60.8% of the 8,019 homes in Dix Hills were built in the 1960s and 70s, 37.0% in the 1960s alone, and another 21.6% in the 1980s and 90s. The median home dates from 1970, 95.4% are detached houses, and 96.8% of occupied homes are lived in by their owners, with a median value of $891,400. Houses of that era and value are often large, and size changes the job: more attic, more roof lines, more ductwork, and in many houses more than one attic.
Dix Hills is a hamlet on the southern edge of the Town of Huntington, bordering the Town of Babylon, with the Long Island Expressway running almost straight through its middle. It buys its electricity from PSEG Long Island, and most of Dix Hills is on National Grid gas lines, though not every street. 58.6% of occupied homes heat with utility gas, 35.9% with fuel oil and 3.2% with electricity.
The houses we insulate in Dix Hills
The Secatogue traded the land to settlers in 1699, and it was known as Dick’s Hills, by lore after a local man named Dick Pechegan whose wigwam and fields gave the hilly area its name; it was “Dix Hills” by 1911. It stayed mostly farmland until after the Second World War. One house marks the turn: in 1941 the developer J. Franklin Bradley bought a ranch house shown at the World of Tomorrow exhibit of the 1939 World’s Fair and rebuilt it, to its original specifications, in his new Dix Hills development. 1.0% of today’s homes predate 1940, 1.6% date from the 1940s and 11.1% from the 1950s.
The 1960s built 2,971 homes, mostly long ranches, high ranches, splits and the first two-story center-hall colonials. A colonial of that decade has an attic over the second floor and often a separate one over the attached garage, joined to the house by a wall that was framed like an interior partition. It often has a family room fireplace with a damper that no longer closes tight, a stair and a plumbing chase running floor to attic, and a rim joist between floors that is buried inside the walls.
The 1970s added 1,905 homes, and the contemporary joins the colonial. Cathedral ceilings, clerestory windows, skylights, a loft with a knee wall and a low-slope roof section over a family room are all common in houses of that decade. A cathedral ceiling holds its insulation in the rafter bays with the ceiling finish below and the roof deck above, and very often no vent space or air barrier in between; every recessed light and every beam that passes through the ceiling is an open path into those bays.
The 1980s added 12.0% of the stock and the 1990s 9.6%, mostly large colonials with two-story foyers and family rooms, tray ceilings, bonus rooms over two- and three-car garages, and two heating and cooling zones with an air handler in the attic. Their walls are full; the losses are overhead. The tall foyer or family room wall often faces an attic space with nothing on its attic side but paper-faced batts, and the ducts serving the second floor run through an attic that is outdoors in all but name.
The hills matter too. Where a house sits on a slope, the lower level can be buried on one side and fully exposed on the other, with a framed or block wall above grade and a rim joist that steps up and down with the ground. That exposed side is a wall like any other and gets treated as one.
Going electric in Dix Hills: the envelope comes before the heat pump
Dix Hills had Long Island’s highest number of electric vehicles on the road by ZIP code as of 2023. An electric car in the garage often starts the next conversation, about solar panels, a heat pump, or retiring the oil burner that still heats 35.9% of the hamlet’s homes. The order of that work matters more in a large house than in a small one.
A heat pump is sized to the heat a house loses on the coldest day, and a 1970s contemporary with open cathedral bays and ducts in a vented attic loses a great deal. Seal and insulate first, and the same house needs smaller equipment, which costs less to buy and runs longer, steadier cycles. The panel is part of the same question: a car charger and a whole-house heat pump both draw on the electrical service, and a smaller heat pump leaves more of that capacity for everything else. And leaky ducts in an attic waste part of any heat pump’s output, so they get sealed with the attic.
PSEG Long Island runs heat pump rebates separately from its insulation program; ask it for current amounts. Its home performance program lists window rebates only when windows are installed with a whole-house cold climate air source heat pump and, at a minimum, insulation and air sealing.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows the heat that conducts through a ceiling or wall. It does nothing about air passing through a gap, and a tall house with a two-story foyer and a chimney acts like one: warm air rises and leaves through the top.
