27.4% of the housing units in the Village of Hempstead, 5,170 of 18,836, are in apartment buildings of fifty or more. That is the Village of Hempstead — incorporated on 6 May 1853 and the most populous village in New York — and not the Town of Hempstead, the far larger town that surrounds it and takes in more of Nassau’s hamlets than any other, Elmont, Franklin Square and Levittown among them. Those hamlets have their own pages; every number below belongs to the village alone.
The rest of the stock is where our work is. 45.1% of units, 8,492 of them, are detached houses, 5.8% are in two-unit buildings and 3.6% in buildings of three or four. Only 45.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, so more households here rent than own. The median unit dates from 1957, 21.1% of the stock was built before 1940, and heat is 72.8% utility gas, 15.5% fuel oil, 7.0% electricity and 3.1% bottled gas.
So in Hempstead the first question about insulation is who owns the envelope. A house or a two- to four-unit building has an owner who can say yes, whether that owner lives upstairs or across the county. The walls and roof of a large apartment building are the landlord’s decision, not a job to sell a tenant.
The houses we insulate in Hempstead
This was the first English settlement in what is now Nassau County: thirty to forty families from Stamford, Connecticut, arriving in the spring of 1644. By 1843 it had 200 dwellings and a railroad to New York City. Through the 19th century it was Long Island’s trading center, where the Vanderbilts and the Belmonts built homes, and from the 1940s through the 1960s it was Nassau’s retail center.
3,970 units, the 21.1% built before 1940, come from that long run of growth. In a frame house of that age we expect balloon framing, with stud bays open from the cellar to the attic and nothing in them, plaster on wood lath, and an attic whose floor holds a few inches of old loose-fill at best. Knob-and-tube wiring is common enough at that age that we check for it before any wall is filled. Where an old house has been divided into apartments over the decades, every division added holes to the envelope: a new stair enclosure, a second bathroom stack, a kitchen vent cut through the wall, wiring extended again and again.
The 14.9% from the 1940s and 20.3% from the 1950s belong to the village’s retail years: capes, small colonials, ranches and two-families. The cape leaks at its knee walls and the floor bays that run out to the eave; the ranch through a shallow attic full of ceiling boxes and a bath fan venting into it; the small colonial at a hallway hatch and a rim joist no one has touched since it was framed.
29.8% of the village’s units, houses and apartments together, date from the 1960s and 70s. Where a house from those decades turns up it is usually a split-level or raised ranch, with a bedroom over the garage whose floor is the coldest in the house and a band of open framing at each change of level.
Fuel shapes who sees the savings. In the 72.8% of homes on gas, they show up on National Grid bills that may be the owner’s or the tenant’s. In the 15.5% on oil, they show up as fewer deliveries.
Owners, landlords and tenants in Hempstead
With fewer than half of occupied homes owner-occupied, a lot of Hempstead insulation work starts with a landlord. The buildings of fifty or more, and the 7.2% of units in buildings of twenty to forty-nine, are outside what we do: they are managed as whole buildings, and the programs below are written for homes of one to four units, some for single-family homes only. If you rent in one of those buildings, the call is to the management.
A two-family or three-family where the owner lives on one floor is the easiest case. The owner decides for the whole building, and the whole building has to be sealed together: the attic over the top unit, the stair that connects every floor, the floor framing between apartments and the cellar rim. We work from the attic hatch and the cellar as much as possible, which keeps most of the job out of the tenant’s rooms.
An absentee landlord is a harder conversation, and it is worth being plain about why. When tenants pay their own gas bills, the landlord pays for the insulation and the tenants see the savings; the owner gets fewer cold-room complaints and frozen pipes. Where the landlord buys the oil, the savings land with the owner directly. Tenants who cannot get a landlord to act still have options, covered in the rebate section.
We seal before we insulate
Warm air rises and leaves a house through every gap at the top, pulling cold air in through every gap at the bottom. Insulation laid over those gaps does not close them, so the leaks come first.
In a pre-1940 Hempstead two-family the sequence is: at the attic, cap the tops of the open balloon-frame bays, seal the stack and vent penetrations each conversion added, close the gap around the chimney with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, and seal the attic hatch or stair; at the shared stair, close it where it meets the attic and the cellar door; in the cellar, block the bottoms of the wall bays at the sill, then seal the rim and every pipe and flue opening. Then insulate the attic floor, and fill the walls once the wiring is cleared.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Hempstead
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A two- to four-unit building is priced as one building, and what moves the number is the attic area over the top floor, the count of wall bays to dense-pack, the stairs and chases to close, and how much of the wiring has to be cleared before a wall can be filled. A post-war cape or ranch is a smaller scope: knee walls or attic plane, eaves, rim.
