Advice on cost of blown in insulation

Jskdiy · 07-13-2011, 11:41 AM

I was given a quote for $3,200 for R15 dense cellulose blown insulation into outside walls of my house. The quote includes final patching of holes, so that all I have to do is paint. The holes will be made inside the house into plaster walls. By my calculation, the gross wall area to be insulated is about 900 sq ft. By gross area I mean area that contains windows and a chimney. If I subtract the windows and chimney square footage from the gross area, I am left with about 630 sq ft of net area. I don't have any experience in this field, but the price seems somewhat excessive. It works out to be about $5/sq. ft if I use net area in this calculation. Appreciate any advice on whether this is a reasonable price. By the way I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

sixeightten · 07-13-2011, 11:48 AM

Only way to know is to get a second price. Even a third price.

Jskdiy · 07-13-2011, 12:00 PM

Thank you for your response. This job is part of an energy efficiency program with various rebates from the city and the utility company. Work can only be done by contractors affiliated with this program, and there is only one local contractor. He is replacing my furnace at an acceptable cost, and the insulation project is an add on that I am considering. I don't have to have it done. Life would be much easier if I worked only with this contractor since he is the one processing the paper work for the rebates. Off course I can bring in other contractors to just get a quote, but I don't feel right about wasting their time quoting on a job that I cannot give them. That is why I was hoping to get some price feedback on this forum.

Daniel Holzman · 07-13-2011, 01:01 PM

I have an 1800 sq ft house, two story colonial. I had it insulated using the blown in cellulose two years ago, total cost $2200. The contractors were very professional, very thorough, and they installed the holes from outside and plugged them afterwards. The total square footage of wall they did was approximately 1600 square feet gross, perhaps 1200 sq ft net when you take our for the windows and doors, and the garage wall that was already insulated.

vsheetz · 07-13-2011, 03:33 PM

Your biggest energy saving will come from overhead vs. the walls. Ensure you have plenty of insulation in the attic.

josall · 07-13-2011, 05:21 PM

Do what sixeightten said other bids maybe cheaper than your rebated quote. 50% off of what?

Jskdiy · 07-13-2011, 07:09 PM

As suggested I will probably have to get other estimates. But that aside, isn't there a rough order of magnitude per square foot cost for a job like this? I went to a US Dept. Of Energy Zip Code Insulation Program website, and the stated price there for my area was $1.60/sq. ft. I would be interested in getting some confirmation as to whether this is a realistic cost? It is certainly in line with the response I got here from Daniel Holzman who paid $2,200 for blown insulation into an approximate 1,200 sq. ft area. That works out to be about $1.83/sq. ft.