12.4% of Huntington Station’s 11,608 homes were built before 1940 and another 11.5% in the 1940s. That older housing sits beside the 1950s and 60s building that followed: 26.7% from the 1950s and 20.1% from the 1960s, with the median home dating from 1960. 72.5% of homes are detached houses, 10.1% are townhouses and other attached units, 6.6% are in two-unit buildings, and 76.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
Heat is split almost evenly: 47.3% of occupied homes use utility gas and 41.8% burn fuel oil, with 6.7% on electricity. Huntington Station is a hamlet in the Town of Huntington, part of the Greater Huntington area. It buys its electricity from PSEG Long Island, and National Grid gas is available on many streets but not all, so two houses on the same block can be paying for their heat in very different ways.
The houses we insulate in Huntington Station
Huntington Station was known as Fairground before it took its name from the railroad station, and it is still a rail hamlet: the Long Island Rail Road’s Port Jefferson Branch begins its electrification here, and many New York City trains start and end at the Huntington station. Walt Whitman was born in Huntington Station; his home, in neighboring South Huntington, is now a museum across Route 110 from the Walt Whitman Shops. The 1,436 homes built before 1940 are the part of the hamlet that most needs a careful look before anyone insulates, and we give them their own section below.
The 1940s and 50s built 38.3% of the hamlet, and the typical house of those years is a cape or a small ranch. A cape of that era has bedrooms tucked under the roof, short knee walls with batts that have slumped or fallen out, the floor framing running open beneath those knee walls to the eave, and slopes with no room for air. A small ranch has a low, shallow attic where loose-fill has settled and drifted away from the eaves, plus an attic hatch in a hallway ceiling with nothing on top of it.
The 1960s and 70s account for 28.4%: splits and high ranches with the garage under a bedroom and a lower level partly below ground. Their losses are the garage ceiling, the rim joist at the lower level, any cantilever, and the attic plane above. The 1980s and 90s add 11.9%, mostly colonials whose walls are insulated and whose problems are overhead, around the air handler, the ducts and the recessed lights.
Since 2000, 9.1% of the stock has gone up, including 533 homes in the 2010s. A townhouse built to a recent code has full walls. The questions there are the attic above the unit, the party wall where it meets the roof, and whether the association or the owner controls the roof. The 763 units in two-unit buildings are a separate case: often an owner on one floor and a tenant or family on the other, sharing one attic, one stair and one basement.
At 41.8% oil, a large share of the hamlet pays for every leak by the gallon. Sealing and insulating an oil house shows up as fewer deliveries, and the value moves with oil prices. If a switch to gas or a heat pump is coming, do the envelope first, because the new equipment is sized to the heat the house loses.
The pre-war houses: balloon frames and plaster walls
In a Huntington Station house built before 1940 we assume balloon framing until we have looked. The wall studs run in one piece from the sill in the basement to the roof, with no plate at the second floor, so each stud bay is a chimney. Cold air enters at the bottom from the basement, warm air leaves at the top into the attic, and the interior partitions are often open to the attic as well. Blowing insulation into those walls without closing the tops and bottoms first sends it straight down into the basement or leaves it working as a filter for moving air.
Those walls are usually plaster on wood lath, and plaster is worth keeping. We fill balloon-framed walls by dense-packing cellulose through small holes, from outside with a course of siding lifted or from inside where the finish allows, after blocking the cavity at the attic and at the sill. Wiring comes first: knob-and-tube must be found and dealt with by an electrician before any wall is filled. If the siding is asbestos-cement shingle, we do not drill it; we lift and refasten or go in from inside.
Houses of that age often carry pieces added over time: an enclosed porch turned into a room, with a floor over open air and a roof that does not connect to the main attic; a rear kitchen extension on piers; a dormer added later. Each is its own small envelope and its own leak, and the audit maps them one by one.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat conducting through the surfaces of a house. It does not stop air, and in a house with open wall cavities moving air is often the bigger loss.
