Air sealing services in Missoula MT - hidden leaks found and sealed right
Drafty rooms, cold floors and a winter power bill that keeps climbing? We find the hidden leaks and seal them before anything gets covered.
What does air sealing do for a drafty house?
Air sealing closes the gaps where heated air slips out of your house, at door frames and wherever pipes, vents, wires, ducts and fans pass through the outside walls. With our air sealing services in Missoula, MT, we find those leaks, hidden ones included, and close them before new insulation goes on, so the insulation isn't fighting a draft.
Most of the calls I get come from older houses with a cold room or two, a hot upstairs in summer and a heating bill that seems too big for the place. The price mostly comes down to how many leaks there are and how hard they are to reach. The schedule mostly turns on anything we have to sort out before sealing, like a damp spot or a furnace that needs a look. Once I've seen your house, the written estimate lays out both.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
Air sealing, foam and insulation work
How we handle air sealing services
The drafts you feel at the front door are usually the small part, so we go hunting for the hidden leaks too. Most of them are up in the attic, around can lights, plumbing stacks, wire holes and the hatch, where old insulation tends to cover them up. Framing taught me where the wall tops and chases run, chases being the framed channels for pipes and ducts, so I know where air sneaks up from the rooms below before we pull anything back. Before we close anything up, I ask about damp spots and about your furnace and water heater. If something needs a look first, we bring in the right trade rather than sealing over it. Then we seal the gaps, keep the eave vents clear so the attic can still breathe, and leave it ready for insulation.
Air sealing often ties into other work. Sealing the gaps and topping up loose fill on top usually gives you the most for your money. If your ductwork runs through the attic, though, closed-cell foam insulation, dense foam that seals air and blocks moisture in one coat, can be worth what it costs over loose fill. Down low, the rim of the floor framing where the house sits on the foundation leaks in a lot of older houses, so we often seal it as part of basement insulation.
Why Missoula homeowners call us to seal their drafts
I come out to every job
I look at each house myself, and I work alongside our crew on the install, so the person who climbed into your attic for the estimate is the one sealing it. I spent years framing houses before insulation, so I know what sits behind the drywall before we open anything.
In business since 2023
I learned this trade working for an established installer, and we started our own company in 2023. Three years in, attic work done in the right order is still what people call us for.
Licensed and fully insured
We're licensed and fully insured. Montana requires every construction contractor to be licensed with the state Department of Labor & Industry, so it's a fair thing to ask of anyone who bids on your house.
Permits checked with city or county
The City of Missoula's building office covers work inside city limits, and outside them it's the Missoula County Building Division, so we check with whichever one your house falls under, tell you what they say and take care of any permit before we start. We work in Missoula, Orchard Homes and the cities around them, inside or outside city limits.
Order matters most on this job, because sealing over a problem just hides it. Call (406) 317-4027 or send us a request, and I'll come out and take a look.
Get a free air sealing estimate for your house
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time for me to come out. The on-site estimate is free, and there's no obligation to book anything.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
What happens after you call about air sealing in Missoula?
Call or send a request
Call (406) 317-4027 or use the form, and we'll set a time for me to come out. It helps to know where your attic hatch is, any damp spots you've noticed and roughly how old your furnace and water heater are.
Walk the house together
I go through the attic, walls, crawl space or basement with you and point out leaks as we find them. Ask me anything, because I'd rather you understand your house than just take my word for it.
Get your written estimate
You get a written estimate that explains each step and why it's there, so you can see what's behind the price. If a permit or another trade has to come first, that's on it too.
Seal, clean up, walk through
We take care of anything that has to come first, seal the leaks, insulate where the estimate calls for it and clean up. Then we walk through the finished work together.
Air sealing questions from Missoula homeowners
How do I know if I can seal air leaks myself?
You can usually handle the obvious ones yourself, like gaps around door frames and the holes where pipes, vents and wires come through a wall. What a do-it-yourself look won't find are the small, hard-to-spot leaks, especially in an attic buried under layers of insulation, and those take a different way of finding them.
How do professionals find hidden air leaks in a house?
Certified home energy assessors use a blower door test, a big fan set in an outside door that pulls air out of the house, along with a thermal camera that shows where air is getting through. That combination catches the small leaks a walk-through misses, and if you hire an assessor, it's worth asking whether they hold a BPI Building Analyst or RESNET HERS Rater certification, the two nationally recognized ones.
What needs to be fixed before air sealing starts?
Moisture and indoor air quality problems come first, because sealing can make them worse, and Montana guidance also says your furnace, water heater and other fuel-burning appliances should be working right and venting properly. One national attic guide adds knob and tube wiring, which is old cloth-wrapped wiring, vermiculite insulation, bath fans that vent into the attic and roof leaks as the first things to check.
Do I need a permit for air sealing in Missoula?
The City of Missoula requires a mechanical permit when vents or ducts are added, replaced or moved, and its list names bath fans but not air sealing itself. If your job includes a new or moved fan or duct, plan on a permit, and for the sealing we check with the city, or the county if you're outside city limits, and tell you what they say before we start.
How much does air sealing cost in Missoula?
The cost comes down to how many leaks your house has, where they hide and how hard they are to reach, so I won't guess at a number until I've been in your attic. Old insulation that has to be pulled back or removed, a damp spot or appliance that needs fixing first, foam instead of caulk on bigger gaps, or a fan that has to be vented outside all add to it, and your written estimate breaks out each one.
What is the best way to seal air leaks in a Montana house?
Montana extension guidance recommends a quality sealant that holds its seal in deep winter cold and in summer heat, which is exactly the swing a Missoula house goes through. Gaps around a furnace or water heater flue are a different job, and national guidance calls for fire-rated caulk with rated collars or sheet metal, with proper clearance kept between the flue and anything that can burn.
Other areas where we do insulation work
Work that often goes with air sealing
Basement insulation
Cold floors often start below, and insulating basement walls along with the rim where the house meets the foundation stops air coming in at the bottom.
Closed-cell foam insulation
When ducts run through a cold attic, dense foam that seals and insulates in one coat can be worth its higher cost over loose fill.