Most North York attics are sitting at R-20. The standard is R-60.
That gap is about 22 inches of missing depth, and it is the reason the upstairs never holds temperature and the gas bill climbs every winter. We measure what you actually have, show you where the heat is going with thermal imaging, and give you the number before we leave. Blown-in installation, removal where it is needed, air sealing and ventilation, installed to Ontario Building Code.
Tell us what's going on and we'll take a look — no obligation.
This suits most North York houses built before about 1990, which is nearly all of them. If yours went up between 1950 and 1975, was insulated once and never revisited, and has an accessible attic floor above a flat ceiling, you are the straightforward case and it is usually a single day.
It is less straightforward with a finished attic, a cathedral ceiling or a flat roof, where there is nowhere to add depth without changing the assembly. And it is not the right first move if there is live knob and tube, vermiculite or an active leak up there. Those get dealt with first.
The upstairs runs hot in August and cold in February while the main floor is fine. That pattern points at the ceiling rather than the furnace, because heat moves up and out through whatever is above it. If every floor is cold rather than just the top one, the walls downstairs are usually part of it too.
Staining on the underside of the roof deck, damp or matted material, or a musty smell at the hatch. Warm indoor air carries moisture up, and it condenses on the first cold surface it meets.
A ceiling at R-20 loses roughly three times the heat of one at R-60. Your furnace is not faulty. It is replacing warmth that leaves through the top of the house all winter. It is rarely the only loss, though, and cold floors on the main level point instead at what is under the ground floor.
Ridges of ice at the eaves mean heat is reaching the roof deck and melting snow that refreezes at the cold edge. An insulation and air sealing problem, not a roofing one.
Code asks for R-60 in new construction across Climate Zone 6, which covers the whole GTA. A 1962 bungalow at R-20 is entirely legal. It is simply expensive to heat.
Openings around the hatch, pot lights, plumbing stacks and interior wall top plates let heated air pour straight into the attic. Insulation slows heat through material and does nothing about air travelling around it.
Depth on its own rarely fixes an attic. Insulation, airflow and moisture are connected, and treating one while ignoring the other two is why some attics get done twice. The same applies to any unheated space with living area attached to it, which is why the ceiling over an attached garage behaves the same way as an attic floor.
The core of the work, and the choice matters more than most quotes explain. R-value measures resistance to heat flow per inch, so the depth you need depends entirely on what goes in. Whichever material it is, it goes in evenly, because heat finds the thin spot and an attic averaging the right depth with bare patches performs worse than a consistent lower depth throughout. Blown-in material also compresses over time, which is why we measure actual depth rather than trusting a label.
Insulation only performs in an attic that breathes. Cold air enters at the soffits and leaves at the ridge, carrying moisture out before it condenses on the roof deck. The working standard is roughly one square foot of net free vent area per 300 square feet of attic floor, weighted toward intake, and most older houses are short on intake rather than exhaust. Blocked soffit vents are extremely common, usually because insulation was pushed too far into the eaves during a previous job, so baffles go in before the insulation does.
Wet, contaminated or mouldy material comes out before anything new goes in. Insulating over a moisture problem hides it and makes it worse, so a leaking roof or a bathroom fan discharging into the attic rather than outside gets sorted first. That fan alone puts several litres of water vapour a week into a cold space. Whether the old layer actually needs removing is worth settling before you compare quotes, since one contractor pricing removal and another not pricing it is not a like for like comparison. We cover topping up over what is there separately.
Ontario's Home Renovation Savings programme pays 50% of the attic insulation cost after tax, up to $1,250, and runs to 30 November 2026. No home energy assessment is required for the attic stream.
The tiers run backwards from what people expect: the less you have now, the larger the rebate. Up to $1,250 at R-12 or below, $1,000 from R-12 to R-25, $800 from R-25 to R-35. The finished attic has to reach R-50 to qualify at all. That is why we measure your existing R-value on site rather than estimating it. The measurement decides your tier.
We assess eligibility during the visit and handle the paperwork. Full detail on the Ontario rebate.
Booked Monday to Saturday across the GTA. Somebody goes up through the hatch rather than looking from the ladder, measures the depth you actually have, and runs thermal imaging to show where the heat is leaving. You get a PDF report with photographs, free and yours to keep whether you use us or not.
