The Home Insulators

Insulation Contractors in Hurley, NY

71.9% of occupied homes in Hurley heat with fuel oil or kerosene, the highest share among the Ulster County towns we cover, and 93.0% of them are owner-occupied, also the highest. That makes Hurley a town of owners who pay for every winter by the delivery. It lies west of the City of Kingston in the northeastern part of Ulster County, much of it inside the Catskill Park, with the Esopus Creek running through it, US 209 crossing its eastern part and NY 28 crossing it east to west.

The median unit dates from 1963, and the town is post-war at its core: 783 of its 3,184 units were built in the 1950s and 671 in the 1960s. 35.4% of the stock is 1960s and 70s and 29.8% is 1940s and 50s, against 12.8% from before 1940, 11.7% from the 1980s and 90s and 10.3% since 2000. 89.9% of units are detached houses, 2.3% sit in two-unit buildings and 137 are mobile homes. After oil, bottled propane heats 11.8% of homes, electricity 8.1% and wood 2.5%, and the town has little or no utility gas service.

The Town of Hurley takes in three hamlets, Hurley, West Hurley and Glenford, along with Old Hurley and its historic district, Morgan Hill, Riverside Park, Stony Hollow and the suburban community of Rolling Meadows on the Kingston line. Most of what we insulate here is a 1950s or 60s house burning oil, and most of what it loses goes out through the attic and the basement.

The houses we insulate in Hurley

The 783 units from the 1950s are ranches and capes. The ranch fails overhead: a long, low attic with a few inches of rock wool or loose-fill that has settled and been pushed aside around the lights, open top plates over every interior wall, a bath fan that ends in the attic, and a chimney chase open around the flue. The cape fails at its knee walls, with no air barrier behind the insulation and the floor bays running out under the eaves, and at a shallow flat attic. Both sit over a basement where the boiler lives and the rim joist has never been sealed.

The 671 units from the 1960s and 455 from the 1970s add split-levels and raised ranches. A split-level loses heat at the joint where its two halves meet, where the upper level’s floor framing runs past the lower level’s wall and into an unsealed cavity. A raised ranch loses it at the band joist between its two stories and at the garage ceiling under a bedroom. In both, the lower-level walls are often concrete block, finished over with paneling and little behind it.

The 408 units from 1939 or earlier include the stone houses that put Old Hurley’s Main Street on the National Register of Historic Places, lived in for more than 300 years, and farmhouses in the Esopus valley. A stone house has no cavity to fill, and we do not seal the inside face of old stone with foam. Its work is the garret floor or roof, the cellar and sill, the chimney and any frame wing added later. West Hurley and Glenford, villages of the bluestone quarry years, were resettled on the shore of the Ashokan Reservoir after the valley was flooded in 1917. A frame house of that age has open wall bays, an unsealed sill and, often, wiring that must be checked before any wall is filled.

Newer and smaller groups round it out: 294 units from the 1980s, 223 from 2000–2009 and 89 from the 2010s, where the work is the attic plane, the rim joist and any cathedral ceiling; and 137 mobile homes, worked from beneath at the bottom board and ducts.

Seven homes in ten on oil: seal first, then decide on the heat

With 71.9% of homes on oil, the saving from sealing and insulating comes off the oil delivery, and delivered fuel generally costs more for the same heat than utility gas does. A Hurley ranch that stops losing heat through its attic and rim joist buys less oil every winter it stands, which is why the payback here tends to be quicker than in a town on gas mains. The owner’s own delivery tickets from the last two winters are the best baseline.

Many oil-heated houses are also heading toward a heat pump, and the order matters. A heat pump is sized to the heat the house loses in the coldest weather. Size it before the sealing and insulation, and the house ends up with more equipment than it needs; size it after, and the unit is smaller and runs less often in the deep cold. The practical sequence is to seal and insulate, get a heat-loss calculation on the house as it now stands, and only then choose the equipment.

The state is pushing the same way. NYS Clean Heat, the heat pump program run through the utilities, caps its incentives at 70 percent of project cost in most places but allows up to 85 percent for projects in Central Hudson territory, which includes Hurley. And the program is moving to reward — and from 2028 require — a house that has been sealed and insulated before it pays toward a heat pump. For a Hurley owner still burning oil, insulation is the first step either way.

We seal before we insulate

Insulation holds heat back as it passes through a ceiling, a wall or a floor. Air leaving through a gap takes its heat along regardless.

In a 1950s Hurley ranch the order is: seal the rim joist and sill in the basement with closed cell foam; seal the plumbing and flue openings through the first floor; in the attic, pull back the old fill and seal the top plates, the wiring holes, the light boxes and the bath fan; close the gap around the chimney with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant; route the bath fan outdoors; weatherstrip the attic hatch; then blow the attic to depth and check the boiler’s draft once the house is tight.

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

What insulation costs in Hurley

Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a Hurley ranch the number moves with the attic area, how much old fill has to be moved or removed to seal beneath it, the length of rim joist in the basement and whether the bath fans need new ducts outside. A split-level or raised ranch adds its band joist, the joint between levels and the garage ceiling. A stone house is usually a smaller scope than its size suggests, because the stone walls stay as they are.

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 Hurley

Hurley, West Hurley and Glenford are Central Hudson electric territory, and the town has little or no utility gas service. In New York the electric bill decides which insulation programs a house can use, and for a Central Hudson customer they are NYSERDA’s Comfort Home, or EmPower+ where income qualifies.

NYSERDA’s Comfort Home pays $2,500 for sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, the work a Hurley ranch most often needs, $3,000 if walls and floors are included, and $2,000 more toward ENