Spray Foam Insulation in Davenport, IA

Spray foam insulation in Davenport covers a wide range of houses. The city was founded in 1836 and had 101,724 residents at the 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in Iowa. It grew steadily from 1860 to 1980, and the housing shows it: almost a quarter of homes built in 1939 or earlier, then big waves in the 1960s and 1970s, and newer subdivisions on the north side.

The old neighborhoods

Central and west Davenport hold the old German neighborhoods, including the Hamburg Historic District, where workers' cottages sit near grand houses. Around Vander Veer Park, large Queen Anne and Tudor Revival homes were built between 1895 and 1915. These houses tend to have tall attics with little insulation, balloon-framed walls where warm air can rise from basement to attic inside the wall, and stone or brick foundations with a bare rim above them. Sealing the tops and bottoms of those open cavities and foaming the rim joist often makes a bigger difference than anything else.

Mid-century and newer

Point2Homes data shows 13.5% of Davenport homes built in the 1960s and 15.1% in the 1970s. Ranches and split-levels from that period usually have a full basement and an attic with a few inches of settled insulation. Here the job is usually rim joist foam, attic air sealing and blown-in to depth.

The river and the basement

Wikipedia notes Davenport is the largest city on the Mississippi with no permanent flood wall, and the city requires new construction in the floodplain to be elevated above the 100-year flood level or protected with walls. The 1993 flood crested at 22.63 feet. Most houses are well away from the river, but many basements have seen water at some point. We check for moisture before insulating and use closed-cell foam where dampness is possible.

A typical Davenport job

For a 1920s two-story near Vander Veer Park, a common plan looks like this: seal the attic floor around the chimney, plumbing stack and light fixtures, cap the open wall cavities at the top plates, blow cellulose to depth over the sealed ceiling, and spray closed-cell foam around the full basement rim. For a 1970s ranch on the north side, the attic and rim are still the focus, but the framing is simpler and the job usually goes faster. Either way, each area appears on the quote with its own material, depth and price.

Costs in context

HomeGuide's national figures put a rim joist foam job at about $2,000 to $2,500 and an average attic insulation job at $1,000 to $2,700, with air sealing anywhere from $350 to $3,000 depending on how much there is to do. Older Davenport houses often land toward the upper end of air sealing because of the number of open chases. We show you the leaks we plan to close, so the number makes sense.

Cold winters

The record low here is -29F, set on January 18, 2009, and snow is likely from November through February. A house that leaks at the attic and the rim joist pays for it every day of that season. Get a free estimate