No single fuel heats North Amityville. 38.5% of occupied homes burn fuel oil, 27.9% use utility gas, 24.3% heat with electricity and 4.7% with bottled gas. It means three neighbors with the same attic can be paying for the same leak on three different bills: an oil delivery, a National Grid gas bill and a PSEG Long Island electric bill.
The housing is just as mixed. Of 5,755 homes, 61.7% are detached houses and 4.7% are attached, while 16.0% are in buildings of fifty or more units and 6.0% in buildings of twenty to forty-nine. The median home dates from 1976, and 24.6% of the stock has been built since 2000, with 698 homes from the 2010s alone. 61.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, and 3.4%, 195 homes, are mobile homes.
North Amityville is a hamlet in the Town of Babylon, on the South Shore, bordered by East Massapequa across the Nassau County line to the west, East Farmingdale to the north, North Lindenhurst and the Village of Lindenhurst to the southeast, and the Village of Amityville and Copiague to the south. Our work here is the houses. The apartment complexes are envelopes their owners manage, and we say so below.
The houses we insulate in North Amityville
The oldest layer is thin: 208 homes predate 1940 and 367 date from the 1940s. In those we assume balloon framing and knob-and-tube wiring until we have looked, and the old wiring comes out before anything is blown into a wall. The hamlet’s named landmark is the Sisters of St. Dominic Motherhouse Complex; its housing is mostly post-war and later.
The 1950s left 956 homes, the capes and small ranches of the first post-war streets. A cape of that decade leaks at the knee walls, which have insulation facing the bedroom and nothing but open attic behind them, and at the floor joists that run out under those walls to the eave. A ranch leaks overhead, through a low attic of loose-fill that has been settling since it was blown in, around the chimney or flue, and through every ceiling fixture and the hatch.
The 1960s added 767 homes and the 1970s 1,033, the largest decade here: raised ranches and splits with half-buried lower levels, bare rim joists at eye height in the family room, a garage tucked under bedrooms and an upper floor that overhangs the entry. Those houses have batts in the walls and a few inches in the attic, and that is the trap. They look insulated, and they were never sealed.
The newer houses are their own job. 754 homes date from the 1990s, 694 from the 2000s and 698 from the 2010s. Their walls are full. What fails is overhead and at the edges: ductwork and air handlers in vented attics, recessed lights in the top-floor ceiling, bath fans that blow into the attic, and bonus rooms over garages with open joist bays under them. In those houses we seal ducts and ceilings, not walls.
The 271 attached homes and the 134 units in two-unit buildings we scope as whole buildings, because the party wall or the shared attic runs through both households. The 195 mobile homes are a limited job: the floor cavity above the skirting can sometimes be sealed and filled, but the roof cavity is shallow and often out of reach, and we tell an owner that before a visit.
Oil, gas and electric in one hamlet: the same leaks, three different bills
The physics of a leaky attic do not change with the fuel: warm air escapes at the top plates and fixture holes, and cold air is pulled in at the rim and sill. What changes is how the saving shows up and what has to be checked once a house is tighter.
In an oil house, 38.5% of the hamlet, the saving arrives as fewer deliveries, and what each gallon is worth rises and falls with the price of oil, so nobody can honestly promise a payback year. The masonry chimney passes through the attic with an open gap around it, which gets a sheet-metal collar and high-temperature sealant rather than insulation, and the burner’s draft gets checked after the work.
In a gas house, 27.9%, the saving shows on the National Grid bill. The item that matters most is often not the furnace but the water heater: an older gas water heater that vents up a chimney by natural draft relies on the house not pulling air back down that flue. Seal a house tight and run a bath fan, a range hood and a dryer at once, and a weak draft can reverse. So in a gas house we look at how every appliance vents before we seal, and the plan accounts for it.
In an electric house, 24.3%, winter heat and summer cooling land on the same PSEG Long Island bill, so sealing and insulating shows up twice a year. Electric heat may be baseboard or a ducted heat pump. With baseboard, the rim joist and the wall behind the heater are worth attention; with a ducted heat pump, sealing and insulating the attic ducts can matter as much as the attic floor.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through a ceiling or a wall. It does nothing to stop air moving through a gap, and a raised ranch, with an open stair between two levels, works like a chimney: air leaks in low and escapes high all winter.
