Attic & Loose-Fill Blown Insulation

Attic Insulation & Blown-In Loose-Fill Services for Airdrie Homes

Blown insulation is how most Airdrie homes add R-value without tearing anything apart: cellulose or fibreglass over the ceiling, dense-pack inside closed walls, and the soffit baffles that keep a deep attic ventilated. The right choice depends on your attic’s height, your ceiling, your walls and your exposure to wind, so we start by looking.

An installer in a respirator kneels on a truss in an attic and directs a thick hose that blows grey loose-fill insulation across the attic floor.

How These Systems Differ

Loose-fill insulation is blown from a machine through a hose, so it fills around trusses, wiring and irregular framing in a way that batts cannot. In an attic it builds a continuous blanket over the ceiling, and in most homes it goes over whatever is already there. The benchmark we work toward is the Section 9.36 value in Alberta’s building code for climate zone 7A: RSI 10.43, about R-60, above a ceiling in a house without a heat-recovery ventilator, or about R-49 with one. Those are new-construction targets rather than a retrofit obligation, but they are the right yardstick.

The two attic fills differ in useful ways. Cellulose, borate-treated recycled paper fibre, commonly delivers about R-3.5 to R-3.8 per inch, reaches about R-60 in roughly 16 to 17 settled inches, and resists air washing through it well, but it is heavier and it settles, so it is installed with an allowance. Loose-fill fibreglass commonly delivers about R-2.5 to R-2.9 per inch, so it needs more depth, often around 20 to 24 inches, but it is light, settles minimally and does not absorb water. It relies more heavily on wind dams at the eaves.

Dense-pack and baffles complete the category. Dense-pack uses the same fibre at much higher density, injected into closed wall cavities from outside or inside, for older walls that are empty or half filled. Soffit baffles and wind dams are not insulation at all: they are the prep that keeps a deep attic ventilated from soffit to roof vents and stops wind from scouring the fill back from the outside walls. Most good attic jobs include them.

Attic & Blown-In Services

A thick grey cellulose layer covers an attic floor evenly up to the tops of the truss chords, with a wooden hatch dam in the foreground.

Blown-In Cellulose Attic Top-Ups

Borate-treated cellulose blown over old attic insulation toward about R-60.

How it works

A deep, fluffy white loose-fill fibreglass layer fills a residential attic between trusses, with baffles visible at the eaves.

Blown-In Loose-Fill Fibreglass

Light, low-settling fibreglass loose fill for attics, with wind dams at the eaves.

How it works

On an older house with a strip of siding removed, a gloved hand feeds a fill tube into a hole drilled in the plank sheathing, next to a plugged hole in the neighbouring stud bay.

Dense-Pack Cavity Injection

High-density cellulose injected into closed walls from outside or inside.

How it works

Rigid baffles stapled between rafters at the low edge of an attic keep a clear air channel open from the soffit above the insulation.

Attic Venting & Baffle Prep

Rafter vents and wind dams that keep soffit-to-ridge airflow open.

How it works

Choosing Between Them

Plenty of height, sound ceiling: Cellulose is usually the efficient choice. It reaches the target in fewer inches and a deep layer slows air moving through it, which helps where the attic is draughty at the eaves.
Ceiling that should stay light: If the ceiling shows sagging or cracks, or wide framing spacing, lighter fibreglass is safer, provided the attic has room for the extra depth, especially near the eaves.
Walls are the cold surface: If the attic is already deep but exterior walls feel cold and scan as empty bays, dense-pack injection addresses the wall directly rather than adding more to the ceiling.
Frost, staining or buried soffits: Start with baffles, soffit checks and air sealing. Adding any fill to an attic that already frosts up or has blocked intake vents makes the underlying problem harder to fix.

Why It Matters Around Airdrie

Airdrie’s winters test attics from two directions. Prolonged cold snaps well below -30°C make every missing inch of insulation show up on the heating bill and in cold upstairs rooms, while strong west and northwest winds across open prairie push air through soffits and wash loose fill back from the eaves. Chinooks add rapid swings from deep cold to above freezing, which is why frost in a poorly vented attic turns into dripping water so quickly here. A blown-in job that ignores ventilation and wind at the eaves tends to disappoint.

The housing stock spans a wide range. Homes in Airdrie’s older areas often have thin or settled attic fill and occasionally empty walls, while much of the 1990s-onward stock simply has less attic insulation than today’s benchmark and could use a top-up. Newer homes in communities built from the late 2010s usually have the most to start with and the least to gain. Outside the city, acreage homes in Rocky View County and older houses in Crossfield and Irricana see the most wind.

Attic & Blown-In: Common Questions

Which is better for an Airdrie attic, cellulose or fibreglass loose fill?

Neither is better everywhere. Cellulose reaches about R-60 in fewer inches and resists air moving through it, which suits roomy attics with sound ceilings. Fibreglass is lighter, settles minimally and does not absorb water, which suits ceilings that should not take more weight, provided there is height for the extra depth. Attic headroom, the ceiling below and wind exposure at the eaves decide it.

How do I know whether my home needs more attic insulation at all?

Measure. From the hatch, a ruler pushed down through the fill tells you roughly how deep it is, and comparing that with the material’s R per inch gives a rough R-value. Uneven depth, bare areas near the eaves, cold upstairs ceilings and high heating use are all signs. A thermal scan on a cold day shows where heat is escaping. If the attic already sits near the benchmark, more fill will not change much.

What should be done in the attic before any new blown insulation goes in?

In order: confirm there is no vermiculite, which has to be tested before it is disturbed; remove wet, mouldy or rodent-contaminated fill; make sure bathroom fans vent outside; seal the air leaks through the ceiling; install baffles and wind dams at the eaves; and dam around the hatch, chimneys and non-rated recessed lights. Then blow the insulation. Doing it in the reverse order buries problems under a layer that is hard to work through.

Other Insulation Services

Spray Foam

Batts & Vapour Barrier

Removal & Air Sealing

Home Problem Solving

Commercial & Industrial

Talk to Us About Attic & Blown-In

Tell us what the space is and what is going wrong. We will recommend the system that fits, including when a cheaper one will do.

(825) 475-1869 Send the Details