Spray Foam Insulation in Urbandale, IA

Spray foam insulation in Urbandale covers a long span of housing. The city was incorporated on April 16, 1917, as a streetcar suburb near four coal mines, according to Wikipedia. It had only 1,777 residents in 1950, 14,434 by 1970 and 45,580 by 2020. Point2Homes puts the median year built at 1992, with about 21.9% of homes from the 2000s and 13.7% from the 2010s. Owners occupy about 78.1% of the 17,547 occupied homes.

The 1960s and 1970s homes

Urbandale grew from 1,777 people in 1950 to 14,434 in 1970, and homes from that stretch are often ranches and split-levels. These usually have a bare rim joist in the basement, an attic with eight inches or less of settled insulation, and leaks around the hatch and ceiling fixtures. A typical plan is closed-cell foam on the rim, attic floor sealing and a blown-in top-up toward R-49.

The newer north and west sides

Houses from the 1990s on tend to need different help: bonus rooms over garages, vaulted ceilings with tight rafter bays, and basements being finished. Closed-cell on garage ceilings and in shallow rafter bays, and foam on basement walls before framing, fit these homes.

Split-levels need special care

Split-level houses have short walls between levels and floors over garages or crawl spaces. Those transitions leak. We check each one and seal the rim and band at every level, not just the basement.

Close to farm history

Living History Farms sits in Urbandale, a reminder that much of the city was farmland not long ago. Some older farmhouses and outbuildings remain on the edges of the metro, and we insulate shops and outbuildings too.

A typical Urbandale job

A 1970s split-level often needs foam on the rim at the lower level and at the band between levels, attic floor sealing around fixtures and the hatch, and a blown-in top-up. If there is a room over the garage, we add foam to the garage ceiling. Newer homes on the north and west sides usually need less attic work and more basement and garage work.

Cost notes

HomeGuide's national ranges put an average attic insulation job at $1,000 to $2,700 and blown-in attic insulation at $0.90 to $2.40 per square foot. Split-levels have more linear feet of rim than a ranch the same size, which adds a little to the foam line. Each area is priced separately on the written estimate, and that estimate is the price.

Ice dams on low-slope roofs

Ranches and split-levels often have low-pitched roofs with shallow attics at the eaves. That is where insulation is thinnest and warm air leaks most, so we pay extra attention there. Get a free estimate