In this YouTube video, Curt Janzen and Ryan McKean walk viewers through the wide spectrum of residential insulation options, from low‑cost DIY air‑sealing foams to premium NASA‑grade silica aerogel. They begin by framing two common homeowner mind‑sets – avoiding costly mistakes like mold and seeking the best value without endless research. The discussion is organized into tiers: 1. Small‑area air‑sealing with low‑expansion spray‑foam cans (≈$20‑$25 per can) and larger FrothPak kits ($500‑$800) for broader but still limited‑thickness applications, emphasizing high ROI and code limits (max 1‑inch, not a full‑wall solution). 2. Conventional whole‑house insulation with fiberglass batts (open‑cell, requires a 6 mil vapor barrier), priced at $2‑$5 per square foot of wall area, translating to roughly $10,000 for a 1,000 sq ft bungalow. 3. Sustainable natural alternatives: sheep‑wool batts ($4‑$8 per sq ft of insulation area) and hemp batts (similar density to rockwool), highlighted for low carbon footprint and biodegradability. 4. Premium closed‑cell spray foam (2‑lb), which combines air‑, vapor‑barrier and high R‑value in one material, costing 2.5‑3× fiberglass (≈$25‑$30 k for the same 1,000 sq ft home) but offering superior comfort and energy savings. 5. Extreme‑high‑performance NASA‑grade silica aerogel, described as a light gel used in space suits and rockets; priced at about $30 per sq ft of insulation area, leading to an estimated $100,000 for a typical home, making it impractical for most homeowners today. Throughout, the hosts stress ROI, code compliance, and suitability for different budgets and sustainability goals, ending with a call to consider future price drops for cutting‑edge materials.
Chapters
This product is what keeps those people safe.
There's a lot of people that think insulating your house costs tens of thousands of dollars. Some people think it costs $800. So what actually is the truth when it comes to insulating your home? In this video, we are going to break down some of the most common things that we use to insulate your home and maybe even a few things that are a little uncommon. So stay curious, maybe get a little skeptical, and follow along. If you're watching this video, you're probably in 2 different categories. One, You don't want to make a crazy expensive mistake, have problems like mold and mildew and all these different issues that you hear the horror stories of. Or number 2, you really just want to put the best product in for the best price by the best contractor, and you want to get to the bottom of it without doing tens or even hundreds of hours of research. Let's introduce you to Ryan McKean, who's going to be talking about one type of insulation and multiple others that's going to help you make the best decision moving forward.
Okay, so tier 1, we're going to be talking about what to do with maybe some small drafts or little air sealing issues. Honestly, there's a wonderful product that's available at Home Depot or your local hardware store that can have pretty significant effects when you look at what it costs. So let's talk about low expansion foam. So low expansion foam comes in a variety of different manufacturers and colors. It is all very, very similar. This isn't spray foam, although it is similar and often called that. This stuff is honestly— can work marvelously. You know, it's usually $20, $25 a can, and And honestly, you can really get a really good bang for your buck or return on investment through this because little air sealing issues, maybe around windows or doors, or maybe you have an undeveloped basement where there's holes in the rim joist and stuff like that. There's honestly a million areas that this can be used. You can spend $25 and potentially have that returned to you in as quickly as a month depending on what you're doing based on the air sealing effects. Now there is a bigger system that you can use if this is not gonna work. And we'll talk about these big kits with Frothpak being one of the leaders in the industry. These kits are more or less very similar products to what I was just showing you. It's just in a much bigger quantity. So these packs, this one I'm looking at, it's about $800. They do have different sizes, maybe as cheap as $500 and as expensive as, I'm not even sure, but they do have big, big kits. And they're perfect for similar small air leaks, just in higher quantities. And so those are your options when it comes to low expansion foam. Probably one the best ROIs that you can have and bang for your buck. And important to address that this is not a tool for insulating your whole home or a whole wall or a whole section. These products are restricted to 1-inch, you know, wide areas. So that's where we're looking at between windows and framing and little cracks. You can't do this over wide areas. It doesn't meet building code. They will make you remove it if that's the case. So tier number 2, we're going to talk about one of the most widely used insulations, especially here in Calgary, and that's going to be fiberglass That's in poly. Here's our fiberglass.
Oh.
Here's our poly. So these products are what are deemed as an open-cell insulation. And so they rely on a vapor barrier to be in front of them. That's that 6 mil layer of plastic that comes in rolls that I just held up. These are very cost-effective. So this is what you would use to insulate your whole house potentially. Honestly, the benefits of fiberglass are going to be its price. And that's going to be the primary driver of it is it's very cost-effective because it's widely used. And honestly, if it's done properly, it can perform to a relatively high standard as well. You just really wanna make sure that we're doing a good job on the vapor barrier because that's going to have the biggest effect on the efficiency and comfort of the space. Now price-wise, like I said, this stuff is pretty cost-effective. So if you have a new house, say roughly a 1,000-square-foot bungalow, you're looking in the neighborhood of $2 to $5 a square foot. The gap is because batt insulation comes in different R-values. So depending on what you're insulating and the R-value, requirements for that. But ultimately, you know, if you have a 1,000 square foot bungalow, you're probably looking in the neighborhood of about $10,000 to get your house insulated, which, you know, is pretty reasonable when you look at the price of housing today. So now we want to look at some really specialty products. And so this is actually going to be pretty fun for me because these are going to be some products that we actually don't install ourselves. And so this is my first time seeing a couple of these products, and I'm kind of excited to show you what's out there. So now we're going to look at an animal product. We're actually going to look at a batt insulation that's made from sheep wool. So here you go. You can see the nice batt insulation. It looks very similar to the fiberglass batts, but yeah, no, this is actually— was grown on the back of a sheep and shaved off. We'd like to thank the people at Havelock Wool for sending this over. Very wonderful product. So this product here, you're likely looking in the $4 to $8 a square foot range, and so that's square footage of the area to actually be insulated, not the square footage of your home. So this product is more of a premium product. It is more expensive than batt insulation, but for those people that are really invested into lowering your carbon footprint or using sustainable natural products, this is the product for you, and it will do an excellent job at insulating your home. Now next, we're going to look at another natural product, and this one is a grown product, and we're going to look at hemp. insulation. So this one I thought was pretty neat myself. You can see the kind of what it's made out of. It does have a bit of a crisp to it. Honestly, it feels pretty similar to holding like a small straw bale as a comparison to it. But honestly, it's about, I'd say, as dense as a rockwool product, which is very beneficial from an insulation standpoint. But again, like, this is a sustainable product for those of us that really like to lower our carbon footprint, want to use something that's sustainable. And something that, you know, in 100 years when they're knocking your house down, this is a natural biodegradable product that fiberglass is not. And so if you want to be more green, this or the sheep wool will be really great. And thank you, Nature Fibers, for providing this. It's a wonderful product. Next up, we're going to look at some premium solutions, and this is something that we are pretty invested in. So we're going to talk about spray foam insulation, and specifically we're going to be talking about a 2-pound closed-cell Spray foam. So spray foam is a premium product. It is an air barrier, vapor barrier, and R-value all in one. So like every other system that I've shown you, it's reliant on a vapor barrier. Spray foam isn't. It actually contains that all inside of itself, which has some major benefits when it comes to working in complex areas. Foam is going to be your solution if you're dealing with a difficult area, if you're having water condensation issues in an area. Honestly, the sky is the limit when it comes to spray foam and where we can install it. We use it in any area of a house. We use it in commercial buildings, industrial buildings. Honestly, it goes under slabs, it goes on roofs, it goes inside homes. It's really a marvelous product. Now, being a premium product, it does come with a little bit of a premium price point. On average, spray foam is going to be about 2.5 to 3 times more expensive than fiberglass batt, which is the most widely used. And when we're looking at, you know, that same 1,000 square foot home, you're probably looking at $25,000 to $30,000 opposed to the roughly $10,000 you're looking at bad. But, you know, for those of you that like to invest, this is an excellent return on investment because that home is going to be more comfortable, it's going to be cheaper to heat or cool, and all of those things put money back into your pocket month over month. This is Ryan's real reaction to NASA-grade insulation. Wow, this is pretty neat because honestly, childhood Ryan, this is probably what I wanted to do for a living. So this is— oh, that is so cool! What, what is that called?
It's, uh, it's silica aerogel.
Oh, so that is really cool. So obviously, as we know, the people at NASA are very smart. Um, honestly, if you want the best insulation in the world The people at NASA are going to be the ones to provide it for you. But I'm going to hold this up to the camera so you can see it. It almost looks like smoke inside of here, but it's not. It's a very, very light gel. You know, I'm not sure of where this is even used. I'm assuming that it's probably in satellites or something going around our heads right now. Honestly, I feel pretty blessed even just holding this in my hand because it's pretty cool. Yeah, but there are some really, really premium options when it comes to insulation, and We're still discovering new science on it every day. And so, you know, thank you, NASA, because you've done a lot of the R&D to discover these wonderful products, spray foam being one of them. Because for those of you that don't know, spray foam is on the shuttles when they were being launched. And even those that are watching the SLS being launched right now, that big orange center rocket in the middle, that orange is spray foam. So pretty neat and pretty proud of something to be a part of. So cool, man. Actually reading into it, this product is very, very cool. It's actually used in the suits that the astronauts wear. Um, you know, when they're out in space, it is approximately -270 degrees or something along those lines. It's a little warm or a little cold depending on where you are. This product is what keeps those people safe. That's super cool, man.
Yeah.
Now one thing that I'm sure most people can assume with these products is they are not cheap. This is not intended for like everyday use. The product I'm holding in my hand, if you wanted to insulate your home with it, you're looking at upwards of $30 a square foot. So it maybe isn't a practical solution for everybody, but you know, maybe in 10 or 15 years that price point is coming down and this is something that is more widely used. But only time will tell. But thanks again to the people at NASA for all the R&D they've put into this. So using our previous example of a 1,000-square-foot If you wanted to insulate this product with, uh, or sorry, your home with this product, you're looking at upwards of $100,000 for the insulation package. As much as I appreciate a well-insulated home, that's a hard one to justify right now on the return on investment. But very cool, very educational, and something we are happy to share.
If you're comparing insulation options, don't just pick the cheapest one. Because that could be the most expensive mistake that you can make. Pick the right solution for your project. If you want some help with that, obviously give us a call. We would love to walk you through that process and lead you to the decision that's going to make it a massive win for you. If you like this video, I'm going to ask for you to like and subscribe because on the next video we're going to be talking about why is your house so hot and how can you solve that.
