Can You Install Spray Foam Insulation Yourself?

For whatever reason, you want to install spray foam insulation yourself. You may be handy and do home improvement projects all the time. You may think DIY spray foam can help to save money on an already tight budget. The idea of finding a professional may be overwhelming.

No matter the reason, we want to be transparent about what you can expect from a DIY spray foam kit. You can install spray foam insulation yourself. The real question is whether you should install spray foam yourself.

At South Central Services, we install spray foam insulation professionally every day. We are well aware of the limitations that do-it-yourself kits present. You want to make an informed decision, and we want to help you get there. Because if your goal is to save time, money, or anxiety, you need to know if DIY spray foam can offer that.

By the end of this article, you will know:

• What DIY spray foam is
• If DIY spray foam will save you money
• If DIY spray foam can offer the same performance as professionally installed foam
• The risks of DIY spray foam
• What DIY spray foam can be used for

What Is DIY Spray Foam?

DIY spray foam is a do-it-yourself kit for creating spray polyurethane foam insulation. Spray polyurethane foam is a product that must be manufactured as it is installed. Interested homeowners cannot purchase completed spray foam at home improvement stores. Instead, homeowners can buy a DIY spray foam kit.

DIY spray foam kits have the most basic tools to create spray polyurethane foam. The kits include equal amounts of A-Side and B-Side chemicals in cylinders, spray nozzles, and a spray hose.

Is DIY Spray Foam The Same Thing As Professional Grade Spray Foam?

The technical ingredients of DIY spray foam are the same as professional-grade foam. A-Side and B-Side have the same chemical components to create polyurethane foam, whether in small cylinders or 55-gallon drums.

The finished product resulting from these chemical components will vary based on the manufacturing process. DIY spray foam components are not lower quality, but the tools used to install DIY foam are less sophisticated than professional equipment. Cheaper installation equipment will change the quality of the final product because it cannot control the installation variables.

What’s The Appeal Of DIY Spray Foam?

The appeal of DIY spray foam is the possibility of saving money on a premium product. Spray foam insulation is expensive to install. Spray foam can cost as much as eight times more per square foot than traditional budget insulations like fiberglass batting.

For handy or budget-conscious homeowners, the idea of getting an excellent product like spray foam for less of an investment cost is quite appealing.

Does DIY Spray Foam Deliver On Its Appeal?

We can break down the appeal of DIY spray foam into two categories: saving money and preserving product quality. The idea behind DIY spray foam is that while it is still more expensive than some insulations, it is cheaper than paying a professional for spray foam.

While saving money on labor costs, DIY spray foam should also perform as well as professionally installed spray foam. Does DIY spray foam deliver? Let’s examine these two categories.

Can DIY Spray Foam Save Money?

Whether or not you can save money by choosing DIY spray foam will depend on the size of your project. The smaller your project, the more significant your cost savings.

Between DIY and professional foam, the cost of raw materials is approximately the same. When we compared our board feet rates to the rate per board foot of online kits, they fell within the same range. DIY spray foam kits will not save you money on material costs.

The actual cost savings that DIY spray foam can offer is saving money on professional labor. It may be hard to justify calling a contractor to travel to you with their professional equipment for a small project. The bigger your project gets, the more reasonable it is to hire a professional. Projects that are small enough to only require one DIY kit are the most likely to offer cost savings. Generally speaking, 100 square feet or less would constitute a small project.

Can DIY Spray Foam Offer Professional Quality?

We explained earlier that these DIY spray foam kits come with basic tools, including the spray nozzle, spray hose, and chemical components for the spray foam reaction.

More tools than those included in kits are needed to ensure the same level of quality as professional foam. Spray foam insulation has many unique benefits, but these benefits cannot be guaranteed using a DIY kit.

The chemical reaction to create spray foam is too complex to control with these kits. A DIY spray foam kit offers equipment basically for free. In contrast, professional contractors spend an average of $80,000 on the equipment for their spray foam rigs.

Equipment that costs so little to create and distribute cannot provide the same application quality as thousands of dollars of equipment. DIY equipment does not include a proportioner or heater, and cannot maintain a consistent ratio, temperature, or pressure of the spray foam components.

To insulate with spray foam successfully, the foam must adhere to the substrate. DIY kits may not share the necessary details about substrate types and conditions relative to the foam, which can cause complications.

Are There Risks To DIY Spray Foam?

DIY spray foam insulation does not entirely live up to its appeal. This method of installing spray foam insulation also poses some financial and health risks. Let’s examine these risks so you know how to prepare yourself and can weigh the risk for your project.

Off-Gassing Fumes

During the chemical reaction that creates spray foam, a normal byproduct called off-gassing is also produced. Off-gassing is the release of toxic fumes into the air. Breathing in toxic fumes is dangerous and can lead to respiratory problems.

