Farmington Hills is a 33-square-mile city of mature subdivisions under a heavy tree canopy — mostly colonials, quad-levels and ranches built between about 1962 and 1988, plus the older stock in downtown Farmington. Nearly every one of those houses has insulation in the attic. Very few of them have an air barrier under it, and that gap is where the comfort complaints and the winter fuel bills come from.
What We Find in a Typical Farmington Hills Attic
- Insulation that looks adequate and is not. Ten inches of blown-in that has compacted to six, with bare spots at the eaves where it was never pushed out far enough.
- Soffit vents packed shut. A previous top-up buried the intake vents. The attic cannot breathe, so moisture builds and shingles cook from below.
- Open top plates everywhere. Every interior partition wall in the house is an open shaft into the attic.
- Recessed lights. A dozen or more can lights in the kitchen and family room, each one a hole with a hot bulb under it.
- Bath fans venting into the attic rather than through the roof — a moisture source directly under your insulation.
Our scope on these houses is fixed in the same order every time: seal, baffle, ventilate, then insulate.
Air Sealing and Blown-In, Done in the Right Order
We use two-part spray foam for the sealing pass because it gets into shapes a caulk gun cannot — the gap between a top plate and the drywall, the irregular opening around a masonry chimney, the void behind a dropped ceiling. Fire-rated detailing goes around flues and heat-producing fixtures.
Once the plane is sealed and baffles are installed at every rafter bay along the eave, we blow the attic to a consistent modern depth and set depth markers so anyone can verify it later. On houses where the attic contains ductwork or an air handler, we will recommend foaming the roof deck instead so the mechanicals end up inside the envelope.
- Foam air sealing of the full ceiling plane
- Baffles at every eave to protect soffit intake
- Blown-in insulation to a verified, marked depth
- Bath fans re-routed to vent outside where needed
- Attic hatch weather-stripped and insulated
- 25C federal tax credit paperwork included
Farmington Hills, Farmington & Nearby
We cover 48331, 48334, 48335 and 48336, downtown Farmington, and the surrounding communities: West Bloomfield, Novi, Livonia, Southfield and Northville. Commercial buildings along Northwestern Highway and Grand River with low-slope roofs are covered on our Farmington flat roofing page.
Farmington Hills Attic Insulation FAQs
Do you install cellulose insulation in Farmington and Farmington Hills?
We install blown-in insulation, and for most Farmington Hills attics that means fiberglass rather than cellulose. Both are blown the same way; fiberglass does not settle as much over time and does not absorb moisture, which matters in an attic that may see the occasional roof leak. If you specifically want cellulose we will talk through it honestly. Either way, the material matters far less than whether the ceiling plane below it was air sealed first.
What is air sealing worth on a Farmington Hills colonial?
More than people expect. A 1970s colonial off Halsted or Middlebelt typically has ten inches of insulation and a completely unsealed ceiling. Sealing the top plates, the recessed cans, the flue chase and the drop soffits usually costs a fraction of what people spend on new windows and does considerably more for comfort. It also stops the warm moist air that causes frost on the underside of the roof sheathing in January.
Can you insulate the attic of a house with a lot of tree cover?
Yes, and Farmington Hills has plenty of them. Heavy shade keeps the roof colder longer, which is good for shingles and bad for ice damming when interior heat leaks up. The fix is the same: stop the air first. We also check that soffit vents have not been packed shut by previous insulation work, which is very common in these subdivisions.
Which parts of the Farmington area do you serve?
All of Farmington Hills (48331, 48334, 48335, 48336) and the City of Farmington, plus West Bloomfield, Novi, Livonia, Southfield and Northville. Our crews are on I-696, M-5, Grand River and Orchard Lake Road most weeks.