Spray Foam Insulation in West St. Paul, MN

Spray foam insulation in West St. Paul covers a wide range of houses packed into about five square miles. Point2Homes, drawing on 2019-2023 census survey estimates, shows 10.5% of homes built before 1940 and another 8% in the 1940s, with a median construction year of 1970. The city sits on bluffs south of St. Paul, and its name comes from its place on the west bank of the Mississippi rather than its position relative to South St. Paul.

Older streets, newer infill

The neighborhoods closest to St. Paul hold bungalows and story-and-a-half homes with the same issues we see across the river: empty walls, shallow attics and kneewalls that leak. Farther south, along and beyond Robert Street, the housing shifts to postwar ramblers and split-levels. Newer infill and townhomes fill in between.

Typical work here

For prewar homes, kneewall and attic sealing plus dense-pack wall fill does the most. For postwar houses, closed-cell foam on the rim joist and a blown-in attic upgrade are usually first. Dakota County is in Climate Zone 6 of Minnesota's energy code, so we work toward the R-49 ceiling level in its code summary where the attic allows.

Frost and foundations

Minnesota Rule 1303.1600 puts Dakota County in frost Zone II, with 3.5-foot minimum footings. The top of the foundation and the rim joist above it are among the coldest parts of the house all winter.

Story-and-a-half houses

In the older blocks, the upstairs of a story-and-a-half house is usually tucked under the roof with kneewalls on each side. The small attic spaces behind those kneewalls are cold, and the floor joists of the upstairs often run through them into the heated house. Blocking and sealing those joist bays, then insulating the kneewalls and slopes, is often the single biggest comfort improvement we can make in this kind of house.

Ramblers along the south end

Postwar houses here tend to have accessible attics, so a seal-and-blow attic upgrade is straightforward and usually one of the lower-cost projects. HomeGuide's national range for an average attic job is $1,000 to $2,700.

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