When it comes to investing in a product that will save us money in the long run we often like to spend as little money as possible, particularly if we can see an alternative. Those of us with a little experience in DIY know this better than anyone, after all – if you can do it yourself why would you pay someone else to do it for you? Well; there are some things that are simply too risky to attempt alone and insulation, is one of those things.

Difficulty; Here's a surprise for you – the people selling the DIY Insulation Kits make it sound easy to do. Well it isn't. Wall insulation involves making holes in the right parts of the wall to fill it evenly with the insulation materials, then patching the hole in the wall back up properly so that your wife doesn't kill you when she finds a hole in her wall. Many DIY men forget the potential dangers of this. Floor insulation involved pulling up your flooring or carpets, sometimes even the floorboards come up in order to install the insulation. How long will that take you doing it alone? How much damage are you going to cause trying to do it yourself? If the insulation isn't installed correctly there will be gaps, areas that aren't insulated properly – if this is the case you might as well not have bothered, it isn't going to be nearly as energy efficient as it could be.

Damage; Putting holes in your wall, pulling up carpets and floorboards, stumbling around your loft (heaven forbid you try installing a new window), there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with DIY and particularly so when these sorts of tasks are involved. Do you know what sort of insulation already exists in your loft before you go up and try replacing it yourself? It could be harmful, you could even be about to replace it with something potentially harmful.

Unless you know for certain what it is you're supposed to do, what tools you're supposed to use and what materials you should be purchasing then don't even consider doing it yourself. If you botch the job not only are you going to have to pay for someone to come out and do it professionally anyway, but there is a good chance you'll be paying to have the damage you caused repaired too.

Time and Cost;the two big factors in life are of course the time and money. Think about it carefully and be honest with yourself. How well are you really going to do at it? Even with the help of a few of your friends to speed up the labour, you'll spend a lot more time figuring out what to do than actually doing it, and still it is a tough job. What a professional team could finish in a day could easily take you three days, and even then there is no guarantee it's done right. In some cases the purchasing of a spray foam kit and the cost of repairing the holes in the wall, as well as the cost of cleaning the carpet and any furniture you may have accidentally sprayed with polyurethane foam won't be too far shy of what you would have paid to have a professional come to your house and do it for you. So why bother getting yourself in more trouble and creating more work for yourself than you have to?

Stick to what you know, pull out your power tools any time you want to put up a shelf or fix a door hinge, but when it comes to installing insulation you should leave it to the professionals.