Southland Insulators (The 5th Fuel) added insulation to 25 year old home. They did fantastic, clean job! Very professional work and left no job undone. Highly recommended. read more

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Southland Insulators remodelling company, The Fifth Fuel we're professional from start to finish, they provided a competitive price, we're good communicators, and provided good cleanup after the job. The job (attic insulation, and insulating a crawl space under our kitchen) was completed on time as promised! Very pleased! read more

We used this company back in 2020. They also go by the name the 5th Fuel. Well we recently had our inside A/C unit inspected. Our A/C man came through the ceiling because the wood we had laid down up in the attic were never put back when this company was done installing our insulation. We did not know that until this month 2023. I wish when companies come into your home and do a job that they would put things back as they found them. They also left out cinder block that were up in the attic. I guess they haul our boards away along with the old insulation. I know have a hole in my half bath because the boards are no longer there for people to walk on. read more

My original problem is that the top level of my 3-story townhouse was always hotter than the other two levels. I got this company to remove my old, pink, fiberglass attic insulation and spray foam my entire attic (roofline). They did a STELLAR job! Jake was an excellent salesman, and I highly recommend working with him. He was extremely informative and he didn't try to up-sell me on anything I didn't want. The insulation removal team was AMAZING and fast! They removed every shred of that awful 90s insulation within 3 hours. They made no mess...I couldn't even tell that they were there that day. Day 2 was the spray foam installation. The spray foam team did an excellent job as well. They were on time, very fast (done in 4 hours), polite, and again made no mess. Now the top level of my townhouse is as cool as the other levels!!!! It's been 2 months of hot Summer months, and my home is so comfortable! I can't recommend this company enough. EXCELLENT work! read more

Their "solution" was a HORRENDOUS DISASTER! Southland installed spray polyurethane foam (SPF) on the rafters our unfinished attic. That means: - They sprayed 10 inches of foam in our attic on the underside of our roof - They covered and sprayed over the air channels that came up from the soffits under the eaves - The covered and sprayed over the two attic fans in the roof. By closing off all the airflow in the attic, their "solution" was to make the attic indoor "conditioned" space and to encourage airflow only between our second floor bedroom space and the attic. When Southland sprayed the foam in our house they should have told us to leave the house for at least 24 hours. This is one of the first and foremost guidelines from the EPA. Instead, I worked in my office on the second floor keeping an eye on the installers and breathed the chemicals they sprayed. Southland should have provided ventilation after they sprayed the foam - SPFs expel gasses that are very toxic as they solidify. They never told us this and let my pregnant wife, 1 year-old child, and me sleep among the fumes they'd trapped inside my house. My wife lost the baby three months later. Southland denied that there could be any foam smell in my house more than a day after the installation. Month after month I complained but they said it would go away. How could it when they had sprayed over any way for the smell to escape but into the second floor where we sleep? I rented two industrial fans with wide tubing to pull the air out of the attic and out my closet window. I had to do this throughout a very cold winter. My heating bill tripled and my family and I slept in the basement for seven months. We still smell the foam especially on hot days. What are we breathing? An air quality specialist found several toxic and carcinogenic gases, which we are now addressing. This has already cost us $1000. More than one roof specialist has told us that we have now shortened the lifespan of our roof rafters by covering them with foam and by closing the airflow from our soffits. We are remediating all of these issues to make the house habitable and safe, which has cost us time and money. Southland, a company we thought we could trust, made terrible recommendations and installed a truly deadly product in our house. They made no efforts to remediate the problem. They never owned any responsibility for not venting our house properly after installation. The president never responded to my questions. Ever. They never even offered as much as an apology. read more

Walter from Southland came in to do a consult - didn't try to upsell me, diagnosed the issue, and his recommendation was spit on. They shot some insulation below our master broom and it's had its intended impact. Would absolutely and will likely reach out to them again. read more

They did a great job on my crawl space. Came on time and finished the work fairly quickly.

We have a modern home with a low pitch roof, skylights, cellulose blown-in over fiberglass, blocked soffit vents, animal infiltration through the years and some dampness from leaks in the old roof, in other words a nightmare attic. Somehow, the Southland team was able to get all of the old nastiness out, open up the soffit vents, and install 16 inches of blown-in cellulose insulation throughout the attic. I don't know how they were able to navigate an attic with clearances so tight, you'd think no one could make it through, but they did. Two thumbs up to Southland and their hardworking team of miracle workers. read more

Five stars all around: communications, punctuality, workmanship, quality of materials, and price.

