Most of Detroit’s housing was framed between 1900 and 1940, and it was framed a particular way: balloon construction, plaster on lath, full-height wall cavities running from the sill plate to the attic with nothing in between. Add the two-family flats, the rear additions with low-slope roofs, and the porch roofs that were tarred over four times, and you get a city where “roof insulation” can mean five different assemblies on five different houses. We handle all of them.
Pitched Roof or Low-Slope? That Decides Everything
Pitched roof, vented attic. The work happens at the attic floor. We plug the open balloon-frame cavities at the top plate — that is the single biggest air leak in a pre-war Detroit house and it is almost never sealed — then handle the chimney chase, the wire penetrations and the hatch, and insulate over the top. Suddenly the second floor holds heat.
Low-slope or flat roof. There is no attic to work in. The insulation has to be part of the roof assembly. Either we spray closed-cell foam to the underside of the deck from inside, or we install a spray-applied polyurethane foam roof over the existing surface. The SPF roof is usually the better outcome because it fixes the leak, the insulation and the ponding water in one operation.
- Balloon-frame cavity plugging and attic air sealing on pre-1940 homes
- Closed-cell foam under low-slope decks in rear additions and flats
- Seamless SPF roofs over existing built-up and modified bitumen
- Full-envelope foam on gut rehabs, scheduled with your GC
- Basement rim joists and unheated crawl spaces under additions
Working in Detroit Neighborhoods
We work across the city, from the lofts and rehabs around Lafayette Park, Elmwood Park and Eastern Market in 48207, out through Woodbridge, Corktown, Boston-Edison, Indian Village, the near east side and Southwest Detroit. Every one of those neighborhoods has its own construction era and its own quirks — a Boston-Edison four-square is a different animal from a 1920s Southwest bungalow — so we scope each house on site rather than pricing from a spreadsheet.
Outside the city limits we cover the rest of Wayne County including Livonia, Dearborn, Redford and the Downriver communities. Commercial and industrial roofs are handled on our Detroit flat roofing and River Rouge pages.
Detroit Insulation FAQs
What does residential roof insulation in Metro Detroit actually involve?
Two very different assemblies, depending on the roof. If the house has a pitched roof with a vented attic, roof insulation means air sealing the attic floor and insulating the ceiling plane. If the house has a low-slope or flat roof — which describes a huge number of Detroit two-family flats, rear additions and porch roofs — then the insulation has to go into the roof assembly itself, either as closed-cell foam under the deck or as a spray-applied foam roof on top of it. Getting that distinction right is most of the job.
Can spray foam be used on a Detroit house with a flat or low-slope roof?
Yes, and it is often the best available answer. An SPF roof is sprayed as a liquid, expands into a seamless insulating layer over the existing roof, and self-flashes around parapets, vents and skylights. It adds R-value and waterproofing in one pass with no tear-off. That matters on the old flats and four-squares in neighborhoods like Woodbridge, Boston-Edison, Corktown and the near east side, where a conventional flat roof replacement means hauling off decades of built-up material.
Do you insulate houses that are being rehabbed?
Regularly. A gutted Detroit house is the ideal time to foam — the balloon-framed wall cavities are open, the rim joists are exposed, and we can seal the whole envelope before drywall goes back up. We coordinate with the general contractor so foam happens after rough mechanicals and before insulation inspection.
Do you work on Detroit apartment buildings and multifamily property?
Yes. We insulate and re-roof multifamily buildings throughout the city — see our apartment and condo insulation page. For the roof side of that work, our Detroit flat roofing page covers the commercial systems.