Attic insulation, air sealing, crawl spaces and walls for homes in Scarborough — starting with a free assessment that measures the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the late-1980s, and 8% of its 11,097 homes went up before 1940.
Scarborough runs to about 48 square miles and roughly 23,215 people. It sits about 7 miles southwest of downtown Portland. Around 11,097 housing units sit inside those boundaries. The community dates back to 1658. We cover ZIP codes 04074 and 04070.
No completed job in Scarborough is logged in our records yet, and this page will say so until one is.
The typical home in Scarborough dates to around the late-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.
We work across Scarborough rather than one corner of it — Pine Point, Higgins Beach, Prouts Neck, Dunstan, Oak Hill, Blue Point, North Scarborough, West Scarborough, Eight Corners and Pleasant Hill 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 coastal town on Saco Bay with beach neighborhoods at Pine Point, Higgins Beach and Prouts Neck, and the Scarborough Marsh between Pine Point and the inland villages. Incorporated in 1658, it is the most populous place in Maine still called a town.
The Census Bureau estimates 11,097 homes in Scarborough. 921 of them (8%) went up before 1940 — 55th of 64 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1990s were the busiest decade, adding 1,954 of today's homes (18%); 39% predate 1980 and 30% were built in 2000 or later. For Cumberland County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 23%, so Scarborough sits below it.
Of 9,972 occupied homes, 13% heat with utility gas and 15% with electricity; another 19% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is as common as across the county (15%), and ranks 8th 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.
77% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 69% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 196 mobile homes in the count. Read together, those numbers point toward air sealing on newer houses that already have depth.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 921 | 8% | |
| 1940s | 350 | 3% | |
| 1950s | 452 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 810 | 7% | |
| 1970s | 1,807 | 16% | |
| 1980s | 1,520 | 14% | |
| 1990s | 1,954 | 18% | |
| 2000s | 1,457 | 13% | |
| 2010s | 1,407 | 13% | |
| 2020 or later | 419 | 4% |
11,097 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 9,972 occupied.
3,474 of Scarborough's 11,097 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.
Scarborough enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). The town's Codes FAQ says Scarborough, with more than 4,000 people, must enforce the state code, and lists the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code with it.
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.
Nothing Scarborough publishes settles this. Its permit lists name the work types it cares about, and insulation is not among them in either direction. Scarborough's FAQ quotes the code's general rule that work to construct, enlarge, alter or repair a building needs a permit first, without naming insulation. Renovation permits can be figured at $12.50 per $1,000 of estimated cost, $50 minimum, and after-the-fact permits cost double. So we ask the department directly before the first day on site, and whatever comes back, pulling it is our job rather than yours.
The published number is 207-730-4040. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
In Scarborough, 48% of occupied homes heat with fuel oil or kerosene, 19% with propane or other tank gas and 15% with electricity, and 13% utility gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). For Scarborough 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. 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 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
Scarborough borders Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Westbrook, Gorham, Buxton and Saco. 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 none of the 7 publishes a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarborough | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-730-4040 |
| Cape Elizabeth | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-799-1619 |
| South Portland | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-767-7603 |
| Westbrook | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-854-0638 |
| Gorham | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-222-1605 |
| Buxton | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-929-3046 |
| Saco | Maine code, 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 207-284-6983 |
All 25 Cumberland County jurisdictions side by side →
Scarborough 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.
Not on paper: Scarborough names neither a permit nor an exemption for insulation, so one call to the department at 207-730-4040 settles it first.
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 Scarborough dates to around the late-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1988. Of its 11,097 homes, 8% went up before 1940 and 30% 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: scarboroughmaine.org (2, 3, 4, 5) · resources.finalsite.net (2) · 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 207-730-4040 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.
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