Edison’s largest housing cohort is not the post-war one. 33.2% of the township’s 38,057 units went up in the 1980s and 90s, 23.7% in the 1980s alone, and that decade built colonials with the air handler in the attic, townhouse rows with open party walls, and garden apartments by the hundred. The 1960s and 70s account for 29.4%, the 1940s and 50s for 20.7%, 6.6% predates 1940, and 10.0% has gone up since 2000. The median Edison unit dates from 1974.
Half the stock, 50.0%, is detached houses. 10.9% is attached, 4,142 townhouse and duplex units, and 10.9% again sits in buildings of ten to nineteen units. 61.0% of occupied units are owner-occupied. Gas heats 83.9%, electricity 10.6% and oil 2.5%.
So Edison is two jobs: the pre-1980 house, 56.8% of the township, built with no insulation requirement, and the 1980s house that has insulation and still loses the heat around it.
The houses we insulate in Edison
Edison was Raritan Township until 1954, cut from Piscataway and Woodbridge in 1870, and it wraps around Metuchen on every side. Its oldest village is Piscatawaytown, centered on St. James Church and the Common in South Edison, and the colonial-era Laing House and Homestead Farm at Oak Ridge are on the National Register. The pre-1940 stock is 6.6% of the township, 2,508 units, and in it we assume balloon framing and knob-and-tube wiring until we see otherwise: the top of every stud bay gets blocked before the attic floor is sealed, and old wiring comes out first.
The 1940s and 50s built 20.7% of Edison, 17.0% in the 1950s alone, the decade the Menlo Park Mall opened on Route 1 and the decade after Camp Kilmer took 1,500 acres of Edison and Piscataway for the Army. Those are capes and small ranches, in the older sections around Piscatawaytown, Stelton, Bonhamtown, Clara Barton and Lindenau. The cape fails at the knee wall: a short stud wall with batts on the room side, no air barrier behind, joist bays under it open to the eave, unbaffled slopes and a shallow flat attic above. The ranch fails across one long attic of settled loose-fill, the bath fan blowing into it and the top plates open at every interior wall.
The 1960s and 70s built 29.4%, 17.9% of it in the 1960s. That is the split-level and the bi-level. The split has a bedroom over the garage with open joist bays under it, a cantilevered bay, and a half-flight attic that was blown once and has settled since. The bi-level puts the family room and a bedroom at grade behind a foundation wall that was never insulated, with the rim joist above it open to the garage. In both, the recessed lights and the plumbing walls run straight into the attic.
North Edison sits on the Perth Amboy Moraine, the arc of hills the ice sheet left across the township, with the highest ground on Grandview Avenue at about 220 feet. Houses on those slopes often have walk-out lower levels, a wall half below grade and half exposed, and the exposed half is where the heat goes. Down toward the Raritan the ground runs to sea level, and a basement that has taken water gets a different scope: seal and insulate the first-floor deck from below, and no closed-cell foam on a wall that floods.
The 1980s house: insulated, and still cold
23.7% of Edison was built in the 1980s and 9.5% in the 1990s, the biggest building run in the township’s history, and it went up under the energy subcode that took effect on 1 January 1978. Those colonials and townhouses have R-11 to R-13 batts in the walls and R-19 to R-30 in the attic. Blowing more into the walls is not the job. What was never done is the sealing: the top plates, the flue chase, the recessed cans, the soffit drops over the kitchen cabinets, the rim, and above all the air handler, which in a 1980s Edison colonial sits in the vented attic on a plywood platform with the ducts beside it. Duct leakage in an attic heats the attic. Sealing the ducts and the platform, baffling the tray-ceiling slopes, closing the garage ceiling under the bonus room and venting the bath fans outside is where the savings sit.
The 4,142 attached units add the party wall. In a townhouse row the wall between units runs up into the attic and is usually open at the top, so one unit’s attic air crosses to the next; the wall was built for fire, not for air. We close it at the attic plate on your side. If the row is a condominium, the attic and roof may belong to the association, and the first call is to its manager. A fee-simple townhouse is yours to the ridge. The garden apartments and the larger buildings belong to a landlord or a board, and their flat roofs and shared mechanicals are not a job we can sell one tenant.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through a surface. It does nothing about air moving through a gap. Add R-30 on top of an attic floor with forty open bypasses and you have a thicker blanket over the same holes.
In an Edison split-level the sequence is: seal the top plates and the plumbing and flue chases at the upper attic, seal the recessed lights and vent the bath fan outside, close the joist bays under the bedroom over the garage and seal the garage ceiling, then the rim joist and the cantilever. Then insulate: the upper attic to R-49, the garage ceiling, the rim. In a 1980s colonial it starts at the air handler platform and the duct joints. In a cape it starts at the knee walls.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Edison
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In Edison’s splits and bi-levels the number moves with the garage ceiling and the cantilever, the count of bypasses in the upper attic, and whether the lower-level foundation wall is in the scope. In the 1980s colonial it moves with duct footage and the ceiling area over the tray and cathedral slopes rather than the walls. A townhouse is usually a smaller job: the party wall at the attic, the attic plane, the rim. Our spray foam cost page breaks the foam side down.
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. After air sealing and insulating, homeowners typically save 20% or more on heating and cooling.
Insulation rebates in Edison
Edison’s electricity is PSE&G. Its gas is split: Elizabethtown Gas serves roughly two-thirds of the township and PSE&G the other third. 83.9% of Edison heats with gas, so the gas bill is the one being lowered. Begin with the utility that bills your heating fuel and confirm with the other; a house with two utilities can go through either one’s Whole Home program, and the gas programs require gas heat.
