Insulation Before & After in Los Angeles, CA
An insulation job lives in the walls and the attic, where you can’t watch it settle in. The proof shows up on the thermostat, in the monthly bill, and in how the house holds its temperature on a July afternoon. Below are representative transformations from homes across Los Angeles. No stock photos, no staged perfection. Just the kinds of changes we see when the old material comes out and the right one goes in.
Recent Transformations
Attic Insulation: Blown Fiberglass Out, Loose-Fill In, Echo Park
Before
AfterThe attic had fiberglass batts from the early 1990s, compressed flat in spots and missing entirely in others. A thermal scan showed the ceiling was reading 114°F on an August afternoon. We removed the old batts, air-sealed the top plates and can-light boxes, then blew Owens Corning loose-fill to a uniform R-38 across the full attic floor. The homeowner called back two weeks later to say the upstairs bedrooms were holding 74°F without the AC running past noon.
Attic Insulation: Garage-To-Studio Conversion, Highland Park
Before
AfterA detached garage in Highland Park used to hit the high 90s by 10 a.m. in the summer. The owner wanted a usable workspace, not a storage oven. We placed Johns Manville batt insulation between the joists and added a radiant barrier under the roof deck. By the next heat wave, the space was holding around 80°F with a small window unit. The difference wasn’t subtle: the before photo shows bare rafters and a single drooping batt. The after shows a clean, fully filled ceiling.
Spray Foam Insulation: Rim Joist Air Sealing, Mar Vista
Before
AfterThe rim joist is where the first floor meets the foundation, and in this 1950s Mar Vista home it was basically a runway for air. Mildew smells in the crawlspace, cold floors in January, and a steady draft up the wall chase. We sprayed Demilec closed-cell foam along the rim, sealing the joint and adding R-7 in the process. The musty smell was gone within a week. The after photo shows a dark, dense seal where light used to pass through.
Attic Insulation: Post-Pest-Replacement, Atwater Village
Rodents had used the attic insulation as a highway and a nest for years. By the time the pest company finished, the old fiberglass was matted, soiled, and doing nothing for the house. We removed every bag of it, sanitized the deck, and blew in Rockwool loose-fill at R-38. Rockwool has the added benefit of being fire resistant and dense enough to discourage future nesting. The before photo isn’t pretty. The after photo looks like a fresh start, because it was.
Spray Foam Insulation: Vaulted Ceiling Retrofit, Silver Lake
A Silver Lake mid-century had dramatic open-beam ceilings and no way to insulate them without tearing the roof off. The owners lived with it for years, calling the living room “the greenhouse” from April through October. We filled the vaulted cavities with Icynene open-cell spray foam, which expands to fill the odd angles and leaves no gaps. The room’s temperature swing dropped by about 15 degrees on hot days. The beams stayed exposed, the view stayed, and the room finally became livable.
Attic Insulation: Old Vermiculite Removal, West Adams
Older Los Angeles homes often have a layer of vermiculite from decades ago. It settles, it’s dusty, and it does almost nothing for the home’s thermal envelope. In this West Adams bungalow, we vacuumed out the old vermiculite, cleaned the ceiling joists, and installed CertainTeed batt insulation cut to fit between every bay. The attic immediately looked and smelled cleaner. The house held its heat on a January night for the first time in the owner’s memory.
Want Results Like These?
Every one of these jobs started with a phone call and a written quote. No pressure, no door-step surprises, just a real number before any work begins. We’ll walk your attic or your walls, tell you what we see, and put the plan in writing. Call (213) 232-7269 to talk to a live person, any hour. If it’s not done right within 365 days, we come back and fix it. In writing, included, every job.
Written by Glenn Hartley, Owner at Woolsey Insulation Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles since 2002.