57.2% of Hicksville’s 13,637 homes were built in the 1950s, and another 14.4% in the 1940s. Those are the years a Long Island Rail Road stop that Valentine Hicks set up in 1837, surrounded by cucumber and then potato farms, turned into a New York City suburb. The median home dates from 1955, 93.9% of the housing is detached, and 88.5% is owner-occupied. Hicksville is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Oyster Bay; a 1953 petition to make it a village, signed by 6,242 residents, failed.
The heating split is the other half of the story, and it shapes the payback math: 51.0% of occupied homes burn utility gas and 40.6% burn fuel oil, with 4.6% on electricity and 2.8% on bottled gas. The rest of the stock is small but varied: 9.8% predates 1940, 9.2% is from the 1960s, and 3.5% has gone up since 2000.
The houses we insulate in Hicksville
The houses of the post-war boom are capes and ranches, and in Hicksville 71.5% of the stock dates from the 1940s and 50s. A cape’s half-story is where it loses: knee walls with the batt facing the room and open air behind, floor joist bays that run under the knee wall straight out to the eave, rafter slopes packed with a thin batt and no vent channel, and a flat above the collar ties with a few inches of whatever went down when the house was new. If a dormer was added to turn the half-story into full bedrooms, its cheek walls and its small roof join the same leaky system. A ranch fails more simply, across a long low attic: loose-fill that has settled and been walked flat, eaves where wind washes the insulation back, and a hallway hatch, bath fan and ceiling fixtures open to the attic.
Below both, if the house has a basement, the rim joist and sill plate run the full perimeter above grade, usually bare or stuffed with a batt that stops nothing. That is where cold air comes in low while warm air leaves through the attic, and it is one of the cheapest places in a Hicksville house to cut a draft. If it sits on a crawl space or a slab instead, the scope changes, and we look before we price.
The 9.8% of Hicksville that predates 1940 belongs to the railroad-and-farm hamlet that came before the boom. In those houses we expect balloon framing, where wall cavities run open from the basement to the attic, and we check for knob-and-tube wiring before any insulation goes near a wall. The 9.2% from the 1960s brings raised ranches and splits, with a bedroom over the garage and open joist bays under it. Houses built since 2000 went up under modern energy codes; their walls are already full, and the job there is the attic ductwork, the tray ceilings and the bonus room.
Two-unit buildings are 2.2% of the stock and three- and four-unit buildings 1.9%. We scope those as one building, because the stair, the floor between units and the roof are shared, and sealing one apartment’s half of them does nothing.
Gas or oil: the same 1950s house, two different paybacks
National Grid gas is available on many Hicksville streets, but not all, so two capes built the same year a few blocks apart can run on different fuels. The insulation job in them is identical: the same knee walls, the same rim joist, the same attic. The payback is not. A gas-heated house sees the savings on a monthly bill. An oil-heated house sees them as fewer deliveries, and its payback moves with the price of oil from one winter to the next. We do not promise a payback year for either, because neither fuel holds still; we tell you where the house loses heat and what closing it takes.
If you are thinking about leaving oil for gas or a heat pump, do the envelope first. A boiler, furnace or heat pump is sized to the heat a house loses, and one sized for a leaky 1950s cape is oversized once the knee walls and rim are sealed. Seal and insulate, then have the new equipment sized for the house you actually have. PSEG Long Island’s insulation rebates are open to homes heated with oil, gas, propane or electricity alike, so the fuel you burn today does not decide whether the envelope work qualifies.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through a surface. It does nothing about air moving through a gap. Warm air rises out of the top of a house and pulls cold air in at the bottom, so a Hicksville house gets sealed at both ends.
At the top: the flue chase from the boiler or furnace, the plumbing stack, the top plates of interior walls, the fixtures and the hatch, then the floor bays under the knee walls, blocked at the eave, with an air barrier on the back of each knee wall and vent baffles in the slopes. At the bottom: the rim joist and sill plate, and the holes where the gas line or oil fill pipe, the water service and the dryer vent pass through the foundation. Then insulate.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Hicksville
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a Hicksville cape the number moves with the knee walls and dormers: feet of eave to block, whether the slopes are filled, and whether a dormer adds its own cheek walls and roof. In a ranch it is attic area and how much settled loose-fill has to be dealt with. A full basement adds the perimeter of rim joist, usually closed cell foam. A pre-1940 house adds wall work, which waits until the wiring has been checked. A two-family is priced as one building. The foam side of the price is covered in our spray foam cost guide.
