Home Insulation Costs 2023

✔ Insulation typically costs between £1,400 and £10,000

✔ There are three national insurance grants available

✔ VAT on insulation was removed in April 2022, helping to reduce costs

UK energy bills have sky rocketed over the past year.

Insulating your home is one of the best ways to keep your energy costs down — and with annual bills set to rise above £3,000 in April 2023, it’s more essential than ever.

How much your insulation costs depends on your home’s unique circumstances, the existing insulation you have, and your budget.

This guide will give an overview of insulation costs, factors that affect the price, and what grants are currently available.

One type of insulation worth considering is spray foam, which has excellent thermal properties and can be used to insulate spaces other types of insulation can’t, such as difficult-to-reach areas in your loft.

If you want to find out how much spray foam insulation might cost you, fill in our simple form here. We’ll put you in touch with our trusted suppliers, who’ll provide you with bespoke quotes for you to compare.

How much does insulation cost?

Insulation typically costs between £1,400 and £10,000, depending on the size of your home, as well as the property type. Insulating an older building with solid walls is going to cost a lot more than insulating a modern home with cavity walls, for example.

Here’s a table showing the average costs of the most common types of insulation for one and three-bedroom homes:

Which factors determine the cost of insulation?

Many factors affect the cost of insulation — each home is different, as are budgets. Below are some of the main considerations:

Material

The material used for insulating has a big impact on the total cost. Insulating your roof with spray foam insulation, for example, costs more than using fibreglass.

A general rule of thumb is that higher-quality insulation materials cost more, so sometimes it’s worth spending extra to get a better result. For example, spray foam insulation is up to three times better at keeping your home warm than fibreglass.

Want to find out which material will be best for you? Visit our page The 5 Best Cavity Wall Insulation Options for Your Home for more information.

Insulation method

How the insulation is installed affects the price. If you’re installing fibreglass insulation, it’s generally simple to do it yourself, which saves you the cost of hiring a professional.

Installing spray foam insulation, on the other hand, comes with pitfalls that make doing it yourself a bad idea.

You’ll need to hire a professional who knows how to apply spray foam properly — if not, you risk damaging your roof, creating bad odours that linger for months, and your insulation not working properly.

Grants

There are grants available both nationally and locally that can help you save money on insulation costs.

It’s always worth checking to see if your local area has any grants to help you with insulating your home.

Residents in London can apply for the London Warmer Homes scheme, which aims to provide free insulation and ventilation improvements for lower-income Londoners.

Elsewhere the York Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) offers York residents with funding for loft, cavity wall, and attic room insulation.

Is it worth spending money on home insulation?

Yes. If you can afford to insulate even one part of your home, you’ll see the benefits in a very short space of time.

Insulating your loft reduces heat loss by up to 50%, saving you £255 every year, on average. It’ll cost roughly £3,588 to insulate a loft in a three-bedroom semi-detached home with spray foam insulation, but it lasts 80–100 years, so it’s a wise investment for the future.

Getting cavity wall insulation will generally cost about £1,200 for a three-bedroom semi-detached home, but will save you £285 per year. You’ll break even in just over four years, making it a no-brainer if you can afford the upfront cost. But before you crack on with the installation, make sure you're aware of the common problems with cavity wall insulation.

What’s the cheapest type of insulation?

Pipe insulation is the cheapest type of insulation available, but it also provides the smallest benefit to your home.

You’ll save just £3 per year by insulating your pipes, although it only costs £25 on average to cover all the required pipes, so it’s still worth doing.

Here are a few tips for insulating your home without breaking the bank:

• Draught-proof your home — many areas in a home leak heat, including pipework coming out your bathroom, gaps in windows and doors, and your loft hatchDraught excluders for doors cost no more than £10, and could save you up to £50 a year on your energy bills
• Move your furniture — having sofas and armchairs in front of your radiators limits the circulation of hot air, reducing their effectiveness. Shifting your furniture and other objects away from radiators will make the room feel warmer
• Get carpet underlay — up to 15% of a home’s heat loss goes through your floor, so getting a carpet underlay is a great way to reduce this. It costs just £3–8 per square metre to install and doing so can save you up to £75 per year

Are there any government grants for insulation?

You can currently save money with three national insulation grants:

• The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) — residents in England can get grants towards loft insulation if you meet certain requirements. You might also be able to get grants for cavity wall insulation
• Warmer Homes Scotland — this scheme offers people in Scotland grants that help with insulating lofts, including spray foam insulation. Grants for cavity wall insulation are available too
• Nest — homeowners in Wales have access to loft and cavity wall insulation grants. At present, spray foam insulation is not available under the Nest scheme

There are also local grants to think about, such as the York Home Upgrade Grant and the London Warmer Homes scheme, which provides Londoners with between £5,000 and £25,000 towards home improvements.

How much you actually get depends on your existing energy efficiency rating and the type of fuel your house uses.

Will home insulation be more affordable in the future?

It’s difficult to predict exactly how much more affordable home insulation will be in the future, but one thing is certain: prices must continue to fall if the UK is to reach net zero emissions.

The UK has more homes built before 1945 than any other country in Europe. That’s a lot of properties with poor insulation.

In fact, the average Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating for homes in England and Wales is 65, or band D.

In March 2022, then-chancellor Rishi Sunak announced he was removing VAT on all home insulation from April 2022, which has definitely helped reduce costs.

Summary

While it’s encouraging to see the cost of VAT removed, the UK still has a lot to do to make it easier for people to insulate their homes.

Right now, the most effective forms of insulation cost hundreds if not thousands of pounds. In a time where many people in the UK are struggling just to pay their energy bills, spending that much on insulation is unrealistic for many.

If you can afford insulation, a great option is spray foam. Its excellent thermal properties make it far more efficient than fibreglass and it’ll last 80–100 years, making it the ultimate fire-and-forget insulation solution.

Fill in our simple form with a few details and we’ll put you in touch with our suppliers. They’ll contact you with a range of spray foam quotes for you to compare.