Crawl Space Insulation in Marietta, GA
Crawl Space Pros replaces failed crawl space insulation across Marietta and East Cobb, where 1955 to 1978 ranch homes almost universally have fiberglass batts that fell off the subfloor years ago. We remove the failed batting, address the humidity that caused it, and insulate the assembly that actually works in a Georgia climate. Free inspection with moisture readings.
- Typical range
- $1,800 – $6,500
- Time on site
- 1 to 3 days on site
- Permit
- Not required
- From Atlanta
- 25 minutes
Why insulation is different in Marietta
Marietta splits cleanly into two crawl space problems. Downtown, the 19th century housing near the Square sits on stone and soft-brick piers where the mortar is the weakest element. In East Cobb, the issue is almost never structural at first: it is 1960s fiberglass batting that absorbed years of humid air, released from the subfloor, and now sits on a vapor barrier holding moisture against the joists it was supposed to protect.
Housing stock: Antebellum and Victorian homes on rubble-stone and brick pier foundations within walking distance of the Square, and a very large 1955-1978 brick ranch and split-level inventory across East Cobb built on block stem walls with 24 to 36 inches of clearance.
What is under it: Two distinct foundation populations in one city: hand-laid stone and soft-brick piers downtown, and concrete masonry unit stem walls with fiberglass batts in the postwar subdivisions. Madison and Cecil clay loam on the Kennesaw Mountain foothill slopes, with shallow saprolite that sheds water sideways instead of down.
Where the water comes from: Sope Creek, Rottenwood Creek and Noses Creek drainage. Homes on the downhill side of Kennesaw Mountain take concentrated sheet flow during summer thunderstorms. Slightly cooler nights than intown Atlanta at 1,130 feet, which raises the number of hours crawl space surfaces sit below the outdoor dew point.
Marietta at a glance
- County
- Cobb County
- ZIP codes served
- 30060, 30062, 30064, 30066, 30067, 30068
- Population
- 61,000
- Elevation
- 1,130 ft
- Housing era
- 1850-1900 near the Square, 1955-1978 across East Cobb
- Drive from Atlanta
- 25 minutes, 20 mi
- Neighborhoods
- Marietta Square, Whitlock Heights, Kennesaw Avenue Historic District, Fair Oaks, Church-Cherokee Historic District, East Cobb
- Landmarks
- Marietta Square, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Marietta National Cemetery
- Permit office
- City of Marietta Development Services
The Marietta problem behind most insulation calls
East Cobb has the most predictable insulation failure in the metro. A ranch built between 1958 and 1975 was insulated with fiberglass batts stapled or wire-held to the underside of the subfloor, in a vented crawl space, in a climate with summer dew points above 65 degrees. Humid outside air enters the vents, hits the cooler surfaces under an air-conditioned house, and condenses in the fiberglass. Wet fiberglass gains weight, loses loft and eventually releases. We routinely open a Marietta crawl space and find every batt in the house lying on the ground.
What we find most often in Marietta
- Fiberglass batts fallen off the subfloor across whole 1960s ranch crawl spaces
- Sheet flow from Kennesaw Mountain slopes entering at the uphill foundation wall
- Soft-mortar stone piers near the Square losing bearing
- City versus unincorporated Cobb permit confusion delaying structural repairs
What insulation costs in Marietta
Crawl Space Insulation in Marietta typically runs $1,800 to $6,500. Removing failed batting runs $0.70 to $1.60 per square foot, and rigid foam board on the foundation walls runs $2.50 to $4.50 per square foot of wall. A typical 1,400 square foot East Cobb ranch lands between $3,000 and $5,500 for the full removal and wall insulation package. Marietta prices at the metro average, with no clearance or access penalty on most postwar lots.
| Line item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Removal and disposal of failed fiberglass batting | $0.7 | $1.6 | sq ft |
| Rigid foam board on foundation walls, R-10 | $2.5 | $4.5 | sq ft of wall |
| Closed-cell spray foam on foundation walls | $3.5 | $6 | sq ft of wall |
| Rim joist insulation and air sealing | $9 | $18 | linear ft |
| New R-19 or R-30 batts between joists, vented crawl only | $1.6 | $3.2 | sq ft |
| Ignition barrier coating over exposed foam where required | $0.9 | $2 | sq ft |
What moves the price in Marietta
- Straightforward suburban access on most East Cobb lots
- Verifying city versus unincorporated Cobb jurisdiction adds an administrative step
Cost drivers for insulation
- Removal and disposal of existing wet or contaminated fiberglass batting
- Wall insulation versus floor insulation approach
- Material choice, from rigid foam board to closed-cell spray foam to mineral wool
- R-value target and the required ignition barrier detail
- Whether the crawl space is being sealed at the same time, which changes the correct approach entirely
These ranges are a planning model built for this site, not a survey of what other contractors charge. It has three inputs. Material quantities are taken off a reference 1,400 square foot crawl space with 150 linear feet of foundation wall, priced at Metro Atlanta supplier list rates. Labour hours are costed against Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for the Atlanta metropolitan area, where the mean hourly wage was $34.57 in May 2025. Permit fees come from the published schedules of the jurisdictions listed on this site. See the full cost guide.
Permits and compliance in Marietta
Crawl Space Insulation does not require a building permit in Marietta. Insulation replacement does not require a permit, but the Georgia energy code requires an ignition barrier or thermal barrier over foam plastic in some crawl space conditions. Confirm the detail with the inspector before installing exposed foam.
A Marietta mailing address does not guarantee city jurisdiction. Large parts of 30062, 30066 and 30068 are unincorporated Cobb County and permit through Cobb County Community Development on Powder Springs Street instead. Confirm jurisdiction by parcel before any structural crawl space permit is filed.