For an Elizabethtown Gas home, Elizabethtown Gas Whole Home Energy Solutions pays up to $7,500 in rebates per project, $2,000 for a modeled saving of five percent plus $200 for every percentage point above that, never more than half the project cost, plus interest-free on-bill repayment of $2,500 to $25,000 over up to seven or ten years. It requires an active Elizabethtown Gas account and gas heat, in a house, townhome, condo or building under four units, and a contractor participating in the program. Its Whole Home Energy Assessment walk-through is free.
For a PSE&G gas home, or through the PSE&G electric account, PSE&G Whole Home Energy Solutions offers up to $7,500 in rebates plus interest-free on-bill repayment of up to $25,000 over seven or ten years. It starts with a home energy assessment by a BPI-certified contractor participating in PSE&G’s program; the contractor sets the assessment fee, and PSE&G does not publish what each measure pays. Separately, PSE&G’s Whole Home Energy Assessment is a free walk-through with small items installed on the spot, for any PSE&G residential customer in a home of fewer than five units.
Below the rebates sit the no-cost programs. PSE&G Home Weatherization and Elizabethtown Gas Home Weatherization for Income-Qualified Customers install insulation, air sealing and duct sealing at no cost between 250% and 400% of the federal poverty guidelines, $82,501 to $132,000 for a family of four in 2026. New Jersey Comfort Partners does the same at or below 250%, $82,500 for a family of four; the 2.5% of Edison that heats with oil is referred to the state’s Office of Weatherization instead. New Jersey’s IRA Home Energy Rebates have not launched — the state’s page says they are in development and not open for applications.
The federal Section 25C tax credit ended for anything placed in service after 31 December 2025. There is no federal insulation credit on a 2026 job, and a contractor still advertising one is quoting last year’s rules. The full picture is in our rebate guide.
Code and climate in Edison
56.8% of Edison’s units went up before 1980, most of them before New Jersey’s first statewide energy subcode of 1 January 1978, so the 1950s cape and the 1960s split were built with no insulation requirement at all. Middlesex County is climate zone 4A, with Monmouth, Union and Mercer; Somerset, across the Raritan, is 5A.
New Jersey adopted the 2024 IECC on 17 August 2026. For new construction it sets R-49 ceilings — the 2021 edition it replaced called for R-60, and a complete permit application filed under the old code is still accepted until about 16 February 2027 — with walls at R-30 in the cavity or R-20 plus R-5 continuous, windows at U-0.30 in the 4A counties, and air leakage of 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals. R-49 is the number the state considers right for this climate, and it is what we design to.
Existing homes fall under New Jersey’s Rehabilitation Subcode. Insulating an attic does not require bringing the rest of the house to code and does not require a blower-door test. Blown-in or batt insulation installed against the interior finish is ordinary maintenance with no permit; spray foam and other foam plastic insulation need a permit, which we pull as part of the job.
Common questions about insulation in Edison
Do you install insulation in Edison, NJ?
Yes: the 1950s capes and ranches of the older sections around Piscatawaytown, Stelton and Bonhamtown, the 1960s and 70s splits and bi-levels that make up 29.4% of the township, the 1980s colonials with the air handler in the attic, and the 4,142 attached townhouse and duplex units. We do not work on the garden apartments or the larger buildings, where the roof belongs to a landlord or a board.
How much does insulation cost in Edison?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. In a split or bi-level the drivers are the garage ceiling and cantilever, the number of bypasses in the upper attic and whether the lower-level wall is included. In a 1980s colonial it is duct footage and the area over sloped and tray ceilings, since the walls are already full. A townhouse is usually the party wall, the attic plane and the rim. Written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Edison?
Yes. Edison’s electric is PSE&G and its gas is Elizabethtown Gas in about two-thirds of the township and PSE&G in the rest. Both run Whole Home Energy Solutions with up to $7,500 in rebates and interest-free on-bill repayment of up to $25,000; start with the utility that bills your heating fuel. Comfort Partners does the work at no cost at or below 250% of the federal poverty guidelines. New Jersey’s IRA rebates have not launched, and the federal 25C credit ended for anything placed in service after 31 December 2025.
Our Edison colonial was built in 1986 and the upstairs is still cold. Does it need more insulation?
Probably not in the walls, which were batted to the code of the day. Almost always in the attic, and not as depth first. The air handler and ducts sit in the vented attic, so every duct joint leaks conditioned air outside the insulation; the recessed cans and the plumbing wall are open to the attic; the tray and cathedral slopes were never baffled. Seal the ducts and the platform, seal the bypasses, baffle the slopes, then bring the flat to R-49. Another six inches of loose-fill alone does not fix it.
Free energy audit in Edison
We check the depth and condition of what is in the attic, find the air handler and follow the ducts, look behind any knee walls, check the garage ceiling under a bedroom or bonus room, then the lower level and the rim. In a townhouse we look at the party wall where it meets the attic. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use the contact form. Open 8am–8pm, seven days. We work out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew, and we hold manufacturer installer certifications from the spray foam makers we use.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Middlesex County
- Insulation contractors in Woodbridge
- Insulation contractors in Metuchen
- Insulation contractors in Piscataway
- New York and New Jersey insulation rebates in full
- Duct insulation
- Air sealing