27.1% of Ellington’s 6,753 housing units have been built since 2000: 1,020 in the 2000s and 807 in the 2010s. The median home dates from 1982. The farm town is still visible, with 13.5% of the stock from before 1940, but entering this century Ellington had the sixth fastest growth rate of any Connecticut town.
The rest of the stock spreads evenly: 12.0% from the 1940s and 50s, 22.3% from the 1960s and 70s and 25.1% from the 1980s and 90s. 69.6% of units are detached houses, 5.0% attached, and 11.3%, or 763 units, sit in buildings of five to nine. Owners occupy 70.8% of homes. Heating is unusually mixed: fuel oil or kerosene 38.1%, electricity 25.6%, utility gas 24.7% and bottled gas 7.7%.
That mix of fuels and ages means Ellington jobs vary more than in most towns. An oil-heated 1960s ranch near the center, an electrically heated 2010s colonial in a newer subdivision, and a former summer place near Crystal Lake each fail in different spots, and each pays back on a different fuel bill.
The houses we insulate in Ellington
The 914 homes built before 1940 are farmhouses and village houses from a town that stayed agricultural into the modern era and still raises cattle and corn. Farmhouses were often enlarged in stages, so the attic over the original block, the attic over the ell and the space over a converted shed or carriage barn are three separate spaces with three separate problems. Walls are usually empty or hold a little old fill, framing is often balloon style, and the sill often sits on a fieldstone foundation that leaks air all winter. We seal the sill and rim from the cellar, seal and insulate each attic in turn, and fill walls only where the wiring has been checked.
The 583 homes of the 1950s and 550 of the 1960s are capes and ranches, with 955 more from the 1970s, when raised ranches and splits took over. The cape leaks behind its knee walls and through open floor bays; the ranch through a long attic of settled insulation; the raised ranch at its above-grade rim and at the garage ceiling under a bedroom.
The 930 homes of the 1980s and 767 of the 1990s are mostly colonials, some with a bonus room over the garage that runs cold in January. Their walls are insulated. Their attic top plates, chases and recessed lights usually are not sealed.
Ellington’s Crystal Lake section, in the town’s eastern panhandle, was for a while a popular summer resort. A house anywhere near the water that began as a seasonal place and became a year-round home tends to show it: a floor over a crawl space or piers, rafters with little room for insulation, and additions that each met a different standard. Those are scoped from underneath first, where the floor and the crawl space are, then up to the roof.
On the fuel side, the 38.1% of homes on oil pay for every leak in delivered gallons and usually see the quickest return from sealing. The 25.6% on electricity may be older baseboard heat, where every leak runs the meter, or a newer heat pump with its ductwork in the attic.
Built since 2000: what a newer Ellington house still needs
Ellington has spent the last quarter century changing from a rural farming town into a suburban community, and the 1,827 homes built in the 2000s and 2010s are the result. They were insulated to the codes of their day, which is a long way ahead of a 1960s ranch. There is usually still work, in predictable places.
The first is the attic that holds equipment. Central air, and in newer houses a heat pump air handler, is often installed in the attic, with ducts running over and through the insulation. Every duct joint, register boot and the air handler’s own cabinet can leak conditioned air into an attic that is hot in summer and near freezing in winter. The fix is sealing the boots and joints and burying the ducts deeper, or bringing the attic inside the envelope with foam at the roof deck.
The second is the bonus room over the garage. The builder insulated its floor, walls and ceiling, but the kneewall attics beside it and the floor edge where it overhangs the garage wall are rarely sealed, and the garage below is open to outdoor air. The third is the rim joist, which many builders still filled with a loose batt that stops very little air. The fourth is the basement a family finishes years later, where the concrete walls behind the new drywall were never insulated.
None of that is a whole-house job. What it fixes is the cold room, the hot room and the upstairs that never matches the thermostat.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation resists heat moving through a surface. It does not stop air moving through a gap, and warm air leaking out of a house takes its heat with it, whatever depth of insulation lies nearby.
In a 2000s Ellington colonial the sequence is: seal the register boots, duct joints and air handler in the attic; seal the top plates, recessed lights and attic hatch; seal the kneewall attics beside the bonus room and close the open floor bays under it; then insulate the rim joist in the basement with closed cell foam; then add depth wherever the attic is still short.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Ellington
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A newer colonial needing duct sealing, a bonus room and the rim joist usually sits in the lower half. A 1970s raised ranch is priced on attic area, above-grade rim and garage ceiling. A pre-1940 farmhouse with several attics, a fieldstone cellar and empty walls sits higher, as does a lake house that needs its floor and crawl space done from below.
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 Ellington
Eversource supplies Ellington’s electricity and is also the town’s gas company. Home Energy Solutions is open to customers of Eversource, United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, whatever fuel heats the house, so an Ellington household on oil, propane, electricity or gas can apply through its Eversource account. The program suits homes of one to four units, a renter needs the landlord’s approval, and a home that received program services in the last six years has to wait.
The standard Home Energy Solutions visit costs a $40 copay, effective 1 April 2026. The program’s authorized contractor runs health and safety tests, a blower-door test that pinpoints drafts and air leaks, and a duct test if the house has forced hot air or central air conditioning. Up to seven hours of air sealing are provided at no cost, with a $10 hourly fee beyond that for larger or older homes. There may be a waiting list, and the program is subject to available funding.
