House insulation in Moldova: facade price per m² with polystyrene or mineral wool, materials and labour (2026)

How much does facade insulation cost per m² in 2026?

Why such a spread? On remont.md, the package average (600 lei/m²) is more than twice the sum of the stage averages (265 lei/m²), and the site does not explain why. As price factors, the page lists the material, the area, the floor and access, urgency and dismantling. So ask for an estimate with separate lines for labour, materials, scaffolding and reveals.

How much do the materials cost: polystyrene, mineral wool, adhesive, mesh, dowels?

Polystyrene or mineral wool: what thickness do you need?

The thermal resistance of a layer is R = thickness (m) / λ, and the wall’s U-value (heat lost per m² for each degree of difference) is at most 1 / R of the insulation, because the old wall adds resistance too. Casa Verde requires U ≤ 0.25 W/m²K for walls, which means R of at least 4.0 m²K/W.

What do extra centimetres buy? The CNED and UNDP guide of February 2026 (opens in a new tab) gives indicative savings for a limestone wall in climate zone II, the centre of the country: 74 kWh per m² of wall per year with 8 cm of polystyrene, 78 with 10 cm, 81 with 12 cm and 84 with 15 cm; with mineral wool, 71, 76, 79 and 82. The first centimetres bring most of the saving.

• EPS polystyrene is the cheapest; the minimum in the CNED guide for walls: 15 kg/m³, λ ≤ 0.038, fire class E.
• Stone wool is non-combustible (A1 in Rockwool’s sheets) and, according to Rockwool, needs a silicone or silicate render that lets vapour out; the guide’s minimum: 100 kg/m³, λ ≤ 0.044.
• For the plinth, the guide recommends extruded polystyrene (XPS) or a similar material.

How much does it cost to insulate a 100 m² house? An example from Strășeni district

Assumptions: a single-storey house, 10 × 10 m outside, in a village in Strășeni district; limestone walls; 3.0 m of wall to insulate above a 0.5 m plinth; a hipped roof, so no gables; 8 windows of 1.4 × 1.4 m and a door of 1.0 × 2.1 m. EPS of 10 cm on the walls, XPS of 5 cm on the plinth, and a 1.5 mm decorative render on top.

Total: ≈79,000–133,000 lei, or ≈650–1,090 lei per m² of facade, without transport; rented scaffolding adds 9,600 lei. The high end comes from paying labour at remont.md’s package average.

With Casa Verde, the sums change. Walls must reach U ≤ 0.25 W/m²K, so with EPS-70 up to 15 cm: the extra 5 cm costs 58 lei/m² at izoline.md, ≈6,200 lei here. A firm from the FEERM list does the work, and CNED refunds at most 50% of eligible costs (a cap of 1,900 lei/m² for walls, 200,000 lei at most). According to the CNED guide, on these 102.2 m² of limestone wall, 10 cm saves ≈7,970 kWh a year and 15 cm ≈8,580 kWh.

How is facade insulation (ETICS) done properly, step by step?

1. 1

   Windows and roof first

   Rockwool recommends replacing windows beforehand so the joint can be sealed; Casa Verde funds walls only after the windows or together with them. See our guide to PVC windows.

2. 2

   Prepare the wall

   The substrate must be sound, clean and dry: blistered plaster comes off, unevenness up to 20 mm is filled with mortar, impermeable paint is removed. Ceresit’s test: stick 10 × 10 cm pieces of polystyrene and pull them off after 4–7 days; adhesion is good if the polystyrene tears.

3. 3

   Glue the boards

   Adhesive goes on in strips round the edges and at least three dabs, covering at least 40% of the board, or over the whole board with a notched trowel if the wall is flat. Boards are staggered like brickwork, with joints not in line with the edges of openings (Rockwool).

4. 4

   Dowel once the adhesive has set

   Not earlier than 3 days (6 in cold weather): at least 6 per m² and 8 per m² within 2 m of the building’s corners (Ceresit), with the dowel head flush with the board and at least 5 cm from its edge (Rockwool).

5. 5

   Reinforce corners and openings

   Corner profiles and two layers of mesh at corners, a drip profile above windows (CNED guide), extra mesh at the corners of openings; on reveals, Rockwool uses 2–4 cm of insulation.

6. 6

   Apply the base coat

   The mesh is embedded in fresh adhesive with 10 cm overlaps: 3–4 mm on polystyrene (Ceresit), at least 5 mm on wool (Rockwool).

7. 7

   Prime and render

   CT 16 primer dries in 3–6 hours. The render goes on a base coat older than 3 days and is kept out of the rain until fully dry; Ceresit recommends protective sheeting or netting on the scaffolding.

Can you insulate a facade in autumn? Temperatures and timing

Ceresit data sheets require air and substrate between +5 and +25 °C for adhesive and render, in dry weather (CT 60 ThermoProject: up to +30 °C). There are cold-weather additives: with CT 280, Thermo Universal adhesive can be used down to 0 °C, and CT 60 render between 1 and 10 °C with CT 240 Winter. According to the CNED guide, the average is 7.1–7.5 °C in October and 3.2–4.3 °C in November, lower in the north (zone I, where Bălți is) than in the south (zone III, where Cahul is).

