A building rarely tells you insulation is the problem. It shows up as complaints, bills and stains, and these are the ones worth a second look.
The front office stays cold all winter. The back room bakes by mid-afternoon. Someone keeps a space heater under a desk. Uneven rooms often mean heat is crossing the ceiling or the walls faster than the system can keep up, most of all right under the roof. Ducts and controls can cause the same complaint, so insulation is not always the answer.
Set this year's bills beside the same months last year. If heating and cooling cost more while your hours, equipment and rates are about the same, the building shell is a fair suspect. Thin insulation and air leaks make the system run longer to hold one temperature.
Lift a ceiling tile near an outside wall, or open the attic hatch, and shine a light across. Look for batts shoved aside around light fixtures, tiles with nothing on them and places where you can see straight up to the roof deck. Every gap is a shortcut for heat.
Water spots on ceiling tiles, a metal roof that drips on cold mornings and a musty smell when a ceiling tile is lifted all point to moisture, and wet insulation does not work as it should. The EPA's moisture control guide for buildings warns that condensation inside a roof or wall is hidden and may be mistaken for a rain or plumbing leak.
Commercial insulation is more than one trade. Some contractors wrap pipes, ducts and equipment. Some spray foam. Roofers lay insulation on flat roofs. Insulation Pros insulates the building itself: the attic and the space above the ceiling, with the air leaks up there sealed first. We do it for businesses as well as homeowners.
For most businesses, start overhead. Where a building has an attic above a flat ceiling, the job is the attic insulation we install in houses: loose-fill blown to an even depth, or old and damaged material vacuumed out and replaced. Before any of it goes down, air sealing closes the gaps in the ceiling that let heated and cooled air escape. A suspended ceiling, a metal roof or a flat roof changes the job, and the sections below explain how.
What we leave to others is just as plain. We don't install spray foam, insulate pipes or equipment, apply fireproofing or put insulation on a roof deck, which is roofing work. Call and tell us about your building, and you'll get a straight answer about whether it's a job for us.
Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Saturday by appointment. Sunday closed.
The reasons are mostly ordinary: how the building went up, what's been done to it since, and where the air and the water go. These are the questions worth asking.
Often because nothing required more. North Carolina's energy code sets insulation levels for new commercial buildings, but state law leaves whole classes of them out. General Statute 143-138(b18) exempts a structure from the energy code when its main use is factory work, storage or utility, which are Groups F, S and U in the state building code. For a warehouse or a fabrication shop, the energy code asks for no insulation at all. An office or a store is covered, but an older one may never have been upgraded.
Not toward the energy code. North Carolina's commercial energy code says insulation installed on a suspended ceiling with removable tiles is not considered part of the roof insulation. The reason is plain from a ladder. Those tiles are made to be lifted out, and whatever lies on them gets moved for every cable, light and leak, and often stays where it was pushed. The EPA's moisture control guide adds that a suspended T-bar ceiling cannot be used as an air barrier, so the batts on it sit in moving air.
Often it is condensation, not a roof leak. The EPA's moisture control guide gives the mechanism: when humid air touches a surface that is cold enough, the water vapor in it condenses there. Bare steel on a cold morning is that surface. The guide's rule is to keep the dew point of the air below the temperature of the surfaces it touches, and to make the shell airtight, so that indoor air does not leak into its cold parts. In practice that means drier air, a warmer inside surface, or both.
ENERGY STAR's Action Workbook for Small Business names the usual places: windows, doors, walls and the roof. It singles out open bay doors as a large concern for auto dealerships. The EPA adds that in the cooling season, outdoor air is the largest source of humidity in a commercial building, whether it arrives through the ventilation system or through leaks in the shell. Fresh air brought in on purpose is good. Air that gets in by accident is heated or cooled at your expense.