After the visit comes the 2026 Energize CT insulation rebate: up to $2.00 per square foot or 75 percent of the total cost, whichever is less, up to a maximum of $10,000. The qualifying areas are attic floors, floored-over attics, walls, basement and garage ceilings and rim joists; a garage ceiling must start at R-6 or less and finish at R-19 or more. Foam on the underside of a roof deck is not on the list, so ask the program before counting on a rebate for an attic brought inside with roof-deck foam. The insulation must be recommended during a Home Energy Solutions visit and approved before installation, and the work must be performed by an approved contractor from the Energize CT Insulation Installers Network.
Income tiers can add more. On Energize CT’s 2026–2027 figures, a household of six earning $123,658 or less is Income Eligible, with no-cost service and up to 100 percent coverage of insulation costs. From $123,659 to $164,879 it is in Enhanced Incentives, with a no-cost visit and up to $2.50 per square foot, on default limits that vary by zip code. At $164,880 or more it is the standard program. Parts of Ellington are designated environmental justice communities; the state’s map shows whether a specific address qualifies, and inside one the incentive can reach $2.50 per square foot, up to $15,000.
The Energize CT rebate is paid only on work by the program’s network installers. Ask any installer who quotes, including us, whether they are in that network, and compare prices after any rebate before you decide. Smart-E, from the Connecticut Green Bank, pays for the work over time with no money down: up to $50,000 on owner-occupied homes of one to four units, condominiums included if individually metered, at 6.99% APR on 5-, 7- and 10-year terms, 7.49% on 12 years and 7.99% on 15 where a lender offers it. The Green Bank works through participating contractors, and a Home Energy Solutions visit is suggested but not generally required for the loan. The federal Section 25C credit does not help in 2026: nothing placed in service after 31 December 2025 qualifies. Our Connecticut rebate guide has the details.
Code and climate in Ellington
47.8% of Ellington’s housing was built before 1980. The town is in climate zone 5A, the zone for every Connecticut county.
Since 1 October 2022, applications for new homes and additions have fallen under the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, which is the 2021 IECC with state amendments. It asks for R-60 overhead, satisfied by R-49 where that depth continues uncompressed over the top plate at the eaves; R-30 under floors; windows at U-0.30; walls built one of four ways, R-30 in the cavity, R-20 cavity with R-5 continuous, R-13 with R-10 continuous, or R-20 continuous; and basement walls at R-15 continuous, R-19 cavity, or R-13 cavity plus R-5 continuous. The finished house is also tested with a blower door: 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals on the prescriptive path, and no worse than 5.0 on any path. The draft of Connecticut’s next code, based on the 2024 IECC, has been adopted, but its effective date has been delayed.
Common questions about insulation in Ellington
Do you install insulation in Ellington, CT?
Yes, throughout Ellington: Ellington Center, Crystal Lake, Sadd’s Mill, Windermere and the newer subdivisions. The work runs across every era, from pre-1940 farmhouses with fieldstone cellars to 1960s and 70s ranches and raised ranches, 1980s and 90s colonials, and the 27.1% of homes built since 2000, where the job is usually attic ducts, a bonus room and the rim joist. Former summer places near the lake are scoped from the crawl space up.
How much does insulation cost in Ellington?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A newer house that needs attic duct sealing, bonus room work and closed cell foam at the rim joist often lands in the lower half. A raised ranch is priced on its attic, above-grade rim and garage ceiling. A farmhouse with several attics and open walls, or a lake house worked from below, sits higher. A written scope and price follow a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Ellington?
Yes. Ellington’s electricity and gas both come from Eversource, and either account can book Energize Connecticut’s Home Energy Solutions visit, which costs $40 on the standard tier. That visit is where insulation gets recommended; the project is then approved before installation, and the installer must be in the Energize CT Insulation Installers Network. The standard rebate is up to $2.00 a square foot or 75 percent of cost, whichever is lower, with a $10,000 ceiling. Lower income tiers and mapped environmental justice areas can get more. There is no federal credit for 2026.
Our Ellington house was built in 2006. Does it really need anything?
Often something, rarely everything. A house from 2006 has insulated walls and a reasonable attic, so a full retrofit is not the job. The usual weak points are ducts and an air handler in the attic leaking at their joints, a bonus room over the garage with unsealed kneewall attics and floor edges, a rim joist holding only a loose batt, and a finished basement whose concrete walls were never insulated. A blower-door test or a walk-through shows which apply. If only one room is uncomfortable, start there.
Free estimate in Ellington
Our free estimate is our own inspection and price. It is not the Home Energy Solutions visit, and no rebate depends on it. In a newer house we go into the attic to look at the ducts and air handler, then the bonus room kneewalls and the basement rim. In an older house we start in the cellar at the sill and work up to each attic. You get a written scope and price, with no charge and no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824, 8am–8pm, seven days, or use the contact form. We work out of New Rochelle, NY, with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Tolland County
- Somers, Ellington’s neighbor to the north
- Stafford, which borders Ellington to the east
- Enfield, bordering Ellington in Hartford County
- Garage and bonus room insulation
- Basement insulation
- What spray foam costs