Spray Foam Insulation in Martinsville, IN

Spray foam insulation in Martinsville mostly means older homes. Wikipedia says the town was founded in 1822 and is the Morgan County seat. The Morgan County Courthouse, completed in 1859 in red brick Italianate style, is one of the few pre-Civil War courthouses in Indiana, and more than a dozen Martinsville sites are on the National Register. From 1888 to 1968, visitors came to the town's sanitaria for its artesian mineral water.

A settled housing stock

Martinsville's population rose from 5,991 in 1950 to 11,311 in 1980 and has stayed within a few hundred of that since: 11,932 in 2020. The 2020 census counted 5,281 housing units, 7.5% vacant. With little new construction for four decades, most homes here are older, and fixing them up is how people improve comfort.

What older Martinsville homes need

Houses from the early 1900s through the 1970s tend to have thin attic insulation, open rim joists, vented crawl spaces and drafty attic access. The order we usually recommend is crawl space and rim, then attic. For the oldest homes, we check wiring and foundation moisture before covering anything.

Low, wet ground

Martinsville sits at about 604 feet, at the low end of Morgan County's terrain, according to Wikipedia. Low ground tends to stay damp. Crawl spaces here often need a sealed vapor barrier and closed vents, and any standing water has to be handled first.

Outbuildings

Garages, shops and barns are common around Martinsville. Closed-cell foam on steel stops condensation, and insulated walls and roofs make a heated shop practical.

Enclosed porches and additions

Older Martinsville homes often have enclosed porches and additions over crawl spaces or slabs. Those rooms are usually the coldest. We seal the joint with the original house and insulate above and below where we can reach.

Rental homes

With a vacancy rate of 7.5% in 2020, there are rental homes around town. Owners often want comfort upgrades between tenants. We can phase the work.

Mineral-water era houses

The sanitarium years from 1888 to 1968 brought visitors and building to Martinsville, and many homes from that long stretch are still standing. Houses from the early part of that period may have stone or brick foundations and balloon framing; those from the later part are more often frame ranches over crawl spaces. Each needs its own plan, and we explain the differences in plain terms on the quote.

Code zone

Morgan County is in Climate Zone 5A, per OpenEI. For existing attics in that zone, the Department of Energy recommends adding R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already in place. Get a free estimate