Ceiling spray foam insulation in Stony Plain is complicated on the older stock by the same thing that complicates everything else here, which is that these houses were built in stages and the ceiling changed height every time.
A plane that steps every time the house grew
Where an addition was built onto a house, its ceiling almost never lines up with the original one. There is a step, and above that step is a short vertical surface that is neither ceiling nor wall and was insulated as neither. It sits between a heated room and an attic, it is frequently open into the roof space at its top edge, and it is invisible from below and awkward to reach from above. Every extension in this town has one and it is the single most reliable cold spot in the older houses here.
Where the original roof was left inside the building
On a good number of these, the addition was built up against the existing eave, and the original roof edge and soffit are still there behind the new ceiling. That means there is an old vented soffit inside the building, opening into the attic of an addition, doing exactly what it was designed to do in a place where nobody wants it. It is not a defect anybody created deliberately and it is a substantial hole. Finding it is the reason the survey on an extended house goes into both roof spaces rather than one.
Sloped and low ceilings on the oldest houses
The oldest stock here has rooms in the roof, sloped sections that follow the rafters, and knee walls behind the finish. There is no attic above those sections, the cavity is whatever the rafter depth gives, and the assembly either has a maintained air path above the insulation or it does not. That decision cannot be seen from below and it changes the correct work completely, so establishing which of the two is up there is most of the assessment on a Stony Plain house of that age.
When a sloped section cannot be reached, there are two honest answers
Some of these cannot be worked on without opening the ceiling, and it is better to say so than to quote around it. Where a sloped section has no attic above it and no access at either end, the two real options are to leave it and spend the money on the parts that can be reached, or to do it properly when the room is being renovated for some other reason. There is a third thing people are sometimes sold, which is drilling the cavity and injecting into it, and on a sloped assembly with a ventilation path in it that is a poor idea rather than a compromise. A household that knows those are the options usually makes a sensible decision quickly.
Ceiling Spray Foam Insulation Stony Plain: Common Questions
Why is the addition colder than the rest of the house? Look at the step where its ceiling meets the original. That surface is almost never insulated.
Can it be done from the attic? Most of it usually can. Sloped sections and low eaves are the exceptions.
What if there are two attics? On an extended house that is normal, and both get looked at. The junction between them matters.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Stony Plain quote. More on Ceiling Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.