Wall Insulation in Lincoln, NE

Wall insulation is the upgrade most older Lincoln houses are missing. Homes in neighborhoods that were once their own towns, like Havelock, College View, University Place and Bethany Heights, were largely built before insulating walls was routine, and many still have nothing between the plaster and the siding. You can often feel it: exterior walls that are cold to the touch in January, rooms on the north side that never warm up, and outlets on outside walls that leak a draft.

Two ways to insulate a wall

Finished walls. If the drywall or plaster stays, we drill small holes, usually from outside under the siding or from inside along a line that is easy to patch, and fill each cavity. Dense-pack cellulose is blown in tightly enough that it will not settle and also slows air movement. Injection foam is another option for some walls. Either way, every bay is checked so the blocking and fire stops do not leave empty pockets.

Open walls. During a remodel, addition or gut job, open stud bays can be sprayed with foam or filled with batts or blown fiberglass before drywall. Nebraska's 2018 IECC lists R-20 cavity, or R-13 cavity plus R-5 continuous, for wood-frame walls in new work.

The LES wall incentive

LES lists the larger of its two 2026 insulation incentives for walls: $0.80 per square foot of exterior frame wall, inside a $1,500 per-property cap and not more than half the project price. It applies to existing, occupied homes in the LES service territory that have no wall insulation now. The walls must reach at least R-13, blower door tests are required before and after, and the project must be pre-authorized before it starts. If the attic is under R-38, LES requires it be brought to R-49 as part of a wall project. Basement concrete walls and garage walls do not qualify.

Before we fill a wall

We check what is in the walls first. Knob-and-tube wiring that is still live should be evaluated by an electrician before any insulation goes around it. Signs of water from leaky windows or siding need to be fixed. And we confirm which walls are truly empty, since some houses had a partial retrofit decades ago.

Spray foam insulation cost for walls

National guides put foam in all exterior walls at $4,000 to $10,000 (HomeGuide) and blown-in for walls at $1.10 to $3.70 per square foot (HomeGuide). See the table below for the full ranges.

Get a free estimate or call (402) 795-8689.