Usually because something has happened to it since it went in. Electricians, cable installers and heating and cooling techs work above commercial ceilings all the time, and every trip up can leave a bare patch where insulation was pushed aside or trampled flat. A slow roof leak can soak a section and mat it down. Birds and rodents that find a way in nest in it. None of that shows from the room below, which is why the estimate looks at the condition of what's there, not only how deep it is.
Because it changes what may be installed there. The EPA's moisture control guide notes that return air plenums are typically found above suspended ceilings, where the system pulls air back through the open space instead of through ducts. North Carolina's mechanical code restricts what sits in a plenum: materials must be noncombustible, or be listed with a flame spread index of no more than 25 and a smoke-developed index of no more than 50. Not every insulation product carries that rating, so tell us if your ceiling space moves air.
Wondering which of these your building has? Describe what you're seeing when you call, and we'll tell you what it would take to price it.
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These are the kinds of work that carry over from a house to a business. Your estimate says which of them your building needs, if any.
Where a commercial building has an attic above a flat ceiling, it is insulated the way a house is. Loose-fill insulation is blown across the attic floor to an even depth, over the existing layer if that layer is dry and clean. Baffles keep the eave vents open, and the depth is set by the R-value agreed in your estimate.
Moving air carries heat straight past insulation. So the openings in the ceiling are closed before any insulation goes down: at pipes, wires and conduit, where interior walls meet the ceiling, at open shafts and at the attic hatch. Every trade that has cut through the ceiling left holes behind, and they are found before they are buried.
Insulation that has been soaked, flattened or fouled by animals is not worth covering over. Once the leak or opening that ruined it has been found, it is vacuumed out and new insulation goes in. In a commercial building one check comes first: federal asbestos rules call for an inspection before renovation work begins, and that is an asbestos inspector's job, not ours.
Some questions are settled before any insulation goes in. Is that drip a roof leak or condensation? Does the ceiling space carry return air, which limits the materials allowed there? Will the ceiling hold the added weight? Are the eave vents clear, and which light fixtures need room around them? Anything that belongs to a roofer, an electrician or a heating and cooling contractor is named in the estimate so it can be done first.
Here is how a commercial insulation job goes with us, start to finish.
Call or send the contact form. Tell us what the building is used for, its square footage, how it's heated and cooled and what you've noticed. Plans or photos help. If it isn't work we do, you'll hear that on the call.
A commercial building is harder to price from square footage alone, so if we need to see above the ceiling or through the attic access, we make a special visit. Then you get a free estimate that names the work, the area and the R-value, plus anything another trade has to handle first.
The job is set for a weekday, or a Saturday by appointment if that suits your business better. When the insulation is in, we clean up and show you what went in and where.
In a building that is heated and cooled for people, usually yes. Heating is the largest single use of energy in American commercial buildings. The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts space heating at about 32 percent of all the energy those buildings used in 2018, the most recent year its survey covers. Insulation and air sealing work on that share, and on cooling too, by slowing the heat that crosses the roof and stopping the air that slips through it.
Savings vary. Find out why in the seller's fact sheet on R-values. Higher R-values mean greater insulating power.
How much a given building saves is another matter, and we won't promise a figure. ENERGY STAR's Action Workbook for Small Business says fixing the leaks in a building's shell can often eliminate a major energy drain, and it warns that actual savings vary with the building, its use and energy prices. A building held at room temperature all winter has more to gain than one that's barely heated.
Energy is only part of it. Insulation also serves the people in the building and the building itself: even temperatures, a roof that does not drip on stock or equipment, framing that stays dry. The EPA's moisture control guide says condensation is controlled by keeping surfaces warmer than the dew point of the surrounding air, and that the building shell and the heating and cooling system have to do that job together.
A commercial insulation contractor insulates the shell of a building that is not a house: the roof or ceiling, the walls and the floor. Past that, the trade splits by how the building is built. Some companies blow loose-fill into attics. Some spray foam onto metal roofs and walls. Roofers lay the rigid insulation on a flat roof deck, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists among a roofer's duties. Mechanical insulators cover pipes, ducts and equipment. So the first question for any commercial insulation installer is what kind of work the company takes on.
