about 40 minutes from the shop, east on US-2
Insulation services in Ray, ND
Williston Insulation works across Ray, ND and the farms around it, about 40 minutes east of our shop on US-2. Ray is the closest of our outlying towns, close enough that a small job here fits into an ordinary workday. We handle spray foam, blown-in attic insulation, batts, rigid board, air sealing, and removal for houses, shops, and ag buildings. Drew Niskanen quotes and installs every job.
A small town with old houses and big shops
Ray is a small town on the US-2 corridor between Williston and Tioga. Most of its houses are older: stock from the 1950s through the 1970s, with a smaller number of newer houses and some crew housing from the 2010s. The older houses share the usual profile for their age. Attic insulation that started as a few inches of loose fill and has settled further. Walls framed with 2x4s. Basements with bare rim joists, which is why the floors along the outside walls feel cold.
The bigger buildings in and around Ray are ag and oilfield: grain bins and elevator operations along the rail line, machine sheds, post-frame shops, and service yards along the highway. A lot of those shops were built as cold shells and heated later, and the owners now deal with condensation dripping off the steel roof every time the heater runs in winter.
Wind off the prairie
Ray is on open ground, and the northwest wind crosses it with nothing in the way. In Climate Zone 7, wind is what separates a house that is merely under-insulated from one that is cold. Air moving through a fiberglass batt or through settled loose fill cuts its effective R-value badly. Sealing the attic floor, the rim joist, and the chases before adding insulation is the order we work in, because the sealing is what makes the insulation work.
For the shops, the same logic applies to steel siding laps and fastener penetrations. Closed-cell foam sprayed against the inside of the steel seals them all at once and keeps the steel warm enough that it stops sweating.
Close enough to fit in a day
At about 40 minutes from our shop, Ray is the one outlying town where we do not need to batch work. A single rim joist or an attic top-up can go on the calendar like an in-town job. Larger projects get a dedicated day. When we do have Tioga or Stanley work, Ray is on the way, and we will often combine trips. Epping, just west of Ray on US-2, is covered from this page too.
Spray foam in Ray
In Ray, spray foam usually means two inches of closed-cell at the rim joist of a 1950s or 1960s house, where it seals the band over the foundation and stops the cold floor problem, and foam against the steel in heated shops and machine sheds. Attics get blown-in fiberglass. We are not going to sell you foam for a wall cavity that batts will handle. Our spray foam insulation page explains the reasoning.
What we install in Ray
Blown-In Attic Insulation
Loose-fill fiberglass or cellulose blown to the Climate Zone 7 target of R-60, with the top plates sealed and the eaves baffled before the first bag goes in.
Crawl Spaces & Rim Joists
Closed-cell foam on the rim joist and crawl space walls, with a ground vapor barrier, to fix the cold floors and drafts almost every older Williston house has.
Pole Barns & Shops
Closed-cell foam sprayed direct to the steel skin of post-frame barns and shops, stopping the condensation drip and making the building cheap to heat.
Insulation Removal
Vacuum removal of old attic and wall insulation that is wet, moldy, smoke-damaged, contaminated, or in the way of a spray foam job, with the space cleaned and ready for new material.
Questions from Ray
Is Ray close enough for a small job without a trip charge?
Ray is close enough that we treat small jobs much like in-town work. We do not need to wait for other work in the area before we schedule a rim joist or an attic hatch. If distance affects a quote at all, we say so in the quote itself rather than hiding it. Send a request and we will be direct about it.
My farm shop near Ray drips water from the roof in winter. Can insulation fix that?
Yes. The drip is condensation: warm, moist air inside the shop hitting cold steel. Closed-cell spray foam against the roof and wall steel keeps the surface above the dew point and seals the laps, so the condensation stops. We look at the building, the heat source, and what is stored inside before quoting.
Do you remove old attic insulation before adding new?
Only when it needs to go. Settled but clean loose fill can usually stay, with new material blown over it after air sealing. Insulation that is wet, moldy, full of rodent mess, or covering knob-and-tube wiring gets removed. We tell you which situation you have after we look in the attic.
We work in Ray from our shop at 1926 44th St W in Williston, about 40 minutes away. There is no office in Ray; we come to you. Nearby: Williston, ND, Tioga, ND, Stanley, ND.
Get a quote in Ray, ND
Send the basics and an owner comes back with a straight answer on what it needs, what it doesn't, and what it costs.