Insulation in York, Maine

Insulation and air sealing in York

York runs to about 55 square miles and roughly 13,986 people. It sits about 38 miles southwest of downtown Portland. There are around 8,795 housing units here. The community dates back to 1652. We cover ZIP codes 03909, 03902, 03910 and 03911.

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

The housing stock in York

The typical home in York dates to around the late-1970s. Postwar building here often meant three or four inches of fiberglass and no attempt at air sealing. If nobody has touched it since, that is what is still up there.

York retains many Gilded Age summer houses in the Shingle style.

We work across York rather than one corner of it — York Village, York Harbor, York Beach, Cape Neddick, Bald Head, York Corner, York Cliffs, Short Sands, Long Beach and Nubble Point 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.

York, incorporated in 1652, is a summer resort town on the open Atlantic made up of the villages of York Village, York Harbor, York Beach, Cape Neddick and Bald Head. It keeps colonial-era buildings such as the Old York Gaol of 1719 and many Gilded Age summer houses in the Shingle style, and the 1,700-acre York Historic District covers York Corner, York Village and York Harbor.

York homes in the Census numbers

The Census Bureau estimates 8,795 homes in York. 1,915 of them (22%) went up before 1940 — 17th 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 56% predate 1980. For York County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 20%, so York sits above it.

Of 5,501 occupied homes, 4% heat with utility gas and 10% with electricity; another 22% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is as common as across the county (10%), and ranks 31st 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.

81% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 83% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 173 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.

8,795 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 5,501 occupied.

Sealing comes first in York

2,151 of York's 8,795 homes (24%) 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 York

York enforces the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (2021 IECC with Maine amendments). York's Code Enforcement FAQ says the town enforces the 2021 edition of the ICC codes, and a letter from its Director of Code Enforcement says York adopted them on April 7, 2025 under its Supplemental Building Ordinance.

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.

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?

York publishes no answer either way. Insulation and air sealing appear on neither the permit-required list nor the exempt list. York's Supplemental Building Ordinance makes permits required as stated in Section R105 of the residential code; insulation is not named, and residential permits cost $10 per $1,000 of project cost, $50 minimum. 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 York

The published number is 207-363-1002. The department page is here.

Permitting is on us, not on you.

Rebates a York homeowner can actually use

Heating fuel in York, by the Census Bureau's count: fuel oil or kerosene in 55% of occupied homes, electricity in 10%, propane or tank gas in 22%, and 4% utility gas (Census ACS 2020–2024). The insulation money for a York house comes from Efficiency Maine, not the electric company. For a zone of 500 square feet or more it pays $2,000 at any income, $3,000 at moderate income and $4,000 at low income, and $150 to $300 more for attic air sealing. 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 York County can apply to York County Community Action Corp (207-324-5762) for free weatherization through MaineHousing instead. The York County page and the rebate guide carry the full rules.

Nearby

York borders Kittery, Eliot, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit and Atlantic Ocean. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:

Elsewhere in York County we also cover:

How York 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 29 York County jurisdictions side by side →

Common questions about insulation in York

Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: yorkmaine.org (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) · maine.gov (2) · en.wikipedia.org (2, 3) · digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu · 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 207-363-1002 or Efficiency Maine at 866-376-2463 first.