We got O'reilly to top up attic (cellulose) insulation to R-50 from about R-26, spray foam our basement to R-20 with headers to R-24 and coat the headers and a few walls with cementitious coating for fire resistance since we were going to do a drop ceiling instead of drywall.
Appraisal, attic insulation top-up and spray foaming the entire basement went great 10/10 on that and props to the guys for doing a good job. Prep, clean-up and the work were all done well.
The cementitious application though wasn't nearly as good. Because application of this stuff requires extensive setup and clean-up, O'Reilly charges close to $500 for setup/teardown in addition to per square foot application cost.
Unfortunately the crew applying cementitious (different from those doing attic top-up or spray foam) failed to properly prep or clean up. The actual application was good but we ended up with chunks of cement covering our belongings 8 feet away from any exterior wall since the crew didn't cover it. The crew was also totally unprepared for the clean-up - all they had was a small broom and a dustpan that was hardly sufficient for the amount of mess this generated. They ended up using OUR shop vac, OUR step stool and our broom to clean up the mess. Needless to say, wet cement does not help any of these things operate better. We have then looked around our lawn and noticed a few fairly large areas covered with cementitious where (I think) they were using/washing their equipment. Needless to say that covering grass with cement doesn't help it grow nor does cement dissolve within a day or two! It took us about an hour to clean up the bulk of what was left on the grass. And let's not forget that we paid the $500 setup fee! To their credit though, when I called O'reilly and explained the situation they did offer to refund half that setup costs but this has still left a sour taste for us.
Now you know why I'm torn. Attic insulation and basement spray foam were excellent but cementitious was a disaster. I would still recommend O'Reilly because 2 of 3 experiences were great but I'd say that you should be around and monitor their progress as quality of the work may vary by the crew doing it.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $7,000.00