Insulation in Arrowsic, Maine

Insulation and air sealing in Arrowsic

Arrowsic runs to about 7.7 square miles and roughly 597 people. It sits about 27 miles northeast of downtown Portland. Around 304 housing units sit inside those boundaries. The community dates back to 1841. We cover ZIP code 04530.

No completed job in Arrowsic is logged in our records yet, and this page will say so until one is.

The housing stock in Arrowsic

The typical home in Arrowsic dates to around the mid-1980s. Houses of this vintage usually got batts or blown fiber at whatever the standard of the day was, which is well short of what is recommended now. Most are one top-up away from being right.

Homes are scattered across the island, with the older, more closely built clusters at Preble Point and near the Town Hall.

We work across Arrowsic rather than one corner of it — Preble Point, Squirrel Point, Doubling Point, Bald Head, Mill Island and Spring Cove included. Construction and vintage change between them, sometimes by thirty years and a whole different framing method, which decides whether a wall can be dense-packed at all.

Arrowsic is a small, rural island town between the Kennebec, Sasanoa and Back rivers, crossed by Route 127 with bridges to Woolwich and Georgetown. It has no commercial or industrial district, homes are spread out on large lots, and all land within 250 feet of the rivers, salt water or Sewall Pond is in the shoreland district. The Doubling Point and Squirrel Point lighthouses stand on its Kennebec shore.

Arrowsic homes in the Census numbers

The Census Bureau estimates 304 homes in Arrowsic. 60 of them (20%) went up before 1940 — 22nd of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1980s were the busiest decade, adding 73 of today's homes (24%); 39% predate 1980 and 23% were built in 2000 or later. For Sagadahoc County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 27%, so Arrowsic sits below it.

Of 253 occupied homes, 1% heat with utility gas and 13% with electricity; another 20% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (11%), and ranks 16th of 64 on this site. Efficiency Maine's insulation rebates do not depend on the fuel or the utility, but the fuel decides what the work saves, so the assessment asks how the house is heated.

95% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 97% of all homes are single-family detached houses. With houses like these, the conversations we expect most are about the attic, which is where most houses here start.

304 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 253 occupied.

Sealing comes first in Arrowsic

116 of Arrowsic's 304 homes (38%) were built in the 1980s and 1990s. The gaps in houses of that age are the parts nobody sealed: batts stuffed into the rim joist, bare spots over cathedral and tray ceilings, soffit vents buried with no baffles, can lights punched through the ceiling plane. A top-up plus a day of sealing usually covers it.

What the energy code requires in Arrowsic

Arrowsic does not publish the energy code edition it enforces, so this page does not name one. Arrowsic had 477 residents in 2020, far under the 4,000 at which the state code must be enforced. Maine has one energy code for the whole state, the 2021 IECC with Maine's changes. A town of 4,000 or fewer people does not have to enforce it, but the state says it still applies to every building, and meeting it is the owner's responsibility.

Do you need a permit to insulate here?

Nothing Arrowsic publishes settles this. Its permit lists name the work types it cares about, and insulation is not among them in either direction. Arrowsic's Zoning Ordinance (amended June 11, 2026) requires a building permit for new homes, additions over 100 square feet and accessory buildings over 200 square feet; work inside an existing house is not named. So we ask the department directly before the first day on site, and whatever comes back, pulling it is our job rather than yours.

Permits and inspections in Arrowsic

The published number is 207-295-4332. The department page is here.

Permitting is on us, not on you.

Rebates an Arrowsic homeowner can actually use

In Arrowsic, 48% of occupied homes heat with fuel oil or kerosene, 20% with propane or other tank gas and 13% with electricity (Census ACS 2020–2024). The insulation money for a Arrowsic house comes from Efficiency Maine, not the electric company. For a zone of 500 square feet or more it pays $2,000 at any income, $3,000 at moderate income and $4,000 at low income, and $150 to $300 more for attic air sealing. The work has to be done by an Efficiency Maine Residential Registered Vendor, and the attic has to start at R-21 or below and finish at R-49 or more. Income-qualified households in Sagadahoc County can apply to Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (207-859-1500) for free weatherization through MaineHousing instead. See the rebate guide for the tiers and the checklist, and the Sagadahoc County page for the county.

Nearby

Arrowsic borders Woolwich, Bath, Phippsburg, Georgetown, Westport Island and Kennebec River. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:

Elsewhere in Sagadahoc County we also cover:

How Arrowsic compares with its neighbors

Maine sets the residential energy code statewide, so the attic figure is R-60 wherever it is published here; what changes is the permit desk, and 1 of the 7 publishes a permit rule for insulation.

All 10 Sagadahoc County jurisdictions side by side →

Common questions about insulation in Arrowsic

Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: arrowsic.org (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) · legislature.maine.gov · www2.census.gov · maine.gov · en.wikipedia.org (2) · zip-codes.com · efficiencymaine.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 207-295-4332 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.