Priced on attic size, what is up there now, and the work needed. Itemised, explained plainly, handed over while we are in your house rather than emailed three days later. Nothing added afterwards.
WSIB certified, fully insured technicians. Air sealing first, then baffles at the eaves so ventilation keeps working, then insulation to depth. Floors protected and the house left as we found it.
We verify the finished depth against code, send before and after photographs in a second PDF, and issue a Certificate of Completion backed by a 10-year workmanship warranty. You see exactly what changed in a space you will probably never look at again.
Nobody climbs into their own attic to check the work, which is the awkward part of this trade. WSIB certified, fully insured crews trained to current building-science standards rather than whatever was normal when the house was built.
We read your actual R-value on site with probing tools and thermal imaging. Not guessed from the year on the deed, which is how most quotes are produced.
Itemised in writing, handed over on the day. No pressure, no surprise additions once the work starts.
The same team before, during and after. If something needs looking at in year four, you are not starting again with a call centre.
Booked around your schedule, finished in a day in most houses, site cleared before we leave.
Documented proof, because you are buying something you cannot see. It is also what makes the warranty mean anything.
We work out of a real address at 244 Bartley Dr in North York, not a mailbox.
Open the hatch and look across the floor. If you can see the tops of the joists you are almost certainly below standard, because joists run 8 to 10 inches and R-60 needs around 22. Cold upstairs rooms and rising bills point the same way. There is a two minute version you can do yourself.
No single answer. Blown-in fibreglass and cellulose suit open attic floors because they flow around obstructions. Batt is more predictable in a tidy, accessible attic. Spray foam is right where air sealing and insulation are needed in one layer. We recommend based on your attic, not a house style.
R-60 for new construction in Climate Zone 6, which covers the whole GTA. That is roughly 22 inches of blown-in material, and most people are surprised by how deep it looks. Existing homes are not required to reach it, but it is the number worth aiming at.
Usually we can top up over dry, stable material, which is cheaper and less disruptive. Removal is the right call when the old layer is wet, mouldy, rodent-contaminated or so compressed it has stopped working. It roughly doubles the job, so settle it before comparing quotes.
Insulation slows heat through material. Air sealing stops warm indoor air travelling around it through gaps at the hatch, pot lights, plumbing stacks and interior wall top plates. Worth separating two terms people use interchangeably here: a vapour barrier slows moisture diffusing through the ceiling, while an air barrier stops humid indoor air physically travelling through gaps. The second moves far more moisture. In an Ontario winter that causes condensation, frost and mould, and a house can have adequate insulation on paper and still perform badly without it.
For a simple attic, yes, and plenty of people do. It stops being one if you have recessed lights not rated for insulation contact, anything grey and granular that might be vermiculite, old ceramic-knob wiring, or any sign of water. Check the rebate arithmetic too, since the programme runs through registered contractors.
Most jobs land between $1,500 and $6,500, and the spread is almost entirely attic floor area rather than house size. A bungalow has roughly double the attic of a two storey the same square footage, which is why the smaller-looking house sometimes carries the bigger quote. Removal, difficult access and electrical work are the other things that move the number. On timing, most attics are a single day; removal, electrical remediation or a cut-up roof with dormers will extend it, and we tell you which you are before we start rather than halfway through.
Before you compare numbers, check each quote actually states:
A quote that is a single number with no R-values on it cannot be compared to anything.
Older recessed fixtures are not rated for insulation contact, and burying one is a fire risk rather than a performance problem. They need three inches of clearance or an approved cover. We check during the assessment, because it changes the scope.
Both stop the job rather than slow it. Insulation must not contact live old ceramic-knob wiring, which is an electrician's work before it is ours. Vermiculite may contain asbestos and needs testing before anyone disturbs it. We tell you plainly if either is up there.
An hour in your attic tells you what you have, what it is costing you and what it would take to fix, with a written number before we leave. We work across North York, from Willowdale and Newtonbrook through Don Mills and Bathurst Manor, and across Toronto and the wider GTA. If the attic turns out to be fine, you will hear that too.