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 Hicksville
Hicksville’s electric company is PSEG Long Island, and its gas company is National Grid, whose gas is available on many streets, not all. The electric company decides the rebate lane, so NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program does not apply to Hicksville homes; PSEG Long Island’s program does.
PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate, a $1,000 air-sealing rebate and a $500 duct-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, with higher amounts for income-qualified homes and homes in state-designated disadvantaged communities. It all starts with a free Whole House Energy Assessment — a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test — and the rebates are paid through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors. Insulation must be installed with comprehensive air sealing, and any ductwork in unconditioned space must be duct sealed, which matters in the ranches and newer houses with ducts in the attic.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not taking new applications; income-eligible households go through EmPower+. NYSERDA’s EmPower+ can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households (in Nassau, at or below $98,925 for a family of four), or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households (below $131,900 for four), through an EmPower+ contractor; renters can apply, and Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal. PSEG Long Island’s REAP program also offers a free in-home energy survey for customers within its income guidelines ($131,900 for a household of four), but it does not install insulation.
These programs pay through their own participating contractors; we will tell you plainly which one a program requires. The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, so a 2026 job carries no federal credit, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. Everything is laid out in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in Hicksville
92.2% of Hicksville’s homes were built before 1980. The 1950s capes and ranches went up a generation before New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. Nassau County is Climate Zone 4.
Since 31 December 2025 the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has been in force. A new house must reach R-49 at the ceiling, though R-38 satisfies that where full-height, uncompressed R-38 extends over the wall top plate at the eaves. Floors call for R-30; basement and crawl space walls R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; windows U-0.27; and a new home must test at no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
None of that is retroactive. Unaltered portions of an existing house do not have to comply, so insulating a Hicksville attic does not oblige you to bring the basement or walls up to the new-home table, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. Where an alteration exposes roof or wall cavities, the code wants those cavities insulated to full depth. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an uninsulated attic in this zone and R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already there, and that is the range we design a cape’s flat and a ranch attic to.
Common questions about insulation in Hicksville
Do you install insulation in Hicksville, NY?
Yes. Most Hicksville work is the 1950s house, 57.2% of the hamlet: capes with knee walls, dormers and a shallow flat, and ranches with a long low attic, plus the rim joist wherever there is a basement. We also insulate the pre-1940 houses after checking the wiring, the 1960s raised ranches and splits with rooms over garages, the two- to four-family buildings, and the newer houses where the ducts are the job. Hicksville sits in the Town of Oyster Bay.
How much does insulation cost in Hicksville?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. In a cape the drivers are the feet of knee wall and eave to block, whether the slopes are filled, and any dormer. In a ranch it is the attic area and the old loose-fill. A basement rim adds a perimeter of closed cell foam, a pre-1940 house may add walls, and a two-family is priced as one building. You get a written scope and price after a free walk-through, before anything is scheduled.
Are there insulation rebates in Hicksville?
Yes. Hicksville is PSEG Long Island territory for electric, and PSEG Long Island 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. Oil, gas, propane and electric heat all qualify. Comfort Home does not apply on PSEG Long Island. Income-eligible households can use EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York offers no state insulation credit.
We heat with oil. Should we insulate before switching to gas or a heat pump?
Yes, insulate first. New heating equipment is sized to the heat the house loses, and a 1950s Hicksville cape loses far less once its knee walls, attic and rim joist are sealed and insulated. Size a boiler or heat pump before that work and you pay for capacity you will not need. Whether National Grid gas reaches your street is a question for National Grid; many Hicksville streets have it and some do not. Either way, the envelope work does not depend on the fuel, and PSEG Long Island’s rebates accept oil-heated homes.
Free energy audit in Hicksville
We start in the attic: the flat, the knee-wall spaces behind the bedrooms, the slopes and eaves, any dormer, and every chase and fixture through the ceiling. Then the basement or crawl space, the rim joist and sill, the penetrations for the fuel line and water service, and the floor over any garage. In a pre-1940 house we look at the wiring before we talk about walls. If the attic is fine and the draft is coming in at the rim, we will say so. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use our contact form. Open 8am–8pm, seven days. We work out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew, never subcontractors.
Learn more
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