Spray Foam Insulation in Iowa City, IA

Spray foam insulation in Iowa City is mostly about two things: stopping cold air where it gets in and keeping warm, damp indoor air from reaching cold surfaces. Iowa City averages about 22.8°F in January and picks up roughly 27.5 inches of snow a year, so a house here spends months working against the cold. We are Spray Foam Insulation Iowa City, and we air seal and insulate attics, basements, rim joists, walls, garages and pole buildings across Johnson County and the Corridor.

Old houses, new houses and a lot of rentals

Iowa City's housing covers a wide range. The median home was built in 1985, but about 11.8% of homes date to 1939 or earlier and 16.4% were built between 2010 and 2019. More than half of occupied homes, 52.8%, are rented. An older house near downtown often has little insulation in the walls and a leaky attic floor. A newer one in Coralville or North Liberty usually has decent attic depth but still loses heat at the rim joist and over the garage. A rental may need the most effective work for the money. We price each one on what is actually there.

What Iowa's code and the Department of Energy point to

Iowa's residential energy code is the 2012 IECC as adopted in the Iowa Administrative Code. It sets R-49 for ceilings in Climate Zones 4 through 8, R-20 (or R-13 plus R-5 continuous) for wood-frame walls in Zones 3 through 6, R-30 for floors in Zone 5, and a blower-door result of no more than 4 air changes per hour at 50 pascals for new homes in Zones 3 through 8. Johnson, Linn, Cedar, Washington and Muscatine counties are all in Climate Zone 5A. For existing homes, the U.S. Department of Energy suggests R-60 in an uninsulated attic, or adding about R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already in place.

Closed cell vs open cell

Closed-cell foam is dense, about R-5 to R-7 per inch, and slows moisture as well as air. It is our usual pick for rim joists, basement walls, pole buildings and anywhere that can get damp. Open-cell foam is lighter, about R-3.5 to R-3.7 per inch, fills odd cavities and costs less per square foot. It works well in walls and rooflines that stay dry. The Department of Energy notes that open-cell foam is not recommended below ground level, which is why we do not use it on basement walls.

Spray foam insulation cost

National guides put installed spray foam at about $1.50 to $5.00 per square foot (HomeGuide), with open-cell at $1.50 to $3.50 and closed-cell at $3.00 to $5.00. HomeGuide lists foaming the rim joists of a house at $2,000 to $2,500 and a typical attic insulation job at $1,000 to $2,700. Small jobs often run into a minimum of $1,000 to $2,000 or more. Your price depends on square footage, thickness, access and prep, and the written estimate we give you is the price you pay.

Choosing among spray foam insulation companies

When you compare spray foam insulation contractors near you, ask each one to write down the foam type, the thickness and the R-value for every area, what gets air sealed before anything is covered, how the space will be ventilated while foam cures, and how long you need to stay out. Ask whether old insulation is being removed or left in place. Good insulation contractors and insulation companies answer those in writing. That is how we quote. Get a free estimate

We work in Iowa City and Coralville, north to North Liberty and Solon, west to Tiffin, east to West Branch and south to Kalona, plus West Liberty in Muscatine County. Up the Corridor, we cover Ely, Fairfax, Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha and Marion, and Mount Vernon and Lisbon to the east. Each town page covers what is different there: Iowa City's older and rental housing, the new subdivisions in North Liberty and Tiffin, the river towns that flooded in 2008, and the pre-war houses in Mount Vernon and Lisbon.