In a pre-war Huntington Station house the sequence starts in the attic: block and seal the tops of the balloon-framed exterior walls and the open interior partitions; seal around the chimney with metal and fire-rated sealant; seal the plumbing stacks and the light fixtures in the plaster ceilings below. Then the basement: seal the sill and block the bottoms of the wall cavities. Only then dense-pack the walls and insulate the attic floor to depth. In a 1950s cape the sequence starts at the knee walls: block the floor bays at the eave, put an air barrier on the back of each knee wall, baffle the slopes, then insulate.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Huntington Station
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In Huntington Station the number moves with age. A 1950s ranch attic is toward the lower end. A cape with finished bedrooms under the roof costs more for its knee walls and slopes. A pre-war house with balloon-framed plaster walls costs the most, because every cavity is blocked top and bottom before it is dense-packed, and an enclosed porch adds its own floor and roof. A two-family is priced as one building. For the foam side of the number, see what spray foam costs.
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 Huntington Station
Huntington Station’s electric company is PSEG Long Island. Its gas company is National Grid, available on many streets but not every one. With PSEG Long Island as the electric company, NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program does not apply here.
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, all paid through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment. That assessment includes a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan to uncover hidden heat loss, and a blower door test, all useful in a plaster-walled house. Oil, gas, propane and electric heat all qualify, and the insulation must be installed along with blower-door-assisted air sealing.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not accepting new applications; income-eligible households are served through EmPower+. Where a Suffolk household is under the income limit, NYSERDA’s EmPower+ program 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 family of four), or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households (below $131,900 for four), through an EmPower+ contractor. Federal HEAR funds add up to $1,600 for air sealing, insulation and ventilation. Renters can apply, which matters in a two-family, and Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal.
Every one of these programs pays through its own participating contractors, so check before you sign. The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025; a 2026 job has no federal credit, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. Our New York and New Jersey rebate guide has the full detail.
Code and climate in Huntington Station
79.0% of Huntington Station’s homes were built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, so the pre-war houses, the capes and the splits were all built with no statewide energy standard. Suffolk 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 need R-49 ceilings, or R-38 across the full ceiling where uncompressed R-38 extends at full height over the wall top plate at the eaves; R-30 floors; basement and crawl space walls of R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; U-0.27 windows; and leakage of no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
For an existing house, unaltered parts do not have to comply, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. One rule matters in an old Huntington Station house under renovation: when an alteration exposes wall or roof cavities, those cavities must be insulated to full depth. If the plaster is coming off a wall anyway, that is the moment to fill it. 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 Huntington Station
Do you install insulation in Huntington Station, NY?
Yes. We work across Huntington Station’s housing: the 12.4% of homes built before 1940, with balloon framing and plaster walls; the 1940s and 50s capes and small ranches; the 1960s splits and high ranches; the later colonials; two-family houses; and townhouses where the owner controls the attic. We do not work on the envelope of larger apartment buildings. Whatever your house is, we will tell you on the phone whether it is the kind of job we do.
How much does insulation cost in Huntington Station?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1950s ranch attic is usually toward the lower end. A cape with bedrooms under the roof costs more because each knee wall and slope is separate work. A pre-war house with balloon-framed plaster walls sits higher, because every wall cavity is blocked at the top and bottom before it is dense-packed, and a two-family is priced as one building. The price comes in writing after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Huntington Station?
Yes. Huntington Station is PSEG Long Island territory, and PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, higher for income-qualified homes, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment; oil-heated homes qualify. Comfort Home is not available to PSEG Long Island homes. Income-eligible owners and renters can apply to EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state credit.
Our house was built before the war and has plaster walls. Can the walls be insulated without tearing them out?
Usually, yes. Balloon-framed walls can be dense-packed with cellulose through small holes, drilled from outside behind a lifted course of siding or from inside, and the plaster stays. The cavities are blocked at the attic and at the basement sill first, so the fill stays put and the wall stops moving air. Old wiring has to be checked first; knob-and-tube must be handled by an electrician before any wall is filled. We do not drill through asbestos-cement siding.
Free energy audit in Huntington Station
In an older Huntington Station house we start in the attic, at the tops of the walls, the open partitions, the chimney and the ceiling fixtures; then the basement, where we look at the sill and the bottoms of the wall cavities; then the walls themselves, the wiring we can see, the siding, and any enclosed porch or rear addition. In a cape or a split we spend the time at the knee walls, the garage ceiling and the rim. If the attic is fine and the loss is open wall cavities, we say so. Then a written scope and a price, with no charge and 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 that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Suffolk County
- Insulation in Huntington
- Insulation in South Huntington
- Insulation in Greenlawn
- Insulating older homes without losing the plaster
- Basement insulation and the sill
- Our own crew