In a 1980s Dix Hills colonial the sequence is: seal the top plates, the recessed lights and the bath fans in the attic floor; put an air barrier on the attic side of the foyer or family room wall; seal the air handler platform and the return plenum and seal every duct joint with mastic; seal the wall between the garage attic and the house; weatherstrip and cover the attic access. Then insulate the attic floor to depth and seal the rim joist in the basement. In a 1970s contemporary the cathedral bays come first, sealed at the light fixtures, the beams and the ridge from wherever they can be reached.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Dix Hills
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a Dix Hills house the number moves with how many separate attic spaces there are, the attic over the garage and the one over a family room addition as well as the main one, and with the footage of ductwork to seal. A 1960s ranch with one attic sits toward the lower end. A contemporary with cathedral ceilings costs more, because slopes are slow to reach. 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 Dix Hills
Dix Hills buys its electricity from PSEG Long Island, and most of the hamlet is on National Grid gas lines; your street may differ. Because the electric company is PSEG Long Island, NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program is not available to Dix Hills homes.
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. It also lists $500 for duct sealing, and for a Dix Hills house with an air handler in the attic one rule matters: all ductwork in unconditioned space must be duct sealed. The rebates are paid through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment, which includes a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test, and the insulation must go in with comprehensive, blower-door-assisted air sealing. Gas, oil, propane and electric heat all qualify. Only PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors can deliver the rebate, so check its list before signing.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not taking new applications. Income-eligible households use EmPower+, which pays through an EmPower+ contractor for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 at the lower-income tier (at or below $98,925 for a Suffolk family of four) or half the cost up to $7,000 at the moderate-income tier (below $131,900 for four). 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, so there is no federal insulation credit on a 2026 job, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. See our New York and New Jersey rebate guide for the rest.
Code and climate in Dix Hills
74.4% of Dix Hills homes were built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. The ranches and colonials of the 1960s and most of the 1970s contemporaries went up without it; the 1980s and 90s colonials came after. Suffolk County is Climate Zone 4.
The code today is the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State, in force since 31 December 2025. For a new house it requires R-49 ceilings, or R-38 across the entire ceiling where the uncompressed R-38 runs at full height over the wall top plate at the eaves, and R-30 continuous where all of a roof’s insulation sits above the deck, the approach that suits a cathedral ceiling. Floors need R-30; basement and crawl space walls R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; windows U-0.27; and air leakage may not exceed 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
An existing home is not held to that table. 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. Where an alteration exposes roof or wall cavities, such as a cathedral ceiling opened for new lights, the exposed cavities must be 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 down.
Common questions about insulation in Dix Hills
Do you install insulation in Dix Hills, NY?
Yes. Most of our Dix Hills work is in the houses of the 1960s and 70s, 60.8% of the hamlet: long ranches, high ranches, early colonials with a separate attic over the garage, and contemporaries with cathedral ceilings and skylights. We also insulate the large 1980s and 90s colonials, where the work is the attic floor, the two-story foyer wall and the ductwork, and the lower levels of houses built into a slope.
How much does insulation cost in Dix Hills?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1960s ranch with one attic is usually at the lower end. The number rises with each separate attic space, such as the attic over the garage or over a family room, with cathedral slopes that are slow to reach, and with the length of ductwork running through the attic to seal. The walls of a 1980s or 90s colonial are already full and rarely part of the price. We give a written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Dix Hills?
Yes. Dix Hills is PSEG Long Island territory, and PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate, a $1,000 air-sealing rebate and $500 for duct sealing for market-rate single-family homes, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment. Comfort Home is not available to PSEG Long Island homes. Income-eligible households can apply to EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation credit.
Our Dix Hills contemporary has cathedral ceilings. Can they be insulated without tearing them open?
Partly. From inside we can seal what leaks into the rafter bays: recessed lights, the beams where they pass through, the ridge and the tops of interior walls. Blowing insulation into closed bays is risky when the roof relies on a vent space in those bays, because filling them can trap moisture against the deck. The real gain comes when the roof is replaced: insulation added above the deck, or closed cell foam from inside if the ceiling comes down. We look at the bays before recommending either.
Free energy audit in Dix Hills
In a Dix Hills house we go into every attic space, not just the one with the hatch: the main attic, the one over the garage and any over an addition or family room. We look at the attic side of the foyer wall, the air handlers and ducts, and the recessed lights in the cathedral ceilings. Then the basement or lower level, the rim joist, the fireplace damper and, on a sloped lot, the exposed side of the lower level. If the attic is fine and the loss is the ductwork, we 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. Based in New Rochelle, NY and family-owned since 2015, we send a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Suffolk County
- Insulation in Melville
- Insulation in Elwood
- Insulation in Commack
- Open cell and closed cell foam for cathedral ceilings
- Recommended R-values for New York homes
- Air sealing