Here is our answer. Insulation Pros insulates attics and ceilings with blown-in insulation, vacuums out old insulation that has to go and seals the air leaks beneath it. If your building needs spray foam, roofing or mechanical insulation, we will say so on the first call, because we do none of the three.
Where a business has an attic over a flat ceiling, old insulation that is wet, matted, fouled by animals or simply in the way can be vacuumed out. In most buildings new insulation is then blown in to the R-value in your estimate. If you need the old material out with nothing put back, for a renovation for instance, ask about it when you call.
Two questions are answered before any of it is moved. The first is what ruined it: a roof leak goes to a roofer, and an opening that let birds or animals in is closed, or the new layer goes the way of the old one. The second is whether anything in the space could contain asbestos, and in an older building that means the inspection described in the FAQs below. Vermiculite, a pebble-like loose-fill that the EPA describes as usually gray-brown or silver-gold, is the one to stop for. The EPA's advice is to treat it as if it contained asbestos and leave it undisturbed.
The terms get used loosely, but they usually point to different trades. Commercial insulation, in everyday use, is insulation in the building: above the ceiling, in the walls and under the floor. Industrial insulation generally means mechanical insulation, the covering on pipes, ducts and equipment in a plant. The Bureau of Labor Statistics draws the same line. It describes mechanical insulators as the workers who apply insulation to equipment, pipes or ductwork, apart from those who insulate attics, floors and walls.
Insulation Pros is not an industrial insulation contractor, and pipe insulation is not our work. We do not insulate piping, ductwork, boilers or other equipment, and we do not apply the sprayed fireproofing that protects structural members, which North Carolina's building code covers in a section of its own. For those jobs, look for a mechanical insulation contractor or a fireproofing contractor. The attic and ceiling of the building around that equipment are ours.
The standard methods go in while the building goes up. North Carolina's commercial energy code describes two roof systems for a metal building. In a filled cavity, one layer of fiberglass sits between the purlins and a second is laid across them, under the roof panels. In a liner system, a continuous membrane hangs below the purlins and uncompressed insulation rests on it. Where the code applies, it asks a zone 3 roof for R-10 plus R-19 in a filled cavity, and a roof in zone 4 or 5 for R-19 plus R-11, or R-25 plus R-8, in a liner system.
A building that is already standing is a different job, because the roof panels are on. Insulation has to be added from inside, and what is possible depends on the framing, on what is there now and on whether the building is heated. Plan for condensation, since uninsulated steel runs close to the outdoor temperature. Spray foam is one way this work is done. We do not install spray foam at Insulation Pros, which means we are not the right call for every metal building.
A pole barn raises the same questions with wood posts in place of steel frames, and often no code decides the answer. State law exempts storage, factory and utility buildings from the energy code, and General Statute 143-138(b4) takes farm buildings outside a town's building jurisdiction out of the building rules altogether. One case looks like our work. Where a flat ceiling hangs under the trusses, the space above it is an attic, and blowing insulation over a ceiling is what we do in houses, provided that ceiling can carry it. Describe yours when you call, and we will tell you whether we are the right installers for it.
Yes, and the difference is less about the name on the door than about two questions: is the space heated and cooled, and what goes on inside it? An office or a store is kept comfortable all year, so it is insulated much as a house is, and North Carolina's commercial energy code sets minimum levels for it. A warehouse may be heated just enough to protect what is stored there, or not at all. The code's insulation rules skip buildings with no conditioned space, and state law takes storage, factory and utility buildings out of the energy code altogether.
So in a warehouse or a workshop the right amount is a business decision, not a legal one. A shop where people work all winter is worth insulating like any occupied building. One that only shelters equipment may need no more than a fix for condensation. When you call, tell us how each part of the building is used and heated.