Anyone installing spray foam insulation should be wearing an appropriate respirator. Professional contractors wear these ventilators to ensure they breathe fresh air during installation. For anyone pursuing spray foam insulation via the DIY route, you must secure the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Contact the manufacturer of your DIY spray foam kit for specific and accurate information about the PPE you will have to invest in.

If you aren't breathing in off-gassing fumes, where do they go? When a professional contractor installs spray foam insulation, they direct off-gassing fumes outside the home. With appropriate ventilation, the fixed amount of generated off-gassing will pose no later risks to the homeowners.

For a homeowner using a DIY spray foam kit, ventilation is necessary. Ventilation aims to create air exchange, directing fresh air into the space and sending off-gassing fumes outside. You can accomplish this with any fan as long as the fan facilitates air exchange.

Off-Ratio Foam

What is the difference between off-ratio and on-ratio foam? On-ratio foam is a safe and inert foam, resulting from a chemical reaction with the right amount of each chemical component. Off-ratio foam is unstable and results from a chemical reaction where some amount of one chemical component is left over.

Off-ratio foam will never cure and should never be left in someone's home as a finished product. The excess chemicals can off-gas indefinitely, releasing toxic fumes into the air even after the reaction should be complete.

Because DIY spray foam kits have minimal controls, there is a greater likelihood that the foam resulting from these kits can be off-ratio. While professional contractors have equipment that monitors temperature, pressure, and ratio, DIY kits do not have this control. To the untrained eye, it is almost impossible to tell when foam has gone off-ratio. The visual cues of off-ratio foam can be mistaken for normal foam variations like color.

Failure Clean-Up

Failed spray foam can create a mess. The consistency of failed foam is similar to glue. It is tacky to the touch and difficult to remove. In most cases, chemicals will be required to loosen a failed spray foam’s adhesion to the substrate.

For small projects, a failed foam might only be irritating. Removing 100 square feet of foam is frustrating, but a doable project over a weekend. Cleaning up extensive amounts of sticky foam can be overwhelming for larger projects.

No Insurance

If you undergo this home improvement project yourself, there is no safety net in case of product failure. A lack of insurance might not be a massive concern if the product was likely to succeed. However, with so little control of the reaction variables, the possibility of DIY spray foam failure is high. Lack of insurance is a significant financial risk, especially for large projects.

Imagine spending almost as much as it would have cost to hire a professional, only to hire a professional anyway. DIY spray foam can cost twice as much because you have to start over.

Best Uses For DIY Spray Foam Insulation

DIY spray foam can be risky for large projects, but can it be used in other applications? We recommend DIY spray foam for small-scale projects because the risks are lower. The potential cost savings are also higher with small projects since you save on labor costs. Some examples of good applications for DIY foam kits would include:

1. Small bathroom remodel
2. Patch-up work
3. Air sealing

Let’s examine these in more detail.

1. Small Remodels

In many houses, a small bathroom may have only one exterior wall, with the rest as interior walls. If you were remodeling a bathroom like this and wanted to install spray foam on that exterior wall, a DIY spray foam kit could be a great idea. Using one of these kits for a space that's 100 square feet or less makes sense.

2. Patch-Up Work

If you already have spray foam insulation in your home, you may have had to cut away at it for some reason. You may have needed access to some electrical or plumbing in the wall. For whatever reason, there is a hole that needs patching. DIY spray foam insulation can be an excellent and cheap tool for patching existing spray foam.

3. Air Sealing

One of the perks of spray foam insulation is its air-sealing ability. No other product on the market can offer both insulating power and air sealing. If you want an insulation upgrade and to make your home airtight, spray foam is the only product that can do both. DIY spray foam can be used specifically as an air-sealing product on a small scale.

Some places to air seal in your home include band boards in your basement or around HVAC and electrical penetrations in your attic.

The Bottom Line About DIY Spray Foam Insulation

DIY spray foam insulation is best used for small projects. Small projects have the greatest cost savings and least risk involved. The chemical components included in DIY kits are the same as professional-grade spray foam components, but the equipment is much lower quality.

If you are completing a small project that only needs a single DIY kit, consider spraying the foam yourself. You can save money on labor costs and will only lose a small investment if something goes wrong. Remember to contact the manufacturer of the DIY kit to determine what PPE you will need to stay safe during application.

If your project requires multiple DIY spray foam kits, you will benefit most from working with a professional contractor. While you will pay for their labor, the finished product will be insured and should be of the highest quality.

Choosing the right contractor can be an overwhelming task. How do you know if the contractor you are working with will create a great finished product with their expensive equipment? Check out our article on how to choose your spray foam insulation contractor. This article can help you to evaluate the quotes you receive and the contractors you speak with.