The Home Insulators

Insulation Contractors in Highlands, NY

Highlands is not a typical Orange County town. It holds West Point and the United States Military Academy on the Hudson, the Village of Highland Falls and the hamlet of Fort Montgomery, and its housing numbers are unusual too: only 41.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, 19.7% of units are single-family attached houses, and electricity heats 21.1% of homes.

The town has 4,240 housing units. 49.7% are single-family detached, 7.7% are in two-unit buildings, 5.4% in three- and four-unit buildings, 4.1% in buildings of five to nine, and 8.2% are mobile homes. The median unit dates from 1963. 32.0% of the stock predates 1940, 15.9% is from the 1940s and 50s, 20.4% from the 1960s and 70s, 17.5% from the 1980s and 90s, and 14.2% has gone up since 2000. Fuel oil heats 34.4% of homes, utility gas 33.3% and propane 6.2%.

So the first question in Highlands is not what the house needs but whose house it is. The Academy and the buildings of the post are run by their own facilities office. Off the post, in Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery and along US 9W and NY 218, the housing is private: houses, townhouses, two-families and mobile homes, each with an owner of its own.

The houses we insulate in Highlands

John Moore, a patentee, settled the land around 1725. During the Revolution colonial forces built Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton here to obstruct the enemy’s progress on the river, and the town itself was created from Cornwall in 1872, one of the last formed in the county. It runs along the Hudson, with Putnam County across the water, down to the Rockland County line, where parts of Bear Mountain State Park and Palisades Interstate Park reach into the town. Crow’s Nest rises near the northern line.

Where a Highland Falls or Fort Montgomery house predates 1940, the job starts with the frame and the wiring. Many houses of that age are balloon-framed, with stud bays open from the basement to the attic, plaster walls with nothing in them and knob-and-tube that has to be dealt with before anything goes into a wall. The attic floor leaks at the chimney and the wall tops, and a porch or kitchen added later has its own cold floor and its own small attic. On a lot that slopes toward the river, one basement wall may stand mostly above grade, and that bare concrete or block loses heat like an outside wall.

The 1950s added 11.7% of the stock and the 1970s 13.1%, mostly capes, ranches and raised ranches. A cape leaks behind its knee walls, a ranch through a long attic of settled fill over unsealed top plates, and a raised ranch through its bare rim joist and the bedroom over the garage.

The 835 attached units raise their own questions. In a row of townhouses the attic may run across several units with little between them, so sealing one unit’s attic floor does not stop the air moving along the row. We look for the party wall in the attic first, and where the roof or the attic belongs to an association, the decision about it sits with the association rather than one unit owner. The 349 mobile homes are a different assembly again: the heat goes through a torn belly under the floor and leaking ducts before it goes through the roof.

Who decides at West Point, Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery

The United States Military Academy and the buildings of the West Point military base are run by their own facilities office. If you live on the post and your quarters are cold or drafty, the envelope is not yours to change; that question goes to whoever manages your housing.

The Village of Highland Falls sits on the Hudson in the eastern part of the town, and the hamlet of Fort Montgomery sits on the river bank. Their houses, two-families and townhouses have attics, rims, knee walls and party walls, and owners who decide what happens to them.

With 41.6% of homes owner-occupied, many households in the town rent. If you rent in Highland Falls or Fort Montgomery, your landlord decides whether the building is insulated. Income-eligible renters of one- to four-family homes can apply to EmPower+ themselves, which is covered below, and the owner of a two-family or a three- or four-unit building can use Comfort Home the way a homeowner can.

We seal before we insulate

Insulation slows heat through a surface. It does not stop the air that leaks around it. In an electrically heated Highlands house that leaking air is billed by the kilowatt-hour, and more insulation laid over open gaps will not change the bill much.

In an old Highland Falls house we work from the bottom up: seal the sill where the frame meets the foundation, close the bottoms of the stud bays and seal the rim, then in the attic close the tops of the same bays, seal the chimney with sheet metal and fire-rated sealant, the plumbing stack and the hatch. Where the house has electric baseboard, we also seal the electrical boxes and wire holes in the outside walls. Then the walls get dense-packed, and the attic floor is brought to depth last.

If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.

What insulation costs in Highlands

Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a pre-1940 house the number follows the wall area, the stud bays to close, the wiring and any additions. In a townhouse it follows the attic area of that one unit and how much work the party wall needs. In a post-war cape or ranch it is the attic, the knee walls and the rim, and in a mobile home the belly and ducts. A basement wall standing above grade on a sloping lot adds foam at the wall as well as at the rim.

