Today in Arkansas if you walk from the grocery store to your car you will break a sweat. And then while you are carrying those groceries into your home, you can expect to be drenched in sweat. We’re talking, shorts sticking to your thighs, shirt soaked, kind of sweat.  Pull up your weather app and check out the heat index for the day. Today’s read “95 degrees. Feels like 110 degrees.” One Hundred and Ten degrees! That is no joke. When you come home to your family after a day of grocery shopping and you are getting ready to cook dinner, you do not want your house being as hot on the inside as it is on the outside. That is where we come in to help. At Reeves Insulation, we are the spray foam insulation experts. Our 30 years of experience will come in handy when you need someone to help keep your house cool.

Burning a Hole In Your Pocket

Growing up in a home that was built in the 1800’s, I remember summer nights, the ceiling fan would be whirring, and it was still so hot. Mom would yell from the living room, “if you lay perfectly still you’ll catch a breeze and it won’t be so hot.” As we got older, mom and dad decided to renovate the home and add on to it. As we started tearing down walls we learned that the walls had zero insulation in them. There was nothing keeping that Arkansas summer air from coming into the house, no matter how hard we tried to keep it cool and to lay as still as we could. The amount of money spent on that cold air that was escaping added up to cost more than the renovations to add insulation to our walls.

Flipping homes has become a big business lately and walls without insulation is something you want to be aware of. Many homes, even built as late as the 1980’s don’t contain insulation.

Can You Insulate Existing Walls?

We often get asked if it is cost effective to add insulation to existing walls and the answer is, it depends. There are many factors to take into consideration when making this decision. The size of your home and the cost it takes to cool or heat that home is one factor. While it is always the eco friendly option to insulate your walls, the cost can sometimes outweigh that if you choose to do the work yourself. Insulating existing walls requires removing the walls that are already in place, spraying or laying insulation, and putting drywall back up. Then there is the cost of painting the new drywall. If you choose to do this on your own, there is the risk that it may not be done correctly. Whether it is cutting the dry wall wrong, putting it up crooked, or not insulating the walls properly, there is always room for error. 

When you call Reeves Insulation, we can do a cost benefit analysis and tell you what would be the cost effective solution or you. We also take away the guess work when you let us do the work for you. We have 30 years of experience and can promise that your insulation and your walls will be done correctly. 

Pros: We can ensure that the insulation completely fills every area inside of the walls and can physically see to it that the job is done correctly.

Cons: As we said earlier, this can be done by you or by us. There is more down time with this option than the one we will discuss further, next. 

Insulating Existing Walls Without Removing The Wall

There is a solution that keeps you from having to remove the walls all together. Spray foam, fiberglass, and cellulose insulation can all be put into the walls by drilling little holes into the existing wall and spraying it through. We then can patch the holes up and repaint those small areas. This is a much more cost effective and mess-free way of adding insulation to your existing walls. 

Fiberglass Insulation

Fiberglass insulation is typically known to come in large rolls. There is, however, a loose form that can be sprayed into an existing wall through a small opening. 

Pros: This insulation is easy to install and a great form of insulation.

Cons: With how fine this material is, it does not always fill the space with as much insulation needed to properly insulate the walls. 

Contact Reeves Insulation to ensure it is done properly. 

Cellulose Insulation

Cellulose is a great insulator that can also be blown into an existing wall through holes created. 

Pros: It is fire resistant and waterproof, keeping you from having to reinstall your insulation in case of a water leak or busted pipe. 

Cons: Cellulose insulation has one downfall to it and that is that with the way it settles, it can cause some areas to have less insolation than others. This will cause problems down the road. Reeves Insulation knows how densely to pack the cellulose insulation so that you do not have to question if it was done correctly. 

Spray Foam Insulation

Spray foam insulation is one of the best options for insulating a home that already has walls in place. 

Pros: Ths insulation is sprayed into the holes that have been drilled into the wall and it expands to fill all of the nooks and crannies. This leaves little room for error when it comes to the question if enough insulation was used.

Cons: the major downfall to spray foam is that if it is done incorrectly, and is oversprayed, once it hardens it can cause drywall to crack. This is unlikely, but be aware that it is possible. 

At Reeves Insulation, we are the spray foam experts. It is what we specialize in. That is why we are certain that you can count on us to insulate your pre-existing walls without any problems.

Give us a call today or fill out our form here to set up your free quote. 

We’re here so you don’t have to lay as still as possible to catch a breeze this summer.