Attic insulation, air sealing, crawl spaces and walls for homes in Phippsburg — starting with a free assessment that measures the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the mid-1980s, and 19% of its 1,763 homes went up before 1940.
Phippsburg runs to about 29 square miles and roughly 2,238 people. It sits about 22 miles east of downtown Portland. There are around 1,763 housing units here. The community dates back to 1814. We cover ZIP codes 04562 and 04565.
We have not logged a completed job in Phippsburg yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Phippsburg 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.
Mostly single-family homes, with mid-1800s Greek Revival capes at Parker Head and Winnegance, summer cottages at Brightwater (1920s to 1940s) and Sebasco, and nearly as many seasonal homes as year-round ones.
We work across Phippsburg rather than one corner of it — Popham Beach, Small Point, Sebasco Estates, Phippsburg Center, Parker Head, West Point, Winnegance, Cox's Head, Ashdale and Dromore 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.
Phippsburg is a long peninsula reaching into the Gulf of Maine between the Kennebec River and the New Meadows River and Casco Bay, ending at the ocean beaches of Popham and Small Point. It is a string of separate villages, from Phippsburg Center, the old shipbuilding center, to the old summer resort at Popham Beach. The town applies its shoreland zoning to the 250-foot shoreland zone along its many shores.
The Census Bureau estimates 1,763 homes in Phippsburg. 335 of them (19%) went up before 1940 — 26th 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 44% predate 1980. For Sagadahoc County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 27%, so Phippsburg sits below it.
Of 1,050 occupied homes, 2% heat with utility gas and 2% with electricity; another 21% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is less common than across the county (11%), and ranks 61st 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.
82% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 86% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 200 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 | 335 | 19% | |
| 1940s | 56 | 3% | |
| 1950s | 105 | 6% | |
| 1960s | 88 | 5% | |
| 1970s | 199 | 11% | |
| 1980s | 242 | 14% | |
| 1990s | 249 | 14% | |
| 2000s | 261 | 15% | |
| 2010s | 188 | 11% | |
| 2020 or later | 40 | 2% |
1,763 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 1,050 occupied.
491 of Phippsburg's 1,763 homes (28%) 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.
Phippsburg enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). Phippsburg's Land Use Ordinance (amended June 11, 2025) says all buildings must meet the current state code; with 2,155 residents the town is not required to enforce it and has chosen to.
That edition sets R-60 for the attic in new work, and R-30, or R-20 + R-10 continuous, or R-13 + R-15 continuous, or R-20 continuous for walls. The Department of Energy's recommendation for this climate zone is no lower: R60 for an attic with nothing in it, R49 where a few inches are already down.
Table R402.1.3 of the 2021 IECC for climate zone 6, with the wall row as Maine rewrote it (08-003 C.M.R.
Phippsburg requires a permit for this work. Phippsburg's codes page says that, in general, any project worth more than $1,000, inside or outside a property, needs a permit, and the Land Use Ordinance makes it unlawful to alter a building without one when the work tops $1,000. We pull it as part of the job.
The published number is 207-389-2653. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Heating fuel in Phippsburg, by the Census Bureau's count: fuel oil or kerosene in 63% of occupied homes, electricity in 2%, propane or tank gas in 21%, and 2% utility gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). Efficiency Maine pays the same rebates in Phippsburg 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. It applies to work completed on or after October 1, 2026 by one of its Residential Registered Vendors, and an attic qualifies only if it starts at R-21 or less. 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.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Phippsburg borders Harpswell, West Bath, Bath, Arrowsic, Georgetown 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:
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.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phippsburg | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Yes | 207-389-2653 |
| Harpswell | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-833-5771 |
| West Bath | Not published | — | Not published | 207-443-4342 |
| Bath | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-443-8334 |
| Arrowsic | Not published | — | Not published | 207-295-4332 |
| Georgetown | Not published | — | Not published | 207-295-4332 |
| Bowdoin | Not published | — | Not published | 207-250-2399 |
All 10 Sagadahoc County jurisdictions side by side →
Phippsburg 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.
Yes. Phippsburg requires a permit for this work, and we pull it as part of the job.
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 Phippsburg dates to around the mid-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1984. Of its 1,763 homes, 19% went up before 1940 and 28% in 2000 or later. It is a median for the place, not a survey of individual houses.
Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: phippsburg.com (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) · legislature.maine.gov · www2.census.gov · maine.gov (2) · en.wikipedia.org (2) · zip-codes.com (2) · efficiencymaine.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 207-389-2653 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.
Free assessment, a measured R-value, and photos you keep either way.
Book my free assessment →