Wood heats 14.0% of Lebanon’s occupied homes. Add fuel oil at 61.1% and bottled gas at 14.5%, and very little is left for the utilities: electricity heats 7.9% and utility gas 0.6%.
It is a farm town of owned, detached houses. 88.6% of the 3,210 housing units are single-family detached and 83.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied; two-unit buildings and three- and four-unit buildings hold 4.4% each, and the few larger buildings are for their owners to decide. The median unit dates from 1976. The 1980s built the most, 20.3%, the 2000s added 16.4%, and 15.9% predates 1940.
The houses we insulate in Lebanon
By era, 15.9% of Lebanon predates 1940, 11.5% is from the 1940s and 50s, 29.0% from the 1960s and 70s, 25.7% from the 1980s and 90s and 17.9% has been built since 2000.
Colonists from Norwich settled Lebanon. The first grant went to Major John Mason in 1663, in what is now the Goshen Hill area, and the town was incorporated in 1700, the first in the colony with a Biblical name. During the Revolution Connecticut’s war effort was directed from the War Office on the Green and Governor Jonathan Trumbull Sr.’s house beside it, and the Green, one of the largest in the nation and still partly farmed, remains the site of many prominent past citizens’ homes. Agriculture has been the town’s focus since Joseph Trumbull brought livestock farming in 1704. The principal communities are Lebanon Center, Goshen Hill, Liberty Hill, Exeter and Leonard Bridge.
A Lebanon house from before 1940 may be a timber-framed farmhouse built around a large masonry chimney. Its walls may have no regular cavities to fill, its attic floor is thin or bare, and its cellar has a fieldstone wall and a sill open to the wind. The attic and cellar come first in these houses, and walls only where there is a cavity to fill and the wiring has been checked; live knob-and-tube is retired before any wall is insulated.
The 1960s and 70s built ranches, raised ranches and capes. A ranch loses heat through a long attic of settled fill and the holes cut through its ceiling; a raised ranch at its rim joist and the room over its garage; a cape behind its knee walls. The 1980s colonials and contemporaries have insulated walls but unsealed attics, cathedral ceilings and skylight wells, and the houses built in the 2000s tend to have ductwork in the attic and a bonus room over the garage.
Wood heat and the insulation around it
A wood stove heats the room it stands in first and the rest of the house by whatever path the warm air finds. In a leaky house that path runs up the stairs and out through the attic, so the stove room is hot, the far bedrooms are cold and the woodpile shrinks fast. Sealing and insulating the attic keeps that heat in the house longer, evens out the rooms and cuts the cords a winter takes. The same logic holds for the 61.1% on oil: a tighter house takes fewer deliveries.
Wood heat also sets rules for where insulation can go. A masonry chimney, or a metal chimney passing through the attic, needs its clearance to combustible material, so insulation is never packed against it. The gap where it passes through the attic floor is closed with sheet metal and fire-rated sealant, and loose-fill is held back by a noncombustible dam.
A stove also draws its air from the room. Once a house is tighter, have the stove installer or a chimney professional confirm it still drafts well, and keep carbon monoxide and smoke alarms working on every level.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through the shell; air sealing stops heat riding out on moving air. A Lebanon house needs both, in that order.
In a 1970s Lebanon ranch heated partly by a stove, the attic comes first. Clear the old fill back from the top plates, the light boxes, the plumbing vent and the bath fan, and seal each one; flash the gap around the chimney and dam the fill away from it; weatherstrip and insulate the hatch; set baffles at the eaves so the vents stay open. Downstairs, seal and insulate the rim joist where the house meets its foundation. Only then is the attic blown to depth.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Lebanon
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a Lebanon ranch or raised ranch the price follows the attic area, the bypasses to seal, the rim joist and any room over a garage; in a 1980s house, the cathedral ceilings and skylight wells as well; in a farmhouse, how much of the house has cavities worth filling and what the wiring allows. Spray foam pricing is on a separate page.
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 Lebanon
Lebanon has no gas company. Its electricity is split between Eversource, which names Lebanon on its list of electric towns, and Bozrah Light & Power, a municipal utility and Groton Utilities subsidiary that serves part of the town. Neither publishes how the town divides, so check the name on the electric bill.
If Bozrah Light & Power sends the bill, Energize Connecticut refers you to your own utility, and with no gas company in town there is no gas account to ask about. Bozrah Light & Power and Groton Utilities share a Home Energy Savings Program, a free comprehensive in-home energy assessment to which all residential electric customers are entitled, with air sealing, duct testing and sealing, water-saving and LED measures and incentives for insulation upgrades. The attic insulation rebate pays up to $2.00 per square foot for R-38 or $2.50 per square foot for R-49, but only if the home has electric heat and/or central air conditioning, which leaves out a wood- or oil-heated house without central air. The limit is $5,000 for a single-family home and $2,000 for a condominium or apartment. The inspection comes before installation, a licensed contractor must install it, and it is one rebate per account. No program dates are published, so ask the utility for current terms.
If Eversource sends the bill, Home Energy Solutions is open to you. The program takes customers of Eversource, United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, whatever fuel heats the house, for homes of one to four units without its services in the past six years. An authorized Home Energy Solutions contractor does the visit for a $40 copay, effective 1 April 2026: health and safety tests, a blower-door test, a duct test where there is forced hot air or central air, and up to seven hours of air sealing at no cost, with $10 an hour after that. The program runs on available funding, and there can be a wait.
