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Attic Insulation Inspection Checklist: What to Check Before the Crew Comes, What to Watch While They Work, What to Verify After, and the Photographs That Prove R-60 Is Actually Up There
Insulation & Air Sealing
The Attic Checklist: Thirty Minutes Before, an Hour During, Fifteen Minutes After, and You Will Know What You Paid For
An attic job is the one renovation where the finished work is invisible from the house and uncomfortable to go and look at. That is why so much of it is done badly. The fix is not expertise; it is a list, a flashlight, a tape measure and a phone camera, used three times: before anyone quotes, while the crew is up there, and after the truck leaves. Here is the list I would use on my own house, with the things that stop the job, the things that get fixed on the spot, and the photographs that settle every later argument.
Before anyone quotes: the five things that change the job
- Vermiculite. Shiny grey-brown pellets, light as popcorn, anywhere in the attic, including under newer insulation at the eaves. If you see any, close the hatch. Lab test, $100 to $200 a sample, before a single quote. No contractor can price the attic without the result and the honest ones will tell you so.
- Wet, stained or mouldy insulation. Dark patches, matted cellulose, black on the paper facing, a tide line on the sheathing. It does not get buried. The source, a roof leak, an ice dam, a fan, gets fixed first and the wet material comes out. Removal is a separate line and sometimes a separate trade.
- Knob-and-tube wiring. Ceramic knobs on the joists, single cloth-covered wires running separately. The Electrical Safety Code does not allow insulation in contact with it; the attic job waits for the electrician and the ESA inspection.
- The bathroom and kitchen fans. Follow each duct. If it ends in the attic, under the insulation or at a soffit, that is the first repair. That page has the fix and the cost.
- Pot lights, chimneys and flues. Count the pot lights and read the label inside one: IC or non-IC. Find every chimney and metal vent and note whether there is a 3 in. clearance and a metal dam. Each is a line on the quote, $45 a cover, and each is a fire problem if it is skipped.
Then measure the depth in four places, identify the product, and read the depth chart, so that “existing R-20” on the quote is your number and not the installer’s guess. Write down the attic area from the house plan or the outside dimensions; a 1,200 sq ft attic quoted as 1,500 is a $900 error at the top-up rate.
What a good quote has on it, line by line
| Line | What it should say | What a bad quote says |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Square feet of attic floor, measured | “Attic” |
| Existing and target R | “Existing approx. R-18 (5 in. cellulose), top up to R-60” | “Upgrade insulation” |
| Product and depth | Cellulose or fibreglass by brand, installed and settled depth, bags per the chart | “Blown insulation” |
| Air sealing | Itemized: top plates, penetrations, fan, chase, soffits, at $1.00 a sq ft or listed | Absent, or “seal as required” |
| Pot light covers | Count and $45 each, or replacement fixtures | Absent |
| Baffles | Every rafter bay at the soffit, $3.50 a bay | “Vents as needed” |
| Hatch | Insulated and weatherstripped, $200; or box over stairs, $350 | Absent |
| Removal | Unit rate per sq ft, the contamination surcharge stated, or “none required” | A lump sum, or removal on a clean attic with no reason |
| Chimney clearance | Metal dam, 3 in. | Not mentioned |
| Depth markers | Installed, one per 300 sq ft | Not mentioned |
| Rebate | Whether the contractor is on the program’s participating list, yes or no, in writing | “Rebate eligible” |
| HST | Shown separately | Included and unstated, or missing |
On the standard 1,200 sq ft attic from R-20 to R-60 those lines add to $4,820 before HST and $5,447 with: top-up $3,120, air sealing $1,200, baffles $300, hatch $200. The attic insulation cost calculator builds the same list from your numbers.
During: the hour that matters
Go up, or at least put your head through the hatch with a light, after the sealing is done and before the blower hose starts. This is the only hour in the life of the attic when the sealing is visible. You are looking for a bead of foam or caulk along both sides of every interior wall top plate, foam at every wire and pipe, the fan housing taped and ducted to a hood, lids on the dropped soffits and the chase, a cover box over each pot light, a metal dam with 3 in. of daylight around the chimney, and a baffle in every bay at the eave with a dam at the top plate so the insulation cannot slide into the soffit. The air sealing guide has the full list and where each hole hides.
Then the markers: cardboard rulers stapled to the trusses, marked at the installed depth, one every few hundred square feet, visible from the hatch. Then the hatch itself, weatherstripped, with foam board on top. If any of that is missing, say so before the hose starts; after it starts, the conversation becomes a theory.
