Insulation and air sealing for Falmouth homes: attics, crawl spaces, rim joists and walls, starting with a free assessment of the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the mid-1980s, and 14% of its 5,283 homes went up before 1940.
Falmouth runs to about 29 square miles and roughly 12,755 people. It sits about 6 miles north of downtown Portland. There are around 5,283 housing units here. The community dates back to 1718. We cover ZIP code 04105.
We have not logged a completed job in Falmouth yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Falmouth 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.
Includes enclosed country-club neighborhoods built around two golf clubs opened in 1986 and 1988, along with other large subdivisions.
We work across Falmouth rather than one corner of it — Falmouth Foreside, West Falmouth Corner, North Falmouth, Mackworth Point, Highland Lake, Blackstrap, Casco Terrace, Pleasant Hill, Waites Landing and York Landing 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.
A northern suburb of Portland on Casco Bay with one of the largest boat anchorages in Maine off the Foreside. Trolley service reached Falmouth Foreside in 1898, and after World War II the town turned from a rural community into a residential suburb, its population roughly doubling in fifty years.
The Census Bureau estimates 5,283 homes in Falmouth. 752 of them (14%) went up before 1940 — 41st of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1990s were the busiest decade, adding 961 of today's homes (18%); 42% predate 1980 and 27% were built in 2000 or later. For Cumberland County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 23%, so Falmouth sits below it.
Of 4,989 occupied homes, 19% heat with utility gas and 11% with electricity; another 21% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is less common than across the county (15%), and ranks 23rd of 64 on this site. Whoever comes out will ask what heats the house first: the rebate is the same on any fuel, but the saving is not.
84% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 81% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 72 mobile homes in the count. With houses like these, the conversations we expect most are about the attic, which is where most houses here start.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 752 | 14% | |
| 1940s | 248 | 5% | |
| 1950s | 397 | 8% | |
| 1960s | 271 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 562 | 11% | |
| 1980s | 684 | 13% | |
| 1990s | 961 | 18% | |
| 2000s | 656 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 634 | 12% | |
| 2020 or later | 118 | 2% |
5,283 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 4,989 occupied.
1,645 of Falmouth's 5,283 homes (31%) 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.
Falmouth enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). Falmouth's Building Codes page lists the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code among the state codes it enforces, and the energy worksheet in its residential application lists a ceiling of R-60.
Under that edition the required attic value for new work here is R-60, and walls R-30, or R-20 + R-10 continuous, or R-13 + R-15 continuous, or R-20 continuous. For comparison, the Department of Energy recommends R60 for an uninsulated attic in climate zone 6A, where Falmouth sits, and R49 where there are already a few inches up there.
The 2021 IECC insulation table (R402.1.3), climate zone 6; Maine's energy chapter changed the wood-frame wall entry and left the attic at R-60.
Falmouth publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. Falmouth's FAQ says anyone who will construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move or demolish a building must get a permit first, and its list of work needing no permit (small sheds, low fences, painting and finish work) does not include insulation. Renovation permits cost $10 per $1,000 of estimated cost. We confirm it with the department before we start and pull whatever is needed. We would rather write that here than guess on your behalf.
The published number is 207-699-5310. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
43% of the occupied homes in Falmouth burn fuel oil or kerosene for heat, 11% use electricity and 21% propane or other tank gas, and 19% utility gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). Efficiency Maine pays the same rebates in Falmouth as anywhere else in the state: $2,000 per attic, wall or basement zone with 500 square feet or more insulated at any income, $3,000 for a verified moderate-income household and $4,000 for a low-income one, plus $150 to $300 for sealing the attic's air leaks. 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 Cumberland County can apply to Community Concepts Inc (207-795-4065) for free weatherization through MaineHousing instead. See the rebate guide for the tiers and the checklist, and the Cumberland County page for the county.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Falmouth borders Cumberland, Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Long Island and Casco Bay. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:
Elsewhere in Cumberland County we also cover:
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 2 of the 7 publish a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falmouth | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-699-5310 |
| Cumberland | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-829-2207 |
| Portland | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-874-8703 |
| Westbrook | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-854-0638 |
| Windham | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-894-5960 |
| Baldwin | Not published | — | Not for an attic top-up | 207-625-3581 |
| Bridgton | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not for an attic top-up | 207-803-9963 |
All 25 Cumberland County jurisdictions side by side →
Falmouth enforces the Maine code, 2021 IECC, which sets R-60 for an attic in new work. That code also reaches work on existing houses, not only new ones.
Falmouth publishes no rule either way, so we ask its building department at 207-699-5310 before the job is scheduled.
The statewide Efficiency Maine rebates: $2,000 to $4,000 per insulated zone of 500 square feet or more, by income tier, and $150 to $300 for attic air sealing; the work has to be done by a Residential Registered Vendor and the attic has to start at R-21 or less. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after December 31, 2025.
The typical home in Falmouth dates to around the mid-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1986. Of its 5,283 homes, 14% went up before 1940 and 27% in 2000 or later. That is a median across the whole place, so your own house may be older or newer.
Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: falmouthme.org (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) · maine.gov (2) · en.wikipedia.org (2) · zip-codes.com · tigerweb.geo.census.gov · efficiencymaine.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 207-699-5310 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.
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