Insulation in Lettered Streets,
Bellingham.

Insulating the Lettered Streets.

The Lettered Streets, the old neighborhood north of downtown where the avenues run by letter, is one of Bellingham's oldest, close to the bay. The homes here are often a century old or more, and that age shows up in the insulation: empty walls with no insulation at all, wet crawlspaces sitting on damp ground near the water, and old attic insulation that's settled, gotten wet, or been fouled by rodents over the decades. A lot of these homes need the old stuff removed before anything new goes in.

So removal often comes first here. We pull out the wet, moldy, or rodent-fouled insulation, fix what caused the problem, and then air-seal and re-insulate clean, dense-packing the empty walls and topping off the attic. The crawlspaces near the bay stay damp, so a ground vapor barrier or full encapsulation is usually part of the job. These are old houses that reward doing it in the right order, and we never just blow new insulation over a moisture or contamination problem.

What we see on Lettered Streets homes.

Common home styles

1890s to 1920s homes, with often empty, century-old. Wet crawlspaces, settled attics are the moisture issues we run into most here.

Popular jobs

Removal of old or fouled insulation, dense-pack wall insulation, crawlspace encapsulation are the recurring work on Lettered Streets homes, matched to the housing stock and the moisture.

Moisture & prep considerations

Like everywhere in Bellingham, we air-seal and get the moisture under control before we insulate. In Lettered Streets that means paying close attention to wet crawlspaces, settled attics, then insulating to current WA energy code.

Services we offer in Lettered Streets.

Lettered Streets insulation FAQ.

How much does insulation cost in the Lettered Streets?

For these century-old homes, insulation removal runs $1,500 to $4,500, dense-pack walls $2,500 to $7,000, and crawlspace work $1,800 and up depending on whether it needs encapsulation. Removal often comes first here. We assess the home and give you a written quote, and a lot of the new insulation is rebate-eligible through PSE.

Do you insulate in the Lettered Streets?

Yes. We work on the Lettered Streets' century-old homes regularly and know what to expect, empty walls, wet crawlspaces near the bay, and old insulation that often needs removing first. Free in-home assessments.

My old Lettered Streets home has settled, dirty attic insulation. Can you just add over it?

Often not. If the old insulation is wet, moldy, or rodent-fouled, which is common in these century-old homes, it has to come out first, because adding clean insulation on top just hides the problem. We remove it, fix the cause, then air-seal and re-insulate. We'll tell you straight which situation you have.

Other Bellingham neighborhoods we serve.