Wall insulation in Pasadena CA - walls filled solid, patches where you expect them

Insulating walls in the Los Angeles area usually costs about $1 to $4 per square foot of wall, and that's the going rate across the market, not our price. Where your job lands depends on how much outside wall you have and how it's built, and the estimate puts your number in writing. Some of it can come back, because Pasadena Water and Power pays $0.10 per square foot for upgrading exterior wall insulation, plus $0.05 more per square foot when you use a qualified local contractor or buy in Pasadena. The utility's rebate is for its residential electric customers, the walls have to reach R-13 or better on the R-value scale that rates how well insulation slows heat, it's limited to one rebate per property every 15 years, and new construction and code-required upgrades aren't eligible.

Both work, and the real difference is where the patches end up. From inside, the holes get patched or hidden behind chair rail molding, a trim strip run along the wall, and from outside they're plugged and sealed in the siding. If you go outside, ask about the drainage plane, the water barrier behind the siding, because the Department of Energy's guide for that method repairs it where there is one to keep water out of the wall.

Blown-in insulation settles when it goes in too loose, and settling leaves empty pockets in the wall. It has to be blown in at enough density, packed tight, to resist settling, which is the reason for the firm packing I described above. Done that way, you get the full benefit of the wall from the first day.

If new siding is already planned, it's a good time, because a continuous layer of insulation over the outside walls costs only a little more than the siding alone. Owners who do it notice the comfort and the quieter rooms right away, and the energy savings often pay it back in 5 to 10 years. Call us before the siding crew starts so the two jobs can be planned together.

Plan on it, because the city's Permit Center names wall insulation as an example in its energy requirements, and that's where applications and fees go. We find out which office covers your address, the city or the county, and if your job needs a permit we pull it and handle the inspection that goes with it. If your home is a designated historic property, the city also requires a Certificate of Appropriateness, a city permit, for work that changes the exterior look of a designated historic property that is open to public view, so check with the city on how that applies to filling your walls from outside.

Yes, the state requires a license when the job needs a building permit, uses additional workers, or costs $1,000 or more in labor and materials. The Contractors State License Board has a class just for insulation work, covering any material put in to control heat or sound. We're licensed and fully insured.