For a commercial ceiling with an attic above it, North Carolina's 2018 Energy Conservation Code, which the Office of State Fire Marshal still lists as the code in effect, calls for R-38 in climate zone 3. In zones 4 and 5 it calls for R-42 where the framing is wood and R-49 where it is steel. On the code's map, most of the state's counties are zone 3 or zone 4, and six mountain counties are zone 5. A flat roof insulated above the deck needs R-25 of continuous insulation in zone 3 and R-30 in zones 4 and 5. In all three zones, a wood-framed wall in an office or a store needs R-20 in the cavity, or R-13 plus continuous insulation.
Those are minimums for new buildings, additions and the newly built parts of an alteration. The same code says the unaltered parts of an existing building do not have to be brought up to it, and that a ceiling or wall cavity opened during an alteration only has to be filled with insulation. Insulation laid on a suspended ceiling with removable tiles does not count as roof insulation. For closed walls, ENERGY STAR's Action Workbook for Small Business points to loose-fill and warns that the work can be labor intensive. Blowing insulation into closed framed walls is work we do in houses, so ask about yours.
Ask us, whether it is a house or a commercial building. Most of this site is about buildings that are already standing, and whether a new one fits depends on what the plans call for. Blown-in insulation over a flat ceiling is the kind of work we do, and we will tell you whether we can take the job on. Spray foam, rigid insulation on a roof deck and metal building systems belong to other contractors.
New work has to meet the energy code. For a new house, North Carolina's minimum is R-38 in the ceiling in every zone, and R-19 in the floor, or R-30 in the mountain counties of zone 5. A new commercial building follows the commercial numbers above, and the state accepts a North Carolina version of the Department of Energy's COMcheck software as a way to show that it complies. So send the plans before you ask for a number. A price per square foot means little until the assembly and the R-value are known.
Ask when you call, and read nothing on this page as a yes. A mobile or manufactured home is a house and not a commercial building, but it is put together differently from a site-built one, and so are office trailers and modular buildings. For the home itself, the U.S. Department of Energy's insulation fact sheet says the ceiling and walls of a mobile home are complicated to insulate, and that the job usually goes to a specialist. Tell us what you have, and we will say whether we take it on.
We don't print prices, for commercial work or any other, because a number that fits one building misleads the owner of the next. The cost follows the building, whether it's an office, a shop or a warehouse. Size comes first: the square footage to be covered. Then the R-value you're aiming for and how much good insulation is already there. Access counts for more than in a house: the ceiling height, what has to be moved and how much of the work has to fit around your business hours. Removal and air sealing are lines of their own, and insulation on top of a flat roof deck is a roofer's quote.
To compare commercial insulation contractors fairly, make sure each written estimate names the same things: the area, the material, the finished R-value, what happens to the old insulation, what prep work is included and what's left out. Check who handles permits and the asbestos inspection. Our estimate is free. If we need to see the building to price it, we make a special visit, and we price only the work the building needs.
That depends on where the work is and what goes on underneath it. Insulating above a ceiling means ladders, hoses and open hatches or tiles in the rooms below. Tell us which areas have to stay in use and when the building is empty. We work weekdays, and Saturdays by appointment, and we plan the job with you before you agree to anything.
Several kinds, and it is better to know before you call. We do not install spray foam of any kind. We do not do mechanical insulation, which is the insulation on pipes, ducts, boilers and other equipment. We do not apply fireproofing or firestopping, and we do not do roofing, so the rigid insulation on a flat roof deck belongs to a roofer. Asbestos work, electrical work and structural repair are other trades too. What we do: insulation in attics and above ceilings, removal of old attic insulation, and air sealing.
If old materials will be disturbed or removed, plan on one. The EPA's asbestos rule for renovations and demolitions covers commercial buildings and leaves out residential buildings with four or fewer dwelling units. It requires a thorough inspection of the area where the work will happen. North Carolina's Health Hazards Control Unit says an asbestos professional holding state accreditation must inspect a building before any renovation or demolition begins, and Buncombe, Forsyth and Mecklenburg counties add asbestos ordinances of their own, each with a local agency to call. We do not inspect for asbestos or remove it, so ask the building owner whether a survey exists.
