Flint’s housing was built for autoworkers, and it was built well — solid two-stories, four-squares and bungalows through Carriage Town, College Cultural, Mott Park, Woodcroft and the East Side, most of it framed between 1900 and 1940. It was also framed balloon-style, which is the single most important fact about insulating a house in this city. We are about half an hour from Flint, and Genesee County is home ground for us.
Balloon Framing: Why Flint Houses Leak the Way They Do
In balloon construction the wall studs run continuously from the foundation sill to the roof, with no fire blocking and no plate breaking the cavity at each floor. That means every exterior wall is an open vertical shaft. Cold basement air enters at the bottom, warm house air is drawn up the cavity, and both exit into the attic. You can add a foot of insulation to the attic floor and the house will still be cold, because the air is going around it.
The fix is to plug those cavities where they open into the attic, and seal the rim and sill at the bottom. That is a foam job — nothing else fills an irregular, dirty, hundred-year-old cavity opening reliably. Once the shaft is closed, everything else you do to the attic starts working.
What We Do in Flint
- Plug and seal. Balloon-frame cavity tops, top plates, chimney chases with fire-rated detailing, wire and plumbing penetrations, the attic hatch.
- Insulate the attic. Blown-in over a sealed plane, or foam at the roof deck where the attic is finished or holds mechanicals.
- Seal the basement perimeter. Closed-cell on the rim joist and sill — the bottom of the same air path.
- Full-envelope foam on rehabs. Open cavities are a one-visit job and never need revisiting.
- Commercial roofs. Spray-applied foam roofing over the flat roofs on Flint’s industrial and commercial stock, no tear-off.
A Word on Ventilation
Tightening a hundred-year-old house is the right thing to do, but it has to be done with your combustion appliances in mind. If the house has an atmospherically vented furnace or water heater, we talk about that before we start rather than after. This is the part a lot of contractors skip.
Serving Flint and Genesee County
The City of Flint, Grand Blanc, Davison, Burton, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Mt. Morris, Clio, Fenton and Linden. Our Lapeer County shop is a short run east on I-69, which is why Genesee County work is routine for us rather than a special trip. Nearby also: Columbiaville and Lapeer. Full list on the service area page.
Flint Insulation FAQs
What does a 1920s Flint house need first?
Attic air sealing, almost without exception. Flint's Carriage Town, College Cultural, Mott Park and Woodcroft housing is largely balloon framed, which means the wall cavities are open from the basement all the way to the attic. Warm air rises up through those cavities and exits at the attic floor. Plugging the tops of those cavities and sealing the ceiling plane changes the house more than any other single measure.
Can spray foam help with an old Flint house that is cold and damp?
Often yes, but the sequence matters. Closed-cell foam on the basement rim joist and, where appropriate, the foundation walls, stops the cold humid air infiltration that makes the first floor feel clammy. Then the attic gets sealed and insulated. What we will not do is seal a house up without looking at combustion appliances and ventilation — that has to be part of the conversation on an older home.
Do you insulate rehabbed and land bank homes?
Yes. A gutted house is the best possible situation for foam: the balloon-framed cavities are open, the rim is exposed, and we can seal the entire envelope in one visit before drywall. We work with rehabbers and general contractors throughout Genesee County.
Do you do commercial roofing in Flint too?
Yes. Flint has a large stock of flat-roofed commercial and industrial buildings, and spray-applied foam roofing is well suited to them — it goes over the existing roof, adds insulation, and avoids a tear-off. See our SPF roofing systems page.