How Topside Attic Insulation Mountain View Was Born in Mountain View
Back in 2016, we were working as a blower-door technician for an energy audit company, driving all over the Bay Area. The job was straightforward: test houses, find leaks, write reports. But we kept seeing the same thing in Mountain View attics. Homeowners had paid good money for thick, fluffy insulation, and it looked impressive from the hatch. Underneath, though, the top plates were whistling air, can lights were pumping conditioned air straight into the attic, and that expensive insulation was doing almost nothing.
One afternoon in late fall, we were in a home off Cuesta Drive. The homeowner had paid another company to add insulation the year before. Their energy bills hadn’t dropped. We pulled back the new batts and showed them the unsealed electrical penetrations, the gaps around the chimney chase, the open soffits. They asked the question we’d been hearing too often: “Why didn’t the other crew mention this?”
That was the moment. We called the parent company that same week and asked about bringing the Topside approach to Mountain View. We didn’t want to sell more insulation. We wanted to sell insulation that actually worked. The brand already existed, already had the standards, already refused to blow material over an unsealed floor. What Mountain View needed was someone local who would actually follow them.
Wes Okafor’s Personal Connection to the Insulation Trade
We didn’t grow up in construction. We started in physics, actually, community college in San Jose, working nights at a hardware store to pay for textbooks. The owner there was a former contractor who’d hurt his back and couldn’t climb ladders anymore. He’d pull us into the back and show us cutaways of wall assemblies, explain why vapor barriers failed, why fiberglass compressed in stud bays. The smell of that stockroom, cedar and latex paint and the metallic tang of copper fittings, still comes back when we open certain supplier doors.
The first time we went into an attic alone, it was August. A hundred and fifteen degrees, the air thick with dust and the particular sharp smell of old cellulose. Our headlamp caught the glint of mouse droppings on a duct joint. We were supposed to just add more blown-in and leave. Instead we sat on the rafters for twenty minutes, tracing the air paths with a smoke pencil, understanding why this homeowner’s upstairs bedroom would never cool down. The tradesman who trained us found us up there and didn’t yell. He handed us a can of foam and said, “Seal it first. Then we’ll talk about insulation.”
That was over ten years ago now. We’ve sealed and insulated attics in Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, from Eichlers with their flat roofs to the new builds in North Bayshore with their complex HVAC systems. What gets us out of bed is the same thing: pulling back insulation and showing a homeowner exactly where their money was leaking out. If we weren’t doing this, we’d probably be teaching somewhere, or fixing old motorcycles. The through-line is the same, we think, the pleasure of making something work the way it’s supposed to.
The work means something personal because houses in Mountain View are expensive. People stretched to buy here. When they pay for insulation, they’re not buying a product. They’re buying the belief that their home will finally be comfortable, that their PG&E bill will stop climbing, that they made a good decision. We take that seriously because we’ve been the person writing the check, wondering if we were being taken care of or taken advantage of.
Meet Wes Okafor - The Person Behind Every Job
Wes Okafor is the Owner and Founder of Topside Attic Insulation Mountain View. Before opening this branch in 2016, Wes spent years in the field as a blower-door technician and insulation installer, working directly with homeowners across Santa Clara County. That hands-on background means Wes still climbs into attics for complex assessments, still reads every blower-door report before it goes to a customer, and still trains every crew member on the Haven Standard personally.
Wes holds the state license required for insulation and weatherization work in California, with additional training in building science and air sealing from the parent brand’s certification program. What separates Wes from a corporate franchise technician is simple: this is the only branch Wes runs. The truck you see on Shoreline Boulevard, the person who answers when you text about your appointment, the signature on your written estimate - it’s the same person.
Outside of work, Wes restores vintage stereo equipment, the kind of heavy 1970s receivers that take up too much space and sound better than anything new. It’s the same impulse that drives the attic work: understanding how a system fits together, fixing what others replace, getting the details right. Wes’s direct commitment to every customer is straightforward: “I put my name on your job. If the blower-door number doesn’t improve, we don’t leave.”
Our Promise to Mountain View Homeowners
Our values aren’t posters on a wall. They’re policies we had to explain to customers who’d been burned before.
Honest pricing, in writing, before we start. Haven Clause 1: Have it in writing. We learned this the hard way, watching a homeowner in Los Altos Hills get a verbal estimate that ballooned once the crew was in the attic. Our written estimates include the flat price, the exact square footage, the R-value we’re installing, and the air-sealing scope. No door upsell. No “while we’re in here.” The price you sign is the price you pay.
Quality materials from manufacturers we trust. We specify Owens Corning and Johns Manville products on most Mountain View jobs because their thermal performance holds up in our mild, marine climate, where moisture management matters more than extreme cold. We don’t swap brands mid-job to save margin. What we quote is what goes in.
Standing behind every job with documented proof. Haven Clause 4: Evidence on every job. You get photos of what we found, photos of what we sealed, and the before-and-after blower-door number. In 2019, a homeowner in Sunnyvale called us back because their bedroom was still cold. We pulled the report, checked our photos, found a missed chase we hadn’t photographed. We fixed it, updated the documentation, and changed our checklist. The warranty only matters if you’re willing to honor it when it’s inconvenient.
Our Credentials
- State-licensed - Every pro working under our name is required to hold the license their state requires for insulation and weatherization work
- Insured & bonded - Coverage that protects your property while we’re working in your home
- Years of local experience - Serving Mountain View and surrounding communities since opening this branch in 2016
- Strong local reputation - Built through documented results and repeat customers across Santa Clara County
These credentials matter because you’re letting strangers into your attic, often while you’re at work. State licensing means someone has verified basic competency. Insurance means if a foot goes through a ceiling, you’re not calling your homeowner’s policy first. Local experience means we know that Mountain View’s 1950s ranch homes have different attic venting than the new construction near San Antonio Road, and we adjust our approach accordingly. The reputation we’ve built here is the only reason we’re still in business - no national marketing budget can replace a neighbor telling another neighbor, “They actually did what they said.”
Rooted in Mountain View
This branch opened in 2016 because Mountain View’s housing stock needed what we do. The Eichlers with their radiant heat and no attic space. The post-war bungalows off Castro Street with original insulation compressed to half its R-value. The tech-era townhomes with complex rooflines that trap heat. We’ve worked in Old Mountain View, in Monta Loma, in the neighborhoods near Rengstorff Park where the fog lingers longer and moisture issues show up differently than they do inland.
We’re not from everywhere. We’re from here. Wes lives in the area, buys materials from the same suppliers on Maude Avenue, understands that a “quick job” in Mountain View often means navigating a narrow driveway built in 1954. The standards come from Topside Attic Insulation. The local knowledge comes from showing up, day after day, in attics that belong to our neighbors.
Written by Wes Okafor, Owner at Topside Attic Insulation Mountain View, serving Mountain View since 2016.