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 Highlands

Orange & Rockland supplies electricity to the whole town. Gas is split. In the Village of Highland Falls, gas comes from Central Hudson, so electric and gas come from different companies. Outside the village, Fort Montgomery included, the town has little or no utility gas service. Your bills settle what you have.

For programs the electric bill decides, so a Highland Falls house on Central Hudson gas is still in the Orange & Rockland lane. Orange & Rockland publishes no insulation dollar amount of its own; it points customers to NYSERDA’s Comfort Home and EmPower+ programs and its Sealed home-upgrade program.

NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program pays $2,500 toward sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, $3,000 if walls and floors are added, and $2,000 more toward ENERGY STAR windows, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor. It covers market-rate one- to four-family homes that pay the System Benefits Charge, townhomes and manufactured homes included, but not condominiums in buildings of more than four units. The home must meet the conditions of the whole package, and knob-and-tube wiring can block eligibility. Comfort Home is open in 2026 and closes when the new utility programs start around January 2027, so a homeowner who wants it should not wait.

NYSERDA’s EmPower+ serves income-eligible owners and renters. It can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households, or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households, through an EmPower+ contractor, for a primary residence. In Orange County the no-cost tier runs to $51,675 for one person and $80,160 for four; the half-cost tier runs below $68,900 and $106,880.

For the 21.1% of homes on electric heat, a heat pump may be the next step, and New York’s heat pump program is moving to reward, and from 2028 require, a sealed and insulated house before it pays for one, so insulate first. Every program pays through its own participating contractors; check eligibility and approved contractors on the MyEnergy portal before you sign. The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, so there is no federal credit on a 2026 job, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. Details are in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.

Code and climate in Highlands

68.3% of the housing in Highlands was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, and the old village houses and the post-war capes and ranches were all built without it. Orange County is Climate Zone 5.

New homes are now built to the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State, in force since 31 December 2025: R-49 ceilings, or R-38 across the whole ceiling where it keeps full height over the wall top plate at the eaves; R-30 floors; basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; windows at U-0.27; and air leakage no higher than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.

An existing house is handled differently. Parts you leave unaltered need not comply, New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home, and cavities the work exposes must be insulated to full depth. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an attic with no insulation and R-49 for one that already has 3 to 4 inches.

Common questions about insulation in Highlands

Do you install insulation in Highlands, NY?

Yes. We insulate in the Village of Highland Falls, the hamlet of Fort Montgomery and along US 9W and NY 218: pre-1940 balloon-framed houses, 32.0% of the town’s stock, post-war capes and ranches, townhouses, two-families and mobile homes. A mobile or manufactured home is put together differently, with no ordinary stud cavity to fill and no walk-in attic, so a phone call settles what a particular one needs. The Military Academy and the buildings of the West Point post are run by their own facilities office, and decisions about those buildings are made there.

How much does insulation cost in Highlands?

Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. An old village house is priced on wall area, the stud bays to close and the wiring. A townhouse is priced on its own attic and how much the party wall needs. A cape or ranch is priced on the attic, knee walls and rim joist, and a mobile home on the belly and ducts. You get a written scope and a price after a free walk-through.

Are there insulation rebates in Highlands?

Yes. Highlands is Orange & Rockland electric territory, including homes on Central Hudson gas in Highland Falls, so market-rate homes of one to four units, townhomes included, can use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home: $2,500 for the attic and rim joist or $3,000 with walls and floors, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor, until new utility programs start around January 2027. Income-eligible owners and renters can use EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation tax credit.

Our house in Highland Falls has electric baseboard heat. Is insulating it worth it?

Usually, yes. Electric resistance heat puts every leak straight onto the electric bill, and 21.1% of homes in the town heat that way. Seal first: the attic floor, the rim joist, and the outlets, switch boxes and wire holes on outside walls, which are easy to miss. Then insulate the attic and, in an old house, the walls. If a heat pump is in your future, the smaller heat loss also means a smaller system.

Free energy audit in Highlands

In an old house we start in the basement at the sill, the rim and any wall standing above grade, check the wiring, then go up to the attic and the wall tops. In a townhouse we find the party wall in the attic. In a mobile home we look underneath first. In an electrically heated house we check the outside-wall outlets. You get a written scope and a price, with no charge and no obligation, and if someone else has to approve the work on your building, we tell you on the phone.

Call 914-825-6824 or use the contact form. We are open 8am–8pm, seven days, working out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.

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