In a 1970s North Amityville raised ranch we seal the attic floor first: top plates, plumbing and flue penetrations, light boxes, the bath fan housing and the hatch. Then the lower level: the rim joist all the way around, the joint where the block wall meets the sill, and the joist bays at the overhang over the entry. Then the ceiling between the garage and the bedrooms above, including every pipe and wire hole. Then the insulation, in the attic, at the rim, over the garage and in the overhang. In a gas or oil house, the venting check comes last.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in North Amityville
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A 1950s ranch with one open attic sits toward the lower end. A raised ranch adds the lower-level rim, the overhang and a garage ceiling. A 2000s house is priced on duct footage, the ceiling area and the floor over the garage rather than on walls, and an attached home or two-unit building 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 North Amityville
North Amityville’s electricity comes from PSEG Long Island. Gas comes from National Grid, which reaches many streets in the hamlet but not every one, so the bill settles whether yours is on it. NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program is not available here, because it does not serve PSEG Long Island customers.
PSEG Long Island runs its own program instead. After a free Whole House Energy Assessment, with a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test, it lists a $2,500 insulation rebate, a $1,000 air-sealing rebate and $500 for duct sealing for market-rate single-family homes, with higher amounts for income-qualified homes and homes in state-designated disadvantaged communities. Oil, gas, propane and electric heat all qualify. Insulation has to go in together with blower-door-assisted air sealing. The rebates are paid through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors, and the list is written for single-family homes, so the owner of an attached home or a two-unit building should ask PSEG Long Island first.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not accepting new applications, and income-eligible households now use EmPower+, open to owners and renters of one- to four-family homes. 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 Suffolk household of four) or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households (below $131,900 for four), through an EmPower+ contractor, with up to $1,600 more in federal HEAR funds for air sealing, insulation and ventilation. Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal.
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, so a 2026 job earns neither. Loans and every program detail are in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in North Amityville
57.9% of North Amityville’s homes were built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. Suffolk County is Climate Zone 4.
The current 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has applied to new homes since 31 December 2025. Its prescriptive table sets R-49 ceilings, met by R-38 across the whole ceiling where uncompressed R-38 reaches full height over the wall top plate at the eaves; wood-framed walls at R-30, or R-20 plus R-5 continuous, or R-13 plus R-10 continuous; 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 no higher than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals. The 2000s and 2010s houses here were built under earlier editions.
The table is for new homes. In an existing house, 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. When an alteration exposes roof or wall cavities, they have to be insulated to full depth, and existing insulation may not be reduced. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an uninsulated attic in this zone and R-49 for an attic that already holds 3 to 4 inches.
Common questions about insulation in North Amityville
Do you install insulation in North Amityville, NY?
Yes, in the hamlet’s houses: the 1950s capes and ranches, the 1960s and 70s raised ranches and splits, and the newer houses of the 1990s through the 2010s, where the work is attic ducts, ceilings and rooms over garages. We also scope attached homes and two-unit buildings as whole buildings. The large apartment complexes are managed by their owners, and changes to those envelopes are the owner’s decision, not a job one tenant can order.
How much does insulation cost in North Amityville?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1950s ranch with a single attic sits toward the lower end. A 1970s raised ranch adds the rim joist around the lower level, the overhang and the garage ceiling. A newer house is priced on duct sealing, the attic plane and any floor over a garage rather than walls. The fuel does not change the price much, but a gas or oil house includes a venting check. We give a written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in North Amityville?
Yes. PSEG Long Island supplies the electricity and lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, more for income-qualified homes, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment, whichever fuel heats the house. Comfort Home is not open to PSEG Long Island customers. Income-eligible owners and renters of one- to four-family homes can apply to EmPower+. There is no federal 25C credit on a 2026 job and no New York state insulation credit.
We rent an apartment in one of North Amityville’s complexes. Can anything be done about the drafts?
Not by insulating your unit. The walls and roof of a large complex belong to its owner, and changes to them are the owner’s decision, so the useful request goes to management. What a tenant can use: PSEG Long Island’s REAP program gives income-eligible customers, renters included, a free in-home energy survey and may install items such as door sweeps and a smart thermostat at no cost. It does not install insulation. EmPower+ is written for one- to four-family homes, so it fits a rented house or two-family, not a large complex.
Free energy audit in North Amityville
We start in the attic: the depth and condition of what is there, the top plates and fixture holes, the hatch, and any ducts or air handler. In a raised ranch we go down to the rim joist, the block walls and the garage ceiling. We note how the furnace, boiler and water heater vent, or where the baseboard heaters sit, because the fuel shapes the sealing plan. If the attic is the whole job, we say so. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or send a note through our contact page. 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 North Lindenhurst
- Insulation in Copiague
- Insulation in Lindenhurst
- Air sealing
- Attic insulation
- Recommended R-values for New York and New Jersey