Fall Home Idea Show Week — 5 Questions to Ask Any Insulation Contractor

Most people hire an insulation contractor once or twice in a lifetime. That makes it hard to know a good bid from a bad one. Both arrive on nice letterhead.

These five questions sort them out fast. Ask every contractor the same five, us included, and compare the answers.

Take these to the Fall Home Idea Show

The 48th annual Home Idea Show runs October 23 to 25, 2026 at the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center. It is the easiest place in town to talk to a row of contractors in one afternoon. It is also where a lot of people sign something because the booth had good candy.

Day

Hours

Friday, October 23

Noon to 7 pm

Saturday, October 24

10 am to 7 pm

Sunday, October 25

10 am to 5 pm

Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and military. Kids 12 and under are free.

Two stops worth making while you are there. The Department of Labor & Industries has a booth, and they can show you how to look up any contractor's license. Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency is giving a talk called Asbestos During Renovation and Demolition on all three days.

Screenshot the five questions below and bring them along.

1. Are you licensed for asbestos?

Ask this first, because in Spokane it decides who is even allowed in your attic. Thousands of older homes here and in Coeur d'Alene have vermiculite insulation, and vermiculite should be treated as asbestos-containing. A contractor's general license does not cover disturbing it.

In Washington, a contractor removing asbestos needs an asbestos abatement certification from Labor & Industries, with certified workers on the job. An insulation company without it has two honest options when they find vermiculite: stop, or sub the work out. The dishonest option is to blow new insulation over the top and say nothing.

A good answer: "Yes, and here is our certification. If we find vermiculite, we remove it under containment and handle disposal."

A red flag: "We'll just cover it up" or "That stuff is fine if you don't touch it." They are about to touch it.

Check any contractor yourself at LNI.WA.GOV. Make sure they are local, licensed, and insured. Here is how we handle asbestos and vermiculite removal.

2. What do you remove old insulation with?

The right answer is a high-CFM industrial insulation vacuum. The machine sits outside. A hose runs up to the attic, and the old insulation travels through it straight into sealed bags or a container. Nothing gets carried through your house.

This matters because old insulation is rarely just old. It holds decades of dust, rodent droppings, mold, or wildfire smoke. Scooping it into trash bags and walking them down your hallway spreads all of that through the rooms you live in.

A good answer: "We vacuum it out with an industrial machine parked outside, and we protect the path to the attic hatch."

A red flag: "We bag it by hand," a shop vac, or a vague "we'll get it out."

More on how we do insulation removal, including smoke and rodent-contaminated attics.

3. Is air sealing included?

Air sealing should be a line on the bid, not a favor. It means sealing the holes between your house and your attic before any insulation goes in: can lights, bath fans, plumbing and wiring holes, the tops of walls, and the attic hatch.

It is the easiest step to skip because nobody sees it. Once the new insulation is blown in, a sealed attic and an unsealed attic look identical from the hatch. They do not perform the same. Warm air rising through those gaps is what drives high heating bills, attic frost, and ice dams.

A good answer: "Yes, it is itemized, and we take photos of the sealed penetrations before we cover them."

A red flag: "The insulation takes care of that." It does not. Insulation slows heat. It does not stop air.

4. Will you put the R-value in writing?

A bid that says "insulate attic" is not a bid. It should state the R-value you are buying, and the finished job should come with paperwork that proves you got it.

This is not us being picky. The federal R-value Rule requires insulation installers to give you a contract or receipt showing the coverage area, the thickness, and the R-value installed. For blown-in insulation it must also show the number of bags used. Bag count is the honest number. Blown insulation can be fluffed to look deep, but the bags do not lie.

In Spokane, a properly insulated attic is R-49 to R-60. Ask for depth rulers in the attic too, so you can check it from the hatch.

A good answer: "R-49, this many square feet, this many bags, all on the contract."

A red flag: inches with no R-value, or "about a foot or so."

5. Will you help with insurance, Trust, and rebate paperwork?

There is often money available for this work, and most of it comes with forms. A contractor who does this every week knows which ones apply to you. Ask what they will handle.

• Insurance claims. Smoke, fire, and water damage claims need photos and a written scope your adjuster can use.
• The Zonolite Trust. The Zonolite Attic Insulation Trust reimburses 55% of vermiculite removal and re-insulation costs. It requires proof of the product and the right documents. Here is how to claim it.
• Utility rebates. Avista, Inland Power, Modern Electric, and Vera all pay insulation rebates, each with its own rules. Current amounts are on our rebates page.

A good answer: "Yes. We document the job and walk you through the forms."

A red flag: "That's between you and them." You will leave money on the table.

The five questions at a glance

Ask this

Good answer

Red flag

Are you licensed for asbestos?

Shows the certification, removes under containment

"We'll just cover it up"

What do you remove insulation with?

Industrial vacuum parked outside

Trash bags through the house

Is air sealing included?

Itemized on the bid

"The insulation takes care of that"

Will you put the R-value in writing?

R-value, square feet, and bag count on the contract

Inches only, or nothing

Will you help with the paperwork?

Documents the job, walks you through the forms

"That's between you and them"

One bonus question costs nothing to ask: did they show up when they said they would? How a contractor handles the estimate is how they will handle the job.

Ask us all five

We would rather you hire the right contractor than the first one. Put these questions to us and see how we do. A free inspection gets you a written plan with the R-value, the air sealing, and the price spelled out.

Call or text (509) 879-0495 or schedule an inspection online.

Pacific Insulation & Mold Remediation. Veteran-owned, local, licensed and insured in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene since 2012. WA Lic. #PACIFIL886KH. ID Lic. #RCE-47538. 135+ five-star Google reviews.



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