Insulation Contractor in Des Moines for Older Homes and New Ones
About half the houses in Des Moines went up before 1960. Abraham LaMark seals the attic floor before he blows in cellulose to R-49, and he dense-packs the walls of older homes.
- About half of homes built before 1960
- Roughly 1 in 4 dates to 1939 or earlier
- Median home built in 1961
Free estimate in Des Moines
- About a 10 to 15 minute visit
- Your bid, usually within 24 hours
- Abraham calls or texts back within one business day.
Estimates are free within a half-hour drive of Des Moines.
- Owner on site for every job
- Same crew for 16 years, no subcontractors
- Over 2,000 homes since 2008
- Insured up to $2 million
The median Des Moines house dates to 1961
Des Moines has about 97,600 homes, and the median one was built in 1961. Roughly a quarter date to 1939 or earlier, about 7 in 10 were standing by 1980, and fewer than 1 in 10 went up after 2010. Among the larger towns on this site, none has housing this old.
In houses this age, the order of the work matters. Before any insulation goes in, Abraham seals the attic floor: around the soil pipe and the flue, along the seams at the tops of the walls, and over chaseways, like the one above the basement stairs in a ranch house or the path an old furnace once took through a story-and-a-half. Then he looks at the walls. Dense-packing works in walls of any age, even ones that already hold fiberglass batts.
Des Moines is also the one town with its own pages for attic insulation, insulation removal and wall insulation. They're linked at the bottom of this page and go into each job in more detail.
Free estimate in Des Moines
- About a 10 to 15 minute visit
- Your bid, usually within 24 hours
- Abraham calls or texts back within one business day.
Estimates are free within a half-hour drive of Des Moines.
Attics, walls, floors and noise: the work in a Des Moines house
| If you're dealing with | What Abraham does |
|---|---|
| An attic short on insulation | Seals the attic floor, puts baffles in at the soffit vents, then blows in cellulose to R-49 with settling figured into the depth |
| Exterior walls that feel cold | Dense-packs the wall cavities from outside, or from inside when outside won't work, and patches the holes with a filler that won't shrink or crack |
| Old attic insulation that has to go | Vacuums all of it out, seals what was underneath and starts fresh |
| A bathroom floor that's cold underfoot | Works out the fix from where the bathroom sits in the house |
| Noise between rooms or floors | Fills interior walls and floor cavities with blown-in cellulose |
| A cold spot nobody can pin down | Scans with an infrared camera when the weather is very hot or very cold |
Beaverdale, Sherman Hill and Highland Park/Oak Park
Three neighborhoods show how far back the city's housing goes. Beaverdale, the largest of Des Moines' recognized neighborhoods, was mostly subdivided between 1920 and 1940, and its Beaverdale Brick homes first appeared in 1938, built by local contractor E.T. McMurray. Sherman Hill started building in the 1870s and in 1982 became one of the city's first locally designated historic districts. Highland Park/Oak Park grew as a streetcar suburb, and its Sixth and Euclid business district went up between roughly 1915 and 1925.
- Beaverdale
- Sherman Hill
- Highland Park/Oak Park
Free estimates anywhere in Des Moines, Warren County side included
Des Moines is mostly in Polk County, with a piece in Warren County, and the free estimate covers all of it. Abraham takes calls and texts at (515) 868-5400 on weekdays from 7:30 to 5 and Saturdays from 8 to noon, or you can send the form at the bottom of the page any time.
Landlords, realtors and remodelers call Abraham too
Besides homeowners, his customers include:
- Landlords and investors with rental houses
- Realtors and home inspectors
- Remodeling companies, with blown-in batting for opened-up walls on full remodels
- Businesses and farms
- Repeat clients
Questions about older Des Moines attics
What is an old furnace chaseway, and why does Abraham seal it?
In some story-and-a-half houses, an enclosed chase left from an old furnace route runs up through the house toward the attic. Warm house air rises through it and leaks into the attic, moisture and all. Abraham seals over chases like this before he insulates, and he does the same over the chase above the basement stairs in a ranch house.
Why is there condensation in my attic in winter?
Usually it's warm, damp air from the house getting up there. It escapes through the joints and seams at the tops of walls and around pipes that come up through the attic floor, then condenses when it meets cold wood and nails. Sealing those leaks before adding insulation is how Abraham deals with it.
Can Abraham fix poor ventilation in an older Des Moines attic?
Yes. Ventilation is part of the air-infiltration work he does anyway, and it's among the three problems he sees most often. He sets baffles at the eaves to keep the new cellulose off the soffit vents.
Get a free estimate in Des Moines
Tell us about the house and what's bothering you. Abraham calls or texts back within one business day.
Estimates are free within a half-hour drive of Des Moines.
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