The 2026 Energize CT insulation rebate then pays up to $2.00 per square foot or 75% of the total cost, whichever is less, to one maximum of $10,000, on attic floors, floored-over attics, walls, basement and garage ceilings and rim joists; self-installed insulation earns $0.25 per square foot, after an inspection. Parts of Lebanon are designated environmental justice communities; the state’s map shows whether a specific address qualifies, and an address that does may see $2.50 per square foot, up to $15,000. In order, the Home Energy Solutions visit recommends the insulation, the program approves the project before installation, and an approved contractor from the Energize CT Insulation Installers Network installs it. Foam under a roof deck is not on the list of areas, so ask the program before relying on money for it.
Energize CT’s 2026–2027 figures for a five-person household: $108,669 or less qualifies for Income Eligible, with no-cost service and up to 100% of insulation costs covered; $108,670 to $144,893 for Enhanced Incentives, with a no-cost visit and up to $2.50 per square foot, though the true band depends on zip code; $144,894 and above for the standard tier.
On either utility, an owner-occupied home of one to four units can borrow through the Connecticut Green Bank’s Smart-E Loan: up to $50,000, no money down, at 6.99% APR over 5, 7 or 10 years, 7.49% over 12 and 7.99% over 15 where a lender offers it. Participating contractors arrange it, so ask yours. The Energize CT rebate is paid only on work by the program’s network installers, so ask each installer, including us, whether it is in that network, and compare prices after any rebate. Section 25C does not cover anything placed in service after 31 December 2025, so no federal tax credit applies to 2026 insulation. Our Connecticut rebate guide has more.
Code and climate in Lebanon
56.4% of Lebanon’s housing was built before 1980. Gates Hill, at 660 feet the highest point in New London County, is in Lebanon, but height does not change the zone: all of Connecticut, Lebanon included, is climate zone 5A.
New homes and additions filed since 1 October 2022 follow the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, built on the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code with Connecticut amendments. Its minimums are R-60 ceilings, with R-49 accepted where that depth continues uncompressed over the top plate at the eaves; R-30 floors; U-0.30 windows; wood-frame walls at R-30 cavity, R-20 cavity plus R-5 continuous, or R-13 cavity plus R-10 continuous; and basement walls at R-15 continuous, R-19 cavity, or R-13 cavity plus R-5 continuous. A new home is blower-door tested and must reach 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals on the prescriptive path, with no path allowing more than 5.0. The state has adopted a draft of its next code, based on the 2024 IECC, but the effective date has been delayed.
For an attic already in place, the target comes from the rebates: R-49 or more under Energize CT, R-38 or R-49 under Bozrah Light & Power.
Common questions about insulation in Lebanon
Do you install insulation in Lebanon, CT?
Yes, in Lebanon Center, Goshen Hill, Liberty Hill, Exeter, Leonard Bridge and the hills between them. Our Lebanon work covers the ranches, raised ranches and capes of the 1960s and 70s, 29.0% of the town, colonials and contemporaries from the 1980s, houses from the 2000s, and old farmhouses, where the attic and cellar come first. A two- to four-family building is scoped whole. A house heated by a wood stove gets the same scope, with the chimney clearances kept.
How much does insulation cost in Lebanon?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A ranch or raised ranch is priced on its attic area, bypasses, rim joist and any room over the garage. A 1980s house adds its cathedral ceilings and skylight wells, and a 2000s house its attic ductwork and bonus room. A farmhouse is priced on the attic, the cellar and whatever wall cavities are worth filling once the wiring is checked. There is no charge to look, and the scope and price come in writing.
Are there insulation rebates in Lebanon?
Yes, and the electric bill decides which. Bozrah Light & Power customers get a free Home Energy Savings assessment, and its attic rebate of up to $2.50 per square foot at R-49 applies only to homes with electric heat or central air. Eversource customers use Energize Connecticut: a $40 Home Energy Solutions visit, then up to $2.00 per square foot or 75% of cost for recommended, pre-approved work by a network installer, with more for income-qualified households. No federal credit applies in 2026.
We heat our Lebanon house mostly with a wood stove. Will insulation make a difference?
Yes, and you will see it at the woodpile. A stove heats its own room well and loses much of the rest of its heat up the stairs and out through a leaky attic, which is why far bedrooms stay cold. Sealing and insulating the attic keeps that heat in the house and evens out the rooms, so a winter takes fewer cords. The insulation has to keep its clearance from the chimney, with the gap closed by sheet metal and fire-rated sealant, and the stove’s draft should be checked once the house is tighter.
Free estimate in Lebanon
In a Lebanon house our free estimate starts where the heat comes from: the oil boiler or furnace, the wood stove and the chimney or stovepipe. Then the attic itself, with the depth of the fill, the top plates, the eaves and any cathedral ceiling or skylight well, and last the cellar rim and sill. We ask which utility bills the house, then put the scope and price in writing. That walk-through stands on its own: it is neither a Home Energy Solutions visit nor a Home Energy Savings assessment, and no rebate depends on it.
Phone 914-825-6824 on any day from 8am to 8pm, or fill in the contact form. The Home Insulators works from New Rochelle, NY, and its 100-plus in-house crew does the work without subcontractors.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across New London County
- Insulation contractors in Colchester
- Insulation contractors in Norwich
- Insulating older homes
- Attic insulation
- Air sealing