How Much Does Foam Crown Molding Cost to Install? [2025 Data]
Foam crown molding costs $2,300 on average, with most homeowners spending between $1,500 and $2,800 for an entire home. A crown molding pro will assess your space and linear foot requirements and provide an accurate quote.
Expect to pay around $.50 to $3 per linear foot for materials.
Labor costs are often three or four times the material cost.
Foam is extremely resistant to moisture issues, cracking, and infestation.
Crown molding can offer an ROI of between 50% and 80% on average.
Installing foam crown molding costs homeowners an average of $2,300 for an entire home upgrade. However, you may pay as little as $210 or as much as $6,400, depending on the size of the rooms and your local labor costs. Crown molding can add a beautiful aesthetic touch to any room. Foam crown molding is a great choice for high-moisture areas.
Size of Foam Crown Molding
Crown molding size has a direct effect on the total project cost. While foam crown molding has a low cost per linear foot, between $0.50 and $3, labor costs can often exceed $10 per linear foot, and don’t scale as well as material costs. This means that even though you may be able to save on larger projects, you won’t see a huge reduction in the total cost. The prices below include both labor and materials.
| Common rooms | Dimensions | Average cost |
|---|---|---|
| Small bedroom | 8 ft x 12 ft | $360–$580 |
| Medium bedroom | 12 ft x 12 ft | $400–$630 |
| Master bedroom | 14 ft x 18 ft | $580–$880 |
| Small living room | 12 ft x 16 ft | $500–$760 |
| Large living room | 18 ft x 20 ft | $690–$1,100 |
| Kitchen | 10 ft x 12 ft | $400–$600 |
| Bathroom | 5 ft x 8 ft | $230–$380 |
Type of Foam Crown Molding
Foam crown molding is different than other materials for a few reasons, but a big one is in its manufacturing process. Wood needs to be carved or shaved, but foam is produced in casts, which means much of the intricate detail that would take a long time with wooden styles like Victorian or colonial simply doesn’t apply to foam molding.
Because of this, foam molding tends to be priced consistently across styles. This doesn’t mean that the most complicated style will be as inexpensive as the simplest, but it does mean price differences aren’t as extreme as they would be if the molding were made of a more labor-intensive crown molding material. This helps keep costs much lower than traditional materials.
Cost by Location
Foam crown molding can be made almost anywhere, so there won’t be regional differences in pricing. Where geography really has an impact is on labor costs. Cities and areas with few pros will find the project much more expensive than people in suburban, well-populated zones.
While not strictly location-based, the height of your ceilings plays a role in installation costs as well. Not everyone enjoys being up on ladders working overhead for hours on end, so expect a premium on labor if you have high ceilings.
| Location | Average Cost for a Home |
|---|---|
| New York City, NY | $2,500–$5,000 |
| Sacramento, CA | $2,000–$3,200 |
| Detroit, MI | $1,000–$1,700 |
| Tucson, AZ | $1,200–$1,900 |
| Cincinnati, OH | $1,100–$1,800 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $1,500–$2,400 |
| Colorado Springs, CO | $1,400–$2,300 |
| Seattle, WA | $2,100–$4,000 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $1,800–$3,000 |
| Charlotte, NC | $1,600–$2,700 |
| Dallas, TX | $1,300–$2,200 |
Additional Cost Factors
Purchasing the material and paying for installation aren’t the only costs to consider. When researching this project, be sure to avoid any unwanted surprises.
Finishing
You can adhere the molding to the wall and call it a day, but we recommend some finishing touches. Caulking corners, where the molding meets the wall and ceiling, and at corners, will help blend the molding into the wall seamlessly. Most foam molding will be painted over, which we recommend as well. How you decide to paint your crown molding, however, is up to you.
Labor
Installing crown molding commands a slightly lower hourly price than installing trim—between $50 and $100 per hour. Foam crown molding is much easier to work with than other crown molding materials, so even a relatively inexperienced pro can cut, install, and paint it in a much shorter amount of time.
Permits
The cost of building permits can be high in some home improvement projects. However, crown molding installation rarely requires one. You’d need to pull a permit if, during the installation, you needed to structurally alter a room or the home.