How long does it take? The system has built-in waits: at least 3 days before dowelling, another 3 before rendering, a few hours for the primer and 24–72 hours before the render resists rain, so at least 7 days however big the crew. If the render is delayed beyond 7 days, Ceresit recommends protecting the base coat with CT 16; polystyrene left uncovered for 2 weeks must be checked, and yellowed boards sanded. If you put it off until spring, get the heating ready: gas boiler servicing.

Attic, roof or floor: what should you insulate first?

Per m², the roof saves more than the wall. For zone II, the CNED guide gives 129 kWh per m² a year for 10 cm of wool on a pitched roof with a concrete slab and 137 kWh with 15 cm (151 and 159 with a timber slab), against 78 kWh for 10 cm of polystyrene on the limestone wall. And Casa Verde does not fund walls if an unrenovated roof puts the insulation at risk.

• Material, 10 cm: 59 lei/m² in rolls (Isover Rio Plus, 11 kg/m³), 157–204 lei/m² in 43–45 kg/m³ slabs (Technoblock Standard at domic.md, Rockwool Rockton Super at izoline.md). The CNED guide’s minimum for an attic floor that is not walked on: 35 kg/m³, λ ≤ 0.044.
• Labour: on remont.md, roof wool costs 40–90 lei/m² up to 10 cm and 60–120 above that, slab insulation 80–200; mesterulmeu.md gives 80–200 lei/m² for an attic or loft.
• Casa Verde: U ≤ 0.25 under an unheated attic (≈16 cm of wool at λ 0.039), U ≤ 0.20 for a pitched roof of up to 45°, with a cap of 800 lei/m²; the ceiling above a basement, U ≤ 0.32, also 800 lei/m².
• Floor: mesterulmeu.md gives 80–200 lei/m² for floor insulation; if you are also redoing the screed, ask for both in the same estimate.

Apartment block: what approvals do you need for the facade?

In a block you do not decide alone. The CNED guide cites Law No. 187/2022 on condominiums: work to improve the building’s comfort is done “subject to prior approval by a decision of the general meeting” (art. 16), which also approves the contracting, the budget and the owners’ contributions. The same guide notes that art. 55 of Law No. 75/2015 on housing prohibits insulating the facade or changing its colour “without the design authorisation issued by the local public authority”. Want to insulate only your own flat’s walls? Ask the owners’ association and the town hall first.

With FEERM for the whole block, CNED pays 70% and the owners 30%, and energy-vulnerable households can get allowances for 20–90% of their share. Only the owners’ association (APC) applies, through its administrator; the block must have been commissioned by 2005 or not insulated when built, and each measure needs the consent of at least two thirds of all the owners. On 27 March 2026, CNED launched the call for energy audits of apartment blocks.

What state support is there in 2026 for insulating a house?

The programmes are run by the National Centre for Sustainable Energy (CNED); the Energy Efficiency Agency’s address, aee.gov.md, now redirects to cned.gov.md. The FEERM fund, approved by Government Decision No. 251/2024, is expected to mobilise ≈1.4 billion lei in 2024–2027. For houses there is Casa Verde:

• Who: owners of detached houses (including semi-detached), citizens of Moldova, with no tax debts, utility arrears of at most 1,000 lei and the house in good technical condition.
• How much: 50% of the eligible investment, at most 200,000 lei; you pay everything and CNED refunds after acceptance, based on contracts, invoices and handover documents.
• Walls: U ≤ 0.25 W/m²K, a cap of 1,900 lei/m², energy savings of at least 30% and a payback under 20 years.
• Steps: an application on feerm.md with an electronic signature; an assessment report by a specialist from the FEERM list (a grant of up to 4,000 lei for it); a contract; works within 180 days by a firm from the list.
• When: applications between 1 July 2025 and 31 December 2027; the first two calls drew 1,745 applications, 633 reached the works stage, and the next call is planned for 2027 (CNED, 16 Oct 2026).

What should you send a contractor in your request?

How to compare quotes: where to find a reliable tradesperson. Contract, deposit and handover: our guide to contracts and estimates.

What should you check at handover, and what mistakes are common?

Methodology: where the figures come from

On 23 October 2026 we used prices published by remont.md, topmaster.md, mesterulmeu.md, construct.md and euroremont-md.com, four online retailers in Moldova, Ceresit and Rockwool data sheets and CNED documents. These are asking prices, not market averages. We left out public procurement estimates, listings with no unit or a price of 1 leu, Romanian prices, an undated company page that does not say what it includes, and the Supraten website, which we could not open. We found no separate price lists for Bălți, Cahul or other towns: ask for local quotes and compare totals, including travel. For the rest of the house: renovation prices per m² and plastering, skimming and painting.