During the blow, watch the bags. The chart on the bag says how many per 1,000 sq ft for the target R, and the empties in the truck are the count. Fluffy fibreglass blown to depth with two-thirds of the bags is the oldest trick in the trade, and the count is the only thing that catches it. The hatch should be masked and the hall covered; cellulose blown with the hatch open to the bedroom is a cleaning bill.
After: fifteen minutes with a tape
- Depth in four places, from the hatch with a long stick if you do not want to crawl: by the hatch, the far end, an eave, the middle. All four at or above the installed depth on the bag chart, which for cellulose is deeper than the settled figure.
- Coverage over the outside wall top plates. The depth should hold right out to the baffle. The commonest shortfall is the last 3 ft over the exterior wall, where the roof is low and the hose did not reach; that is the strip that gets ice dams.
- Baffles still open. Look down the eave line: a baffle in every bay, not buried, daylight at the soffit through each. Ontario wants 1:300 ventilation with half at the soffit, and insulation in the soffit makes it zero.
- Markers readable and the insulation at the line.
- Chimney dam clear, pot light covers not buried out of existence (they should be, that is the point, but you saw them go on), nothing against the flue.
- Hatch closes tight on its weatherstripping, foam on top, latch works.
- The invoice states the product, the installed and settled depth, the bag count, the air sealing items, and the contractor’s participating-list status if a rebate is in play. The rebate program wants the invoice to say what was done and to what R.
The photographs, and the number that checks everything
Before: a close-up of whatever is up there, the depth with a tape in each of the four spots, the fan duct and where it ends, a pot light label, the chimney. During: every top plate run sealed, the stack, the fan housing, the chase lid, each pot light cover, the chimney dam with a tape showing 3 in., the baffle line, the hatch gasket, the markers. After: each marker at depth, the eave line with baffles, the empty bags in the truck, the hatch closed. Thirty-odd photos, kept with the invoice. The rebate program can ask for them, a buyer’s home inspector will ask what is up there, and you will want them the first cold snap the ceiling frosts somewhere.
One number checks the whole job: a blower door test, $300 to $450 standalone or included in the EnerGuide evaluation that the assessment path of the rebate program requires anyway. The before-and-after reading is the sealing crew’s report card. A tighter house also needs its ventilation looked at afterward, the bath fans and any furnace or water heater that draws air from the room; ask the evaluator to check the draft while he is there.
Questions people ask
How do I check if attic insulation was installed correctly?
Measure the depth in four places against the installed depth on the bag chart, confirm the depth markers are at the line, look down the eave for an open baffle in every bay, check coverage out to the outside wall plates, and count the bags on the invoice against the chart. Then ask for the air sealing photographs taken before the blow.
What should an attic insulation quote include?
Measured area, existing and target R, product and installed and settled depth, itemized air sealing, pot light covers by count, baffles, the hatch, removal as a unit rate or “none”, chimney clearance, depth markers, the contractor’s rebate participating-list status and HST shown separately.
Does the building inspector check attic insulation on a renovation?
Usually only if a permit is open for other work; a top-up on an existing house does not need a permit. On a new house the inspector checks insulation and vapour barrier before drywall and looks for the attic R, the baffles and the chimney clearance. On a renovation, you are the inspector, which is what this list is for.
What are the signs of a bad attic insulation job?
Thin spots over the outside walls, insulation stuffed into the soffits with no baffles, no depth markers, no bag count on the invoice, pot lights buried without covers, foam against a chimney, and frost or ice dams the first winter where the sealing was skipped.
Do I need photographs for the attic insulation rebate?
The program requires an invoice stating the work, the before and after R-values and the area, from a contractor on its participating list; photographs of the depth markers and the finished attic are the easiest way to back that up and are worth taking in any case. Check the program site for the current document list before you apply.
Build the checklist into the price
The attic insulation cost calculator prices every line on this checklist, sealing, covers, baffles, hatch, removal and the product, so the quote you compare it against has nowhere to hide a missing one. If you have quotes in hand, the $99 review reads all three against this list and tells you which lines each one left out and what they are worth.
Sources and further reading
- Keeping the Heat In, Section 5: Roofs and attics: NRCan on checking existing insulation, fixing moisture first, air sealing before insulating, baffles, hatches, chimneys and pot lights.
- Home Renovation Savings: attic insulation without an assessment: the standalone attic rebate: starting and target R-values, caps, the participating-contractor rule and who is excluded.
- Ontario’s Building Code: the official page with the current regulation; vapour barriers are 9.25, attic ventilation 9.19, thermal barriers over foam 9.10.17, radon 9.13.
