Is It Cheaper To Spray Foam Insulation Yourself?

You’d like to use spray foam insulation for a home improvement project, but you’ve heard it’s expensive. You aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty with a DIY project, so you’re considering installing the spray foam yourself. Is it cheaper to install spray foam as a DIY project? Or will you save money by hiring a professional?

South Central Services has insulated hundreds of homes with spray foam. We always encourage customers to find the best products at the best value. In our experience, DIY spray foam kits do not deliver a reliable product. Unfortunately, installing spray foam yourself also does not offer a financial benefit.

Don’t just take our word for it. This article will break down all the costs associated with DIY spray foam insulation. By the end of this article, you will understand:

• How DIY spray foam material costs compare to professional spray foam rates
• How DIY spray foam labor costs compare to hiring a professional contractor
• How DIY spray foam maintenance costs compare to professionally installed foam

Material Costs: DIY Spray Foam Kits Cost The Same

To compare the cost of DIY spray foam kits to the cost of hiring a professional, you have to calculate the cost per board foot. Contractors use a measurement called board feet to create quotes for spray foam insulation.

Board feet is a three-dimensional representation of square footage. While a square foot only represents length and height, a board foot represents length, height, and depth.

Our rates for spray foam insulation are:

• Closed cell spray foam: $1.15 to $1.75 per board foot
• Open cell spray foam: $0.25 to $0.75 per board foot

DIY spray foam kit rates will either fall in these ranges or, in some cases, be higher than our rates for spray foam. You will not find DIY spray foam kits with rates lower than $1.15 per board foot or $0.25 per board foot.

Sample DIY Spray Foam Kit Breakdowns

To make cost comparisons easier, we’ve found several DIY kits online and calculated their board foot rates.

Lowe’s carries a brand of DIY spray foam called Froth-Pak. The Froth-Pak sealant spray foam kit costs $409. Designed to cover 200 board feet, its rate is $2 per board foot. However, that rate also assumes perfect yield. In a real-world application, a DIY spray foam kit will cover fewer board feet than advertised.

Another Froth-Pak available at Lowe’s is the insulation spray foam kit. This DIY kit is specifically advertised for wall insulation. At $456 and a maximum board foot coverage of 210 board feet, the rate is $2.17 per board foot.

Tiger Foam is another brand selling DIY spray foam kits online. Their 600 board foot kit costs $1.30 per board foot and their 200 board foot kit costs $1.83 per board foot. The only way to save money on Tiger Foam DIY kits would be to purchase kits in bulk. If you are trying to save money, bulk orders defeat the purpose.

Labor Costs: DIY Spray Foam Kits Can Save Money

Depending on your perspective, DIY spray foam kits can save money on labor costs. Installing spray foam insulation yourself means you do not have to pay for someone else's time or expertise.

Our rates account for labor costs, but only some contractors break down their pricing this way.

You will pay for the labor of professional insulation, which may make a difference in the total cost of your project. But this is the same as hiring any professional: you pay for their expertise and skilled labor.

Considering the complexity of spray foam insulation, having a skilled installer using high-quality equipment is well worth the additional cost. When you hire a qualified professional, trained installers use spray foam rig equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Replacement Costs: DIY Spray Foam Kits Cost More Money

Our team has been called to several homes to help fix DIY spray foam kits gone wrong. When spray foam is installed off-ratio, the finished product is entirely ineffective. Not only is the foam not insulating a space, but it is also sticky and challenging to remove. If installation with a DIY kit goes wrong, the failed foam needs to be removed and replaced.

DIY kits do not offer any insurance in the case of removal or replacement, so any problems with your DIY spray foam insulation are your responsibility. You will bear the financial cost of removing and replacing the failed insulation.

Professional contractors have insurance and should never charge you for removal or replacement if the product they installed failed.

Will The Spray Foam From DIY Kits Really Need To Be Replaced?

How likely are DIY spray foam insulation kits to fail? We do not have statistics on the product quality of DIY kits. However, we do work with spray foam insulation every day. We understand the intricacies of the chemical reaction that creates spray foam insulation.

A $100,000 spray foam insulation rig cannot be compared to a pack of 12 disposable spray nozzles. The variables that professional equipment controls, like temperature, pressure, and ratio, are left to chance with a DIY kit. Controlling these variables properly with a DIY kit would require spending more on additional equipment, which will drive up the cost of installing spray foam insulation yourself.

The Bottom Line About Spray Foam Affordability And DIY Kits

It is not cheaper to install spray foam insulation yourself instead of hiring a professional. The raw material costs of spray foam are the same for professional contractors and homeowners. You cannot save money upfront by using a DIY spray foam kit. In the long run, DIY spray foam kits can also cause financial headaches.

We recommend working with a qualified professional contractor because it is in your best interest. You will not save any money by purchasing and installing spray foam insulation yourself. In the worst-case scenario, you will spend twice as much getting effective insulation in your home.

Now that you understand the costs related to DIY spray foam, your next step is to:

• Calculate an estimate for professional spray foam insulation
• Determine if spray foam is a good investment for your home
• Figure out how to find a qualified spray foam contractor