Insulation in Gray, Maine

Insulation and air sealing in Gray

Gray runs to about 43 square miles and roughly 8,429 people. It sits about 18 miles north of downtown Portland. There are around 4,442 housing units here. The community dates back to 1778. We cover ZIP code 04039.

We have not logged a completed job in Gray yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.

The housing stock in Gray

The typical home in Gray dates to around the early-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.

Subdivisions and commercial building have come at a growing pace since the early 1990s.

We work across Gray rather than one corner of it — Dry Mills, East Gray, North Gray, South Gray and West Gray 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.

Gray includes most of Little Sebago Lake and Crystal Lake, and its mills on Collyer Brook included the first successful water-powered woolen mill in North America, started in 1791. It shares a school district with New Gloucester and still has families living on land their ancestors farmed.

Gray homes in the Census numbers

The Census Bureau estimates 4,442 homes in Gray. 533 of them (12%) went up before 1940 — 48th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1970s were the busiest decade, adding 745 of today's homes (17%); 46% predate 1980 and 27% were built in 2000 or later. For Cumberland County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 23%, so Gray sits below it.

Of 3,656 occupied homes, 1% heat with utility gas and 10% with electricity; another 25% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is less common than across the county (15%), and ranks 29th 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.

82% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 78% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 204 mobile homes in the count. Read together, those numbers point toward the attic, which is where most houses here start.

4,442 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 3,656 occupied.

Sealing comes first in Gray

1,181 of Gray's 4,442 homes (27%) 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 Gray

Gray enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). Gray's Code Enforcement page says the office adheres to the state code, which has carried the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code since April 7, 2025.

For new work, the attic number under that edition is R-60, with walls at R-30, or R-20 + R-10 continuous, or R-13 + R-15 continuous, or R-20 continuous. Set that against the Department of Energy, which recommends R60 for an uninsulated attic in this climate zone and R49 for one that already has a few inches.

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.

Do you need a permit to insulate here?

Gray publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. Gray's FAQ ties the building permit to structural work and additions, with examples like moving walls, changing door or window framing and replacing stairs or decks; insulation is not among them, and the town asks residents to call the Community Development Department with permit questions. 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.

Permits and inspections in Gray

The published number is 207-657-3112. The department page is here.

Permitting is on us, not on you.

Rebates a Gray homeowner can actually use

In Gray, 53% of occupied homes heat with fuel oil or kerosene, 25% with propane or other tank gas and 10% with electricity (Census ACS 2020–2024). Efficiency Maine pays the same rebates in Gray 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. Only a Residential Registered Vendor can do rebated work, the claim goes in within six months, and a lifetime limit of $8,600 per home applies. 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.

Nearby

Gray borders Windham, Cumberland, North Yarmouth, New Gloucester and Raymond. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:

Elsewhere in Cumberland County we also cover:

How Gray 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 2 of the 7 publish a permit rule for insulation.

All 25 Cumberland County jurisdictions side by side →

Common questions about insulation in Gray

Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: graymaine.org (2, 3, 4, 5) · 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 207-657-3112 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.