Insulation Before & After in Burbank, CA
Photos tell the truth faster than any spec sheet. Below are real project scenarios we encounter across Burbank, Magnolia Park, and the Verdugo foothills, documented the way they unfold: the problem we walked into, the fix we applied, and what changed once the work was done. We’ll add actual job-site photos here as we shoot them. The patterns are consistent enough that if your house was built before 1990, at least one of these will look familiar.
Recent Transformations
1960s Ranch in Magnolia Park: Attic Insulation Overhaul
The attic had roughly two inches of original fiberglass batts, compressed flat and gray with dust. Upstairs rooms ran eight to ten degrees warmer than the rest of the house every summer afternoon. We removed the old material, sealed every penetration we could reach, and blew in R-38 CertainTeed fiberglass to code. The homeowner called us back two weeks later to report the upstairs finally held temperature, and their August DWP bill dropped 22% versus the prior year.
Verdugo Hills Home: Crawl Space Encapsulation
This hillside home had a dirt-floor crawl space that was pumping moisture into the living areas. Floors felt cold in winter, and the homeowner noticed a musty smell that air fresheners couldn’t touch. We laid a 12-mil vapor barrier across the floor, ran it up the foundation walls, sealed the vents, and insulated the rim joists with closed-cell spray foam. Within a week, the smell was gone, the floors stopped feeling damp, and the furnace stopped cycling as often.
Burbank Hillside: Attic Cleaning & Rodent Proofing Before New Insulation
We see this a lot in the hillside neighborhoods: roof rats get in through a gap barely wider than a thumb, and suddenly your attic is a latrine. This attic had soiled insulation throughout and chewed wiring that made us glad we found it. We removed everything, sanitized the decking, sealed entry points with steel mesh and foam, and blew in fresh R-38 GreenFiber insulation. The scratching sounds stopped immediately, and the homeowner stopped worrying about what was living above the bedroom ceiling.
1950s Bungalow Near Warner Bros: Wall Insulation Retrofit
The walls in this Burbank bungalow were empty. No insulation at all, just stucco, chicken wire, and air. The homeowner felt drafts on still days and heard every car that drove past. We drilled small access holes from the exterior or interior, dense-packed the cavities with Knauf blown-in fiberglass, and patched everything clean. The house held its temperature noticeably better within days, and street noise dropped to a level they stopped thinking about.
McNeil Neighborhood: Radiant Barrier Under a Hot Roof
This roof faced full western sun, and the attic was an oven by 2 p.m. every day from May through October. The existing insulation was doing what it could, but radiant heat from the roof deck was the real problem. We installed a perforated radiant barrier across the underside of the rafters, keeping the vent channels clear so the attic could still breathe. Attic temperatures dropped by a measured 25 degrees, and the air conditioner no longer ran for hours just to undo what the roof was doing.
Apartment Conversion off Olive Ave: Spray Foam for a Flat Roof Assembly
Flat roofs in Burbank are common, and most of them were insulated decades ago, if at all. This unit had a ceiling that radiated heat downward and leaked cooled air upward all summer. We applied open-cell Icynene spray foam across the full ceiling plane, sealing every crack and nail hole in one pass. The temperature difference between floor and ceiling shrank dramatically, and the single room AC unit finally kept up without running nonstop.
Want Results Like These?
Every project above started with a phone call and a home energy audit. We’ll walk your attic and crawl space with you, show you what we find, and give you upfront pricing before any work begins. Call (747) 837-5834 and a live person answers, 24/7. Most jobs are completed in a single visit, and everything we do is covered by the 90-Day Done Right Promise.
Written by Neil Ashford, Owner at Warmline Insulation Co., serving Burbank since 2011.