Insulation and air sealing for Old Orchard Beach 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 23% of its 7,796 homes went up before 1940.
Old Orchard Beach runs to about 7.4 square miles and roughly 9,244 people. It sits about 10 miles southwest of downtown Portland. There are around 7,796 housing units here. The community dates back to 1883. We cover ZIP codes 04064 and 04063.
We have not logged a completed job in Old Orchard Beach yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Old Orchard Beach 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.
The beachfront is lined with beach houses, condominiums, motels and bed and breakfasts.
We work across Old Orchard Beach rather than one corner of it — Ocean Park, Milliken Mills, Surfside and Pine Park 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.
Old Orchard Beach is a seaside resort on Saco Bay whose 7-mile beach runs into Scarborough and Saco, so many of its buildings stand in direct salt air and ocean wind. Ocean Park, at the south end of town, grew from a Free Will Baptist summer camp community founded in 1881.
The Census Bureau estimates 7,796 homes in Old Orchard Beach. 1,766 of them (23%) went up before 1940 — 12th 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 46% predate 1980. For York County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 20%, so Old Orchard Beach sits above it.
Of 5,374 occupied homes, 12% heat with utility gas and 19% with electricity; another 16% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (10%), and ranks 4th of 64 on this site. The heating fuel does not change the Efficiency Maine rebate, but it does change what each inch of insulation is worth, which is why the boiler, furnace or heat pump is the first thing an assessment looks at.
68% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 51% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 775 mobile homes in the count. On a housing mix like this, the likely starting points are the attic, which is where most houses here start.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 1,766 | 23% | |
| 1940s | 289 | 4% | |
| 1950s | 344 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 386 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 825 | 11% | |
| 1980s | 1,495 | 19% | |
| 1990s | 877 | 11% | |
| 2000s | 1,084 | 14% | |
| 2010s | 521 | 7% | |
| 2020 or later | 209 | 3% |
7,796 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 5,374 occupied.
2,372 of Old Orchard Beach's 7,796 homes (30%) 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.
Old Orchard Beach enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). The town's Code Enforcement page lists the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, with Maine's amendments, among the state codes that apply.
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, Table R402.1.3, zone 6, as amended by Maine's energy rule, 08-003 C.M.R.
Old Orchard Beach publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. The town's pages and fee schedule do not say whether insulation needs a permit; additions and alterations are charged $8 per $1,000 of cost, $40 minimum, and building without a permit costs double. 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 207-937-5645. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
48% of the occupied homes in Old Orchard Beach burn fuel oil or kerosene for heat, 19% use electricity and 16% propane or other tank gas, and 12% utility gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). For Old Orchard Beach homeowners the rebate is Efficiency Maine's: $2,000 for each attic, wall or basement zone of 500 square feet or more at any income ($3,000 moderate, $4,000 low income), with $150 to $300 for attic air sealing on top. 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 York County can apply to York County Community Action Corp (207-324-5762) for free weatherization through MaineHousing instead. See the rebate guide for the tiers and the checklist, and the York County page for the county.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Old Orchard Beach borders Saco, Scarborough and Saco Bay. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:
Elsewhere in York 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 none of the 7 publishes a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Orchard Beach | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-937-5645 |
| Saco | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-284-6983 |
| Scarborough | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-730-4040 |
| Acton | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-636-3131 |
| Alfred | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-324-5872 |
| Arundel | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-985-4201 |
| Berwick | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-698-1101 |
All 29 York County jurisdictions side by side →
Old Orchard Beach 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.
Old Orchard Beach publishes no rule either way, so we ask its building department at 207-937-5645 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 Old Orchard Beach dates to around the early-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1982. Of its 7,796 homes, 23% went up before 1940 and 23% 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: oobmaine.com (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) · maine.gov (2) · en.wikipedia.org (2) · www2.census.gov (2) · prd-tnm.s3.amazonaws.com · efficiencymaine.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 207-937-5645 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.
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