Demolition and Prep
If you have existing crown molding, it’ll need to be removed. This will cost between $30 and $80 per hour to remove. After any existing molding is removed, you need to prep the wall. In most cases, this only involves marking the molding location with a pencil and prepping the wall (keeping demolition and prep costs to a minimum). All you need to do is clean the wall with a wet towel, and it should be good to go.
Maintenance
Foam crown molding won’t attract bugs, can’t rot, and is extremely resistant to molding. In almost all cases, the only maintenance you’ll need to do is periodically dust the molding and make sure it’s adhered properly. If it isn’t, you’ll start to see gapping where it meets the wall and where foam pieces meet.
Warranties
There are two warranties for most home projects—the material warranty and the installation warranty. These will have different warranty periods and stipulations, so make sure to read the fine print for the material you purchase and to discuss the warranty that covers the installation with your pro. Common periods are 1-year, 2-year, and 5-year (for both product and labor).
Installing Foam Crown Molding Yourself or Hiring a Pro
DIYing this work will come down to a few key things: time, cost, and experience. Handy homeowners may view this as a relatively simple task, but for the uninitiated, installing crown molding, especially in more than one room, just may not be worth the time investment and learning curve. In such cases, talk to a local crown molding pro to discuss pricing and timelines.
Those who are more intrepid can forge ahead with a DIY, but they need to know this is a project where it’s easy to make a costly mistake. For example, incorrectly applying adhesive to a wall could damage the wall itself. Improper measurements can lead to forfeiting materials, and outright purchasing the wrong molding or adhesive isn’t unheard of.
Foam Crown Molding Replacement vs. Repair
Repairing foam crown molding isn’t cost-effective or efficient. The reason you may repair crown molding is that it’s unique or difficult to replace. Foam molding, however, is neither, and is inexpensive to replace, which is what we recommend. That being said, there are certain instances where it makes sense to repair instead of outright replace, such as:
When you just need to reapply failing adhesive.
Chipped or old paint may just need a new coat.
Changing the color of your wall or ceiling doesn’t necessarily mean you need new molding.
The general rule when considering whether to replace or repair is that if a repair costs more than around 50% of the value of a replacement, you should go with the replacement.
Does Foam Crown Molding Add Value to Your Home?
Installing crown molding in your home can offer a return on investment (ROI) of between 50% and 80% on average. So you can recoup a healthy amount of the up-front cost of your crown molding if you decide to sell your home. Potential buyers will likely value the luxury touch and, in some markets, expect it. Foam crown molding can be a much smarter investment compared to expensive materials like wood if you’re looking to boost the appearance of your home without digging deep into your wallet.
Tips to Reduce Cost While Installing Foam Crown Molding
Well, there aren’t many. Foam crown molding tends to be the budget alternative already when homeowners are looking to upgrade their interior. The absolute biggest difference you can make as a homeowner is DIYing the work (or at least some of it) in order to cut down, or outright cut out, labor costs. Foam crown molding material is already inexpensive, so we actually recommend purchasing a quality product and saving on labor rather than the other way around.
How Angi Gets Its Cost Data
Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We extensively research project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We rely on reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects.
Want to help us improve our cost data? Send us a recent project quote to [email protected]. Quotes and personal information will not be shared publicly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Crown molding can be expensive for two reasons: the material and the labor. For expensive materials like rare woods or intricate detailing, the price increases dramatically. One thing is true for all crown molding though, which is that the labor costs required to install it outweigh the cost of the material.
This depends on the material, but in most applications, crown molding can last for many years (often past 5 or 10). It can last longer than other materials like vinyl and wood because the material negates many of the factors that traditionally damage crown molding, such as insect infestation and moisture. It’s for this reason that homeowners looking for crown molding, and not necessarily caring which material is used, opt for foam.
You shouldn’t use crown molding if you have a low ceiling because it will crowd the perceived headspace of the room, making it appear smaller and the ceiling lower. Crown molding can be an issue for rooms with curved walls, as those curves are often meant to evoke a different style than crown molding, so they stylistically clash. Expanding on that, crown molding is not used very often in modern or minimalist home interiors.
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