it. Leaks don't stop at the attic either, so if your house has a basement with gaps along the top of the foundation walls, we can pair the sealing with basement insulation.
Work that often goes with air sealing
Closed-cell foam insulation
If your ducts or air handler sit in the attic, dense foam sprayed along the roofline can bring them inside the insulated part of the house.
Basement insulation
A basement that feels cold or musty usually leaks along the top of its walls, and insulating there keeps the floors above it warmer.
What happens after you call us about air sealing?
Call or send a request
Call (626) 345-7649 or use the form, and we'll set a time to come look at the house. It helps to tell us how you reach the attic and whether you have gas appliances.
I look at the attic
I come out myself and check the attic, the hatch and your gas appliances with you, pointing out anything that has to be fixed before we seal. If a blower door test makes sense for your house, we talk it through then.
Get the plan in writing
You get a written estimate that shows what gets done first and why, so you can see the sealing and any repairs that have to come ahead of it. If the job needs a permit, it's in the plan and we pull it.
Our crew seals, I check
Our own trained crew does the work, and we check that your gas appliances still vent properly once the gaps are closed. Then I go over the finished job with you before we call it done.
Questions before you book air sealing
How much do air sealing services cost in Pasadena?
The cost depends on your attic, so I give you a number after I've seen it rather than guess over the phone. The biggest factors are how many gaps there are, how easy the attic is to move around in, whether repairs have to come first and whether we're adding insulation in the same project. Your written estimate spells all of that out.
Will air sealing lower my power bill?
Usually, yes. Closing the gaps between the attic and your rooms saves energy and lowers your heating and cooling bills, because the air you paid for stays in the house instead of leaking up. It also helps keep moisture problems out of the attic.
Should I seal my attic before adding new insulation?
Yes, when an attic with outside vents gets new insulation, the openings in the attic floor are sealed first, since they're hard to reach once fresh insulation is on top. If you're planning new insulation up there, book the sealing as the first step of the same project so it's one plan and one trip.
Is air sealing safe if I have a gas furnace or water heater?
Yes, as long as the appliances are tested. In some houses, sealing can make a gas or oil appliance that vents on its own back-draft, which pushes combustion gases back into the home, so the guidance is to test that they draft properly before and after sealing. A tighter house can also hold in things like carbon monoxide and radon, and if fixing that means a ventilation fan or a repair at the source, it goes in the estimate.
What needs to be fixed in an attic before air sealing?
Wet insulation, moldy or rotted rafters or joists, fans that blow damp air into the attic, and an attic with little or no ventilation should all be fixed first. Knob and tube wiring, an old type from before 1930, can be a fire hazard when insulation touches it, so it gets corrected first too. If you have vermiculite, a gray, flaky, pea-size fill, it stays untouched until an approved lab tests it and finds no asbestos, and your local health department can give you the name of a lab.
How much can a contractor ask for up front in California?
California's contractor board caps the down payment on a home improvement job at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less. After that, each payment should be listed in the contract and match work already done or materials already delivered. While you're comparing contractors, ask how they handle permits too, because depending on the work the state may require HERS energy testing, and properly permitted work is what sets that testing in motion. If you want to check for yourself, the City of Pasadena's permit center answers permit and inspection questions by phone or email.
Get a written air sealing plan for your house
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I come out, look at the attic with you and give you a free written estimate with the order of work, and there's no obligation to go ahead.
Explore our services and areas
Services
- Spray foam insulation
- Attic insulation
- Blown-in insulation
- Home insulation
- Insulation removal
- Crawl space insulation
- Wall insulation
- Basement insulation
- Closed-cell foam insulation
- Open-cell foam insulation
- Commercial insulation
- Crawl space vapor barrier
- Vapor barrier installation
- Attic air sealing
- Retrofit insulation
Find out where your attic leaks
QuietCore works across Pasadena and the cities around it, including Glendale, Burbank, Arcadia and Altadena, so call (626) 345-7649 or send the form and I'll come take a look.