Insulation and air sealing for Harrison 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 early-1980s, and 20% of its 1,798 homes went up before 1940.
Harrison runs to about 33 square miles and roughly 2,513 people. It sits about 36 miles northwest of downtown Portland. There are around 1,798 housing units here. The community dates back to 1805. We cover ZIP code 04040.
We have not logged a completed job in Harrison yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Harrison 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.
That includes Bolsters Mills. Housing age and construction shift across Harrison, sometimes by decades within a few streets, which is why we look in the attic before quoting rather than after.
A historic resort town that straddles Long Lake and Crystal Lake, at the far end of the old Cumberland and Oxford Canal route from Portland. Summer inns opened from 1860 on, children's summer camps use its lakeshores, and Deertrees Theatre dates to 1936.
The Census Bureau estimates 1,798 homes in Harrison. 356 of them (20%) went up before 1940 — 19th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. More of today's homes date from before 1940 than from any single decade since, and 50% predate 1980. For Cumberland County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 23%, so Harrison sits below it.
Of 1,295 occupied homes, 1% heat with utility gas and 9% with electricity; another 24% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is less common than across the county (15%), and ranks 33rd 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.
90% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 89% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 144 mobile homes in the count. Read together, those numbers point toward the attic, which is where most houses here start.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 356 | 20% | |
| 1940s | 7 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 107 | 6% | |
| 1960s | 234 | 13% | |
| 1970s | 200 | 11% | |
| 1980s | 125 | 7% | |
| 1990s | 296 | 16% | |
| 2000s | 345 | 19% | |
| 2010s | 90 | 5% | |
| 2020 or later | 38 | 2% |
1,798 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 1,295 occupied.
421 of Harrison's 1,798 homes (23%) 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.
Harrison enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). Harrison, with 2,447 residents, chose to adopt the state code by its own Building Code Ordinance of June 11, 2019, which names the 2009 energy code; since April 7, 2025 the state requires enforcing towns to use the 2021 editions.
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.
Harrison publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. Harrison's Building Permit Requirements Ordinance (revised June 10, 2026) requires a permit to modify an existing structure but not for routine minor maintenance such as painting or replacing a heating system. 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 207-583-0923. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
In Harrison, 50% of occupied homes heat with fuel oil or kerosene, 24% with propane or other tank gas and 9% with electricity (Census ACS 2020–2024). Efficiency Maine pays the same rebates in Harrison 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. Every condition is in the rebate guide. The Cumberland County page compares the towns.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Harrison borders Bridgton, Naples, Otisfield, Waterford, Norway and Long Lake. 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harrison | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-583-0923 |
| Bridgton | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not for an attic top-up | 207-803-9963 |
| Naples | Not published | — | Not published | 207-693-6364 |
| Baldwin | Not published | — | Not for an attic top-up | 207-625-3581 |
| Brunswick | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-725-6660 |
| Cape Elizabeth | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-799-1619 |
| Casco | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-627-4515 |
All 25 Cumberland County jurisdictions side by side →
Harrison 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.
Harrison publishes no rule either way, so we ask its building department at 207-583-0923 before the job is scheduled.
Efficiency Maine's: $2,000 per attic, wall or basement zone of 500 square feet or more at any income, $3,000 at moderate income and $4,000 at low income, plus $150 to $300 for attic air sealing, on work completed by one of its Residential Registered Vendors on or after October 1, 2026. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after December 31, 2025.
The typical home in Harrison dates to around the early-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1980. Of its 1,798 homes, 20% went up before 1940 and 26% in 2000 or later. Half the homes here are older than that and half newer; yours may sit at either end.
Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: harrisonmaine.org (2, 3, 4, 5) · harrisonme.govoffice3.com · townofnaples.org · maine.gov (2) · legislature.maine.gov · www2.census.gov · en.wikipedia.org · 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 207-583-0923 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.
Free assessment, a measured R-value, and photos you keep either way.
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