Georgia requires contractor licensing for construction work above $2,500 in value through the Secretary of State’s licensing board. No license number is published on this site because none has been verified for publication. Every contractor dispatched holds the Georgia license required for the scope of work, and the license number appears on the written quote before work begins.
Your permit office
- Authority
- City of Marietta Development Services
- Department
- Development Services, Building Division
- Address
- 205 Lawrence St, Marietta, GA 30060
- How to file
- City of Marietta online permitting
What this looks like on a Marietta house
The reason this matters more than a comfort complaint is what fallen batting does next. Once a batt drops onto the vapor barrier it acts as a sponge sitting on a non-breathable sheet, holding several pounds of water a few inches below the joists it used to insulate. The joist bottoms stay damp, wood moisture content climbs into the twenties, and surface mold follows within a season or two. When a Whitlock Heights homeowner calls us about a musty smell and we find the insulation on the floor, the insulation is not a separate problem from the smell. It is the reason for it.
How we handle this in Marietta
In a Georgia climate the correct answer for a Marietta ranch is usually to stop insulating the floor and start insulating the foundation walls, inside a sealed crawl space. Wall insulation in a sealed crawl space keeps the space near house temperature, which removes the condensing surface entirely. Where a homeowner wants to keep the crawl space vented, we install mineral wool rather than fiberglass, because mineral wool does not lose structural loft when it gets damp.
The scenarios above describe conditions we encounter routinely in Marietta’s 1850-1900 near the Square, 1955-1978 across East Cobb housing stock. They are illustrative composites of common local conditions, not case studies of specific properties, and no customer photographs or testimonials are published on this site.
How insulation runs, start to finish
- 1Assess the existing insulation for moisture content, sagging and contamination
- 2Decide the assembly: sealed crawl space with wall insulation, or vented crawl space with floor insulation
- 3Remove and bag failed batting
- 4For a sealed crawl space, install rigid foam or closed-cell foam on the interior of the foundation walls, holding the required termite inspection gap
- 5Insulate and air seal the rim joist, the largest single air leak in most crawl spaces
- 6Apply the ignition barrier where the code official requires it
- 7Verify the assembly is continuous with no thermal bypasses at corners and penetrations
Typical time on site in Marietta: 1 to 3 days on site.
Signs you need insulation
- Insulation batts hanging down or lying on the crawl space floor
- Cold floors in winter directly above the crawl space
- Higher heating and cooling bills than comparable neighboring homes
- Visible dark staining on the paper facing of old batts
- Rodent nesting inside the existing insulation
When this is not the right purchase
Do not re-insulate a crawl space that still has a moisture problem. New batting in a humid crawl space fails on the same schedule the old batting did.
Transparent pricing, published first
Every service page shows line-item ranges and the local factors that move them, before you call. If a quote you receive falls outside them, you have something concrete to ask about.
A written scope before any work starts
Written scope and price before any work starts. Quotes are honored for 30 days.
Response time we hold ourselves to
A crawl space specialist calls back within 60 minutes during posted hours, and by 9:00 AM the next morning for after-hours calls.
Licensing you can verify yourself
Georgia requires contractor licensing above $2,500 in project value. Ask for the number, then check it against the state register yourself. Georgia Secretary of State licence lookup
We name your permit office
For Marietta, that is City of Marietta Development Services, 205 Lawrence St, Marietta, GA 30060. Filed through City of Marietta online permitting. Structural crawl space work is permitted work, and we pull it.
Crawl Space Insulation in Marietta: common questions
My crawl space insulation in East Cobb is falling down. Can I just staple it back up?
You can, and it will fall again. Fiberglass batts in a vented Georgia crawl space fail because humid summer air condenses inside them against cool surfaces under an air-conditioned house. Reinstalling the same material in the same conditions restarts the same clock. Either change the assembly by sealing the crawl space and insulating the walls, or change the material to something that tolerates moisture, such as mineral wool.
Does wet crawl space insulation dry out on its own?
Fiberglass will eventually shed liquid water, but that is not the useful question. In a vented Georgia crawl space it does not stay dry, because the humid air that wet it is present for most of June through September. And each wetting cycle costs the batt some loft permanently, so its actual R-value drops well before it visibly fails. Batting that has been repeatedly wet should be removed, not dried.
Should I insulate the crawl space floor or the foundation walls in Marietta?
For a sealed crawl space, the walls. For a vented crawl space, the floor above. The two approaches are not interchangeable and mixing them creates problems. Wall insulation only works if the vents are closed and the space is dehumidified, because insulated walls in a still-vented crawl space simply trap humid air. If you are not going to seal the space, insulate the floor with a material that tolerates moisture.
Is my Marietta address in the city or in unincorporated Cobb County?
It genuinely may not be obvious. Large portions of the 30062, 30066 and 30068 zip codes carry a Marietta mailing address but are unincorporated Cobb County, which permits through Cobb Community Development on Powder Springs Street rather than City of Marietta Development Services on Lawrence Street. Insulation work does not need a permit either way, but if the scope grows to include structural or electrical work, the jurisdiction has to be confirmed by parcel.
Will insulating the crawl space lower my power bill in Cobb County?
It contributes, but for most Marietta ranches the larger energy win is air sealing the rim joist, not the insulation itself. The rim joist is typically the single biggest air leak in the house, and sealing it costs $9 to $18 per linear foot. We quote insulation and rim joist sealing separately so you can see which line item is doing the work, rather than bundling them into one number that implies the insulation is delivering all of the savings.