Over 30 Years of Serving Cottage Country: Highlighting GNI’s Gravenhurst Team
Aug 13, 2026
Great Northern Insulation is an organization that operates from London to Ottawa and everywhere in-between. While we leverage our collective size as Canada’s largest insulation company to provide the best overall service for our customers, each of our branches across Ontario is operated by local teams comprised of local professionals. Opened in 1995, our Gravenhurst location was GNI’s very first expansion, and more than 30 years later the team is still doing what they do best: serving Ontario’s cottage country.
It’s also the one GNI branch equipped to reach cottages that most insulation companies can’t get to, including island properties accessible only by water.
Decades of Experience
Being able to service water-access properties only works if you have the installation expertise once you’re across the lake. Kelly’s crew brings with them decades of experience and an impressive history with the Gravenhurst branch – several of them have been Great Northern Insulation employees for 5+ years, three of them for 10-15 years, and one dedicated employee of more than 35 years, longer than some GNI branches have even existed!
That kind of tenure and expertise means when someone calls about a tricky attic, an older cottage, or a build with unique requirements, chances are someone on the Gravenhurst production team has handled something similar and has thoughts on the best way to tackle it.
Get in touch with Great Northern Insulation's Gravenhurst branch:
Working on Land and Water
From Muskoka and Lake of Bays to Parry Sound, Huntsville, Haliburton, and Bancroft, the Gravenhurst team covers some of Ontario’s most challenging terrain. Cottage country consists of winding backroads, complicated land access, and remote lots. Reaching a jobsite with production vehicles can be a project in itself before our teams even start insulating.
To make things even more complicated, for some shoreline and island properties, there is no road to the front door. Getting a crew and their equipment across open water takes planning, the right gear, and expertise – and that’s where branch manager Kelly Galloway comes in.
“Some of the cottages and buildings we insulate can only be reached by water,” says Kelly. “For those jobs, we’ll load portable installation equipment and our materials onto a barge and cross the lake to a property. When larger jobs call for it, we’ll even barge a full production truck over, so crews can operate exactly the way they would on the mainland with road access. It’s a challenge unique to our branch, but in Ontario’s cottage country you have to get creative, and it means we’re able to service properties other contractors can’t or won’t.”
Ontario Cottage Country Needs Specialists
Cottages and seasonal homes can come with challenges you won’t see in a suburban house. Many were built decades ago to older standards and have been added to over the decades with piecemeal renovations. Others are in the process of being renovated to allow for year-round habitation. Some sit empty through the coldest months, which makes air sealing and moisture management especially important.
Proper attic and building envelope insulation helps keep homes and cottages comfortable and protected from the elements. Getting it right takes a team that understands both the building science and realities of working in remote locations, and our Gravenhurst team has the experience needed to ensure every job gets the professional attention it needs.