Open cell foam runs R-3.9 to R-4.2 per inch. Closed cell runs R-6.9 to R-7.1 per inch and also acts as a vapor retarder, which is why it costs more and why it is right in some assemblies and unnecessary in others. All products are manufactured in the United States and meet applicable building code and safety standards. ENERGY STAR says sealing air leaks and adding insulation can save up to 10% on annual energy bills.
Insulation rebates in Hempstead
The Village of Hempstead’s electric company is PSEG Long Island, and most of the village is on National Grid gas lines. Comfort Home is not open to PSEG Long Island homes, so the village’s rebate lane is PSEG Long Island’s own programs, plus EmPower+ for income-eligible households.
PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, with higher amounts for income-qualified homes and homes in state-designated disadvantaged communities. The money is paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment, which PSEG Long Island says includes a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test. Its 2026 measure list describes eligible homes as single-family, so the owner of a two- to four-unit building should ask PSEG Long Island directly before counting on it.
For renters and owners with lower incomes, PSEG Long Island’s REAP offers a free in-home energy survey to customers at or below its 2026 income guideline, $131,900 for a household of four, who have not had a REAP visit in the past five years. It can install a smart thermostat, door sweeps, attic hatch covers, LED bulbs and water-saving items at no cost, with a $50 bill credit and a $35 voucher. It does not install insulation.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not taking new applications; income-eligible households go through EmPower+. With a village median household income of $82,454, it is worth checking. NYSERDA’s EmPower+ can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households (at or below $98,925 for a Nassau family of four), or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households (below $131,900 for four), plus up to $1,600 from federal HEAR funds for air sealing, insulation and ventilation, through an EmPower+ contractor. Owners and renters of one- to four-family homes can apply. National Grid’s Weatherization Health and Safety Program adds no-cost home safety improvements, but only after you have applied to EmPower+ and completed its no-cost Health and Safety Assessment. Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal.
Every program here pays through its own participating contractors, so confirm yours with the program before signing. The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. The details are in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in Hempstead
86.1% of the village’s housing was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. Nassau County is Climate Zone 4.
The code now in force is the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State, effective 31 December 2025. New homes get R-49 ceilings, or R-38 across the whole ceiling where full-height, uncompressed R-38 reaches over the wall top plate at the eaves; R-30 floors; basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; U-0.27 windows; and air leakage of no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
An existing building is not pulled up to that table. Unaltered portions do not have to comply, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. But when an alteration exposes roof or wall cavities, they must be insulated to full depth at a minimum of R-3 per inch, so a wall opened for a new bathroom in a converted house should not be closed up empty. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an uninsulated attic in this zone and R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already in place.
Common questions about insulation in Hempstead
Do you install insulation in Hempstead, NY?
Yes, in the Village of Hempstead’s houses and small multi-family buildings: the pre-1940 frame houses, the capes, colonials and ranches of the 1940s and 50s, the split-levels of the 1960s and 70s, and two- to four-unit buildings, which we scope as one building. We do not insulate single apartments in the large apartment buildings, where the envelope belongs to the landlord or board. If your home is in one of the Town of Hempstead’s hamlets rather than the village, we work there too.
How much does insulation cost in Hempstead?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A two- to four-unit building is priced as one building, on the attic over the top floor, the number of wall bays to fill, the stair and chases to close, and the wiring that has to be cleared before walls are filled. A post-war cape or ranch is usually a smaller scope: knee walls or the attic plane, the eaves and the cellar rim. You get a written scope and a price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Hempstead?
Yes. PSEG Long Island, the village’s electric company, lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, with more for income-qualified homes, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment. Owners of two- to four-unit buildings should ask PSEG Long Island whether they qualify. Income-eligible owners and renters can apply to EmPower+, and REAP offers a free energy survey. Comfort Home is not available here, 25C ended after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation credit.
I rent an apartment in a Hempstead two-family. What can I do about the drafts?
Start with the landlord, because the attic, walls and cellar are the owner’s to change, and the work has to cover the whole building to hold. If the landlord agrees, we scope it as one building and work mostly from the attic and cellar. On your own, check EmPower+ on the MyEnergy portal, which is open to income-eligible renters of one- to four-family homes, and PSEG Long Island’s REAP survey, which can add door sweeps and an attic hatch cover at no cost.
Free energy audit in Hempstead
We start at the top of the building: the attic over the top unit, the open tops of the wall bays, the chimney, and every stack and vent added when the house was divided. Then the stair from attic to cellar, each apartment’s bathroom and kitchen, the wiring before any talk of walls, and the cellar rim, sill and flues. If the building needs its stair closed off more than it needs a thicker attic, we say so. You get a written scope and a price, with no charge and no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use our contact form. We are open 8am–8pm, seven days, and we work out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Nassau County
- Insulation in Garden City
- Insulation in West Hempstead
- Insulation in Uniondale
- Insulating older homes
- What an energy audit covers
- Air sealing