I called this company to learn if they'd be able to help me insulate my condo to prevent odors coming from surrounding homes and cold air coming in though my outlets during the winter. The receptionist took down my information and informed me that I'd receive a call to schedule an appointment. This all happened, which was great, but the day of the visit, I got a text message that expressed doubts that Southland Insulators would be able to help me without even seeing my home. When the contractor arrived, he was immediately condescending and assumed that I didn't own my home and hadn't already consulted with my condo board to learn if permits would be needed for the work (they weren't required). He then proceeded to explain all the reasons why he wouldn't be able to help me with a line of reasoning that a child may have been able to follow. It was a waste of my time scheduling the appointment and, as a female, who is not young, just sad to experience sexism (unconscious or not) still. read more

I just had open cell insulation sprayed in my attic by Southland. I worked with Roy Flores. Roy answered all my questions and was patient with my many concerns. I had a two day job. The first day was removal of my old insulation. It was an awesome team who did a great job cleaning up and getting things done quickly. It was an extremely hot day, so they started early and finished around 2pm. The second day was the insulation team. I let the in, then I left with my dogs. They gave me a call a 1/2 hour before they were done so I could go and lock up. They left an air exchange air fan running out a window in the front of my house. We let this run for three days and did not enter the house. When we returned the house did not smell. The attic itself smelled like new paint, but with the attic door closed, you could not smell it at all. I highly recommend Southland. They were professional in every way and easy to work with. Their price was fair and their insulation product (Icynene Classic Max) is rated very highly. The best advice I have for consumers is to learn about spray foam insulation before you have it installed. You are required to be out of your house for 24 hours, but I would suggest getting out of town for a weekend if you can. Plan ahead. read more

I wish I could give this company a big fat ZERO review. As someone who lives in a community behind this company I am a disgusted by the amount of noise and trash that comes from this location. Their employees throw trash in the woods and stream behind the building and in the street, blast horrible Latin music (trumpets and tubas, over and over and over) late in the evening until someone calls the cops or screams at them from one of the units, and they have absolutely no regard for traffic in the area, sometimes blocking the entire road causing cars to have to turn around and go another way just to go home. read more

If I could choose 0 stars I would... The entire experience was a nightmare. The sales person, who visited twice to provide a more accurate quote, "left" the company before the work was performed. There were items on the proposal that I specifically questioned and was told not to worry about them. Parking permits being my biggest concern given the fact we live in the District and street parking can be tricky -- we were told not to worry about it. Visit one from Southland - they arrive with a 28ft box truck. We did not secure parking permits because the sales person told us we didn't need them. Southland left because there was no place to park their truck. Visit two - the crew arrives to tell us that the rooms need to be ENTIRELY clear of all furniture - something our sales person should have told us but didn't. We were also told that the sales rep quoted ceiling removal for our garage - something outside the scope / capabilities of Southland. After moving as much furniture as we could and agreeing that they would need to come back for a thrid visit after our contractor removed the garage ceiling (that they were supposed to do), the team started their work. About 45 minutes into spraying the foam, the Southland equipment catches fire. Luckily, there was no damage to our house or their crew. After trying to swap out the original hoses (that caught fire) with spare hoses from their truck, they couldn't get generators/pumps in the truck restarted after they hit the emergency shut-off switch to help stop the fire. Visit three which was already scheduled was necessary to finish the upstairs as well as the garage. Visit three - the crew arrived. No fires. Equipment worked but in the midst of spraying the foam in our garage ceiling the team knocked electrical wiring loose causing us to lose power in the back half of our house. Their field supervisor came out and informed us that the problem was beyond their scope and we needed to have our electrician look at the problem. One after-hours visit and several hundred dollars later, our electrician was able to resolve the problem. In all, a job that should have taken a day took over 3.5 weeks. This entire time, the back half of my house was without a ceiling or insulation. When a woman from the Southland office called to see how things went with the job, I told her the entire saga and she promised to drive this to resolution (she was actually pleasant and apologetic...and no longer with Southland). Once the electrician provided our GC with an invoice, the only consideration given by Southland was to deduct the cost of the electrician for the bill. When we tried to call the office to discuss the further consideration for our overall experience, we were routed to Wayne. Wayne proceeded to tell us that the fire was an act of god. He also "explained" that the problems with the parking and the parts of the proposal that fell outside of Southland's normal scope/capabilities were our fault not theirs. Customer service is clearly not Wayne's strong suit...thus this lengthy post on Angie's list. Southland came recommended to me by a friend. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that her GC handled everything with Southland. Perhaps they're nicer to GC's...my experience was awful. read more

While they did a good job on the insulation, on both occasions that they were supposed to come and do the work, they did not show up. The first time they were supposed to come to install wall insulation and partially finish the attic they did not show up and thus the county insulation inspection failed. After that, they finished that part of the job and it was done well. However, they forgot to blow-in insulation for the rest of the attic. After a couple of months, they were scheduled to come and finish the job, but again they did not show up, but insured us that they will on the next day. Most of the day passed, and at 4pm, they said their machine was broken, so they would do it in yet another day. That did not happen, and again a no show. Finally after a week, they came and finished the insulation. They do good work but their scheduling and organization is horrible. Thus, I would stay away form them in the future. read more