Sometimes. North Carolina General Statute 160D-1110 lets jobs under a cost limit go ahead in a commercial building without a building permit, but it lists exceptions, among them changes to heating, air conditioning or wiring and any change the state fire code applies to. Adding insulation alone may fall under the exemption. Work that changes the heating and cooling, or turns a space that was never heated into one that is, can be a different matter. Your local inspections department decides, so ask it before work starts. Bring the permit question up when you call.
There was one, and it has been cut off for new projects. Section 179D of the tax code gave building owners a deduction for energy efficient commercial building property, and the IRS lists the building envelope among the systems that can qualify. But the IRS also says the federal tax law enacted in July 2025 ended the deduction for property whose construction begins after June 30, 2026. The separate federal credit for insulating a home ended on December 31, 2025. Ask your accountant whether a project already under way qualifies. We do not give tax advice.
It helps, but insulation by itself does not make a wall soundproof. The General Services Administration's office acoustics guide, Sound Matters, builds its privacy walls from several parts working together: batts in the stud cavity, drywall on both sides, a wall that runs full height from slab to slab and every joint sealed airtight. It also warns that sound leaks around doors, through the ceiling space and through ducts. So insulation is one part of a quiet room. Tell us what you are trying to quiet, and we will say whether it is work we do.
Attic Insulation
Blown-in insulation is loose-fill fiberglass or cellulose blown across an attic floor. See how the job is done, how it compares with batts, what R-value and depth mean, and where another material fits better.
Air Sealing
Thick insulation over a leaky ceiling is like a wool sweater in a stiff wind. Learn why sealing has to happen first, where leaks hide in attics and ducts, and what a sensible job looks like.
Attic Insulation
North Carolina's energy code requires R-38 in a new ceiling, and ENERGY STAR recommends more for existing attics. See both numbers, which climate zone your county is in and how many inches each R-value takes.
Attic Insulation
Most old attic insulation can stay under a fresh top-up. Wet, moldy, animal-soiled or smoke-damaged material cannot. Learn how to tell the difference, what removal involves and what to do about vermiculite.
Most of this work ends up out of sight above a ceiling, so judge a contractor by what happens before the job. Whichever commercial insulation company you call, look for these things, and hold us to them too.
A commercial building is hard to price from its square footage alone. How the roof and ceiling are built, what's already up there, what runs through the space and how each room is used all count. Tell us those things, send plans or photos if you have them, and if we still need to see it, we make a special visit before we give you a number. Expect the estimate to describe your building, not a package.
Commercial insulation is several trades, and we do only some of them. The list of what we leave to others is on this page, and you'll hear the same thing on the phone. If your building needs a trade we don't offer, we'll tell you before you've spent anything.
We're a family owned and operated company, and we work across North Carolina. Call or text us on a weekday, or ask about a Saturday appointment. If your landlord or property manager needs paperwork from a contractor before work starts, tell us what it is when you call.
North Carolina
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)We're a family owned and operated insulation company, and we do commercial insulation for businesses all over the state. Pick your town to see what we do nearby, or browse all of our service areas.
Call (336) 870-3893 for a free estimate.
Building owners looking into commercial insulation often ask about these services as well.
Blown-in fiberglass attic insulation, added to the depth your home needs, to even out hot and cold rooms and cut wasted heating and cooling.
Old, wet, matted or animal-soiled attic insulation vacuumed out, so new insulation can go in on a clean, sealed attic floor.
Sealing the gaps between your rooms and the attic, and leaky ductwork, so the air you pay to heat and cool stays inside.
We serve homes across North Carolina. These are the largest towns we work in.
Alamance County
Buncombe County
Cabarrus County
Cumberland County
Durham County
Forsyth County
Gaston County
Guilford County
Mecklenburg County
New Hanover County
Onslow County
Orange County
Pitt County
Wake County
