Injection foam insulation costs typically range from $4,300 to $7,900, with an average of $6,200. You’ll pay more if your pro has to insulate a large area or work high off the ground.
Installing injection foam insulation in a home costs $6,200 on average but can range between $2,200 to $16,000. However, injection foam insulation costs can vary dramatically depending on a number of factors—primarily the size of your house. The more stories and exterior wall square footage your home has, the higher your costs will be. Location, time of year, and your home’s accessibility can also impact the cost.
Learn how much each factor influences the total cost of the project so you can properly insulate your home while staying on budget.
Injection foam insulation requires a professional to have extensive access across the entire surface area that's going to be insulated. When injecting from inside the home, it’s much easier to drill through drywall, so the cost tends to be on the lower end of the average range. Because this foam is often installed behind exterior walls, any work requiring extended ladders or even scaffolding to reach up high can quickly drive up the cost of the project.
Another factor to consider is the type of siding material on your house. If your pro has to drill through brick or fragile stone, that will cost more than drilling into vinyl siding. Expect a 20% premium or more when the insulation needs to be injected behind difficult materials. This includes many types of wood siding as well, as avoiding damage requires extra care.
The price of an injection foam insulation project is based on three things: the foam used, the hours worked, and the size of the area. For accurate quotes, pros will base their costs on square feet. Injection foam insulation is one of the more expensive insulations to install and can cost homeowners anywhere from $1.50 to $4 per square foot.
| Size in Square Feet | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| 200 | $300–$800 |
| 300 | $450–$1,200 |
| 500 | $750–$2,000 |
| 1,000 | $1,500–$4,000 |
| 1,500 | $2,200–$5,900 |
| 2,000 | $2,900–$7,700 |
| 2,500 | $3,600–$9,600 |
| 3,000 | $4,500–$12,000 |
There are two types of foam used for all foam insulation projects: open-cell and closed-cell. The issue with injecting the foam is that you don’t want it to expand and add pressure against the inner wall. For this reason, injection foams are non-expanding open-cell foams. Spray foams, on the other hand, often expand up to 100 times their original size. This is a benefit for spray foams but not injection, which makes injection foam more expensive, as you have fewer options.
While some professionals—like general contractors—may claim to be able to install injection foam, the only professional you should consider is a local insulation pro. Their expert is valuable because injection foam can be insulation is tricky to install. Any gaps in the insulation can trap moisture, causing problems later on. These errors are much more difficult to notice when installing injection foam as you can't see the work while it's being performed. But a professional insulation technician will know how to check for these issues.
Installation costs will vary by location even if material costs stay the same. You can use the below table to approximate the cost of installing injection foam insulation on an average-sized home. Be aware there is a deviation though based on the season—the depths of winter and the height of summer will often carry a weather premium. This means that in cities with super hot summers or frigid winters, you’ll see a larger swing of these values compared to cities in more temperate climates.
| Location | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Indianapolis, IN | $5,500–$6,400 |
| Memphis, TN | $5,200–$6,100 |
| Tucson, AZ | $5,400–$6,300 |
| Columbus, OH | $5,600–$6,500 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $5,700–$6,600 |
| Chicago, IL | $6,500–$7,400 |
| Dallas, TX | $6,000–$6,900 |
| Seattle, WA | $6,900–$7,700 |
| New York, NY | $7,200–$8,800 |
A few other price considerations for injection foam insulation projects include demolition, preparation, permits, and warranties. Here’s what to know.
The entire purpose of injecting the foam is to reduce the amount of any demo work required. You don't need to remove walls and the only prep work that's required is making sure your workers have easy access where they need it. This can involve trimming some branches or simply cleaning the yard. If the work is done inside, you’ll have to move any furniture that's in the way. You can DIY this to save some money, otherwise your pro will likely wrap the cost into their quote.
Each city has different requirements, but most often you don’t need a permit to install injection foam installation. This is because the installation isn't modifying or adding to an existing structure. This is good news for homeowners considering this project as permits can cost anywhere from $200 to $3,000 each.
There are two kinds of warranties that can come with an injection foam insulation project— a warranty for the foam and a warranty for the work that was carried out. The foam warranty will come from the manufacturer, while your insulation pro may offer an additional warranty for the work they perform. While a manufacturer's warranty is often included, a warranty based on the installation may cost up to 10% of the project cost.
There are certain aspects of the project you can tackle yourself, like prep work, but you should leave drilling and injecting the foam to the professionals. Even if it seems simple, there's a lot of planning and elbow grease involved in this type of work. Experience built over the years is worth the price of labor.
Additionally, some warranties may be voided if you install this type of foam yourself. Improper installation can actually cost you money in the long run, as air pockets in improperly installed foam can increase utility bills.
Injection foam increases the value of your home since because it will stay warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer. It will also be less susceptible to mold, have greater soundproofing, and lead to increased energy efficiency (which results in lower utility bills). However, you may not see the real dollar amount of the home grow. Because of this, we don’t recommend injecting the entire home with foam insulation if you’re planning on selling. If you’re going to live in the house though, it makes a lot of sense to go ahead with the project.
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These two types of foams are similar chemically, but they are applied in a much different way and each has its own pros and cons. Spray foam can only be used if the area where you will be installing the installation is wide open and easy to access. Injection foam should be used where it's cost-prohibitive to remove the walls that are placed over the insulation. Spray foam is a much less expensive process and requires less expertise.
The most obvious con of injection foam is the cost. It’s much more expensive to install than fiberglass or spray foam, but it may be your only option (unless you want to remove entire walls around the home). Another con is that it involves drilling into existing material, which has to be repaired after the foam is injected. Some injection foams are made from products that aren’t environmentally friendly, and improper installation can lead to trapped moisture, which can lead to expensive mold remediation down the road.
R-value stands for resistance value and is a number assigned to insulation that states how good the insulation is at heat transference (insulation). The R-value of injection foam is around 4 which homeowners will be happy to know is actually quite good. Another benefit of injection foam versus fiberglass foam is that the colder it gets, the more injection foam retains its resistance properties, whereas fiberglass tends to lose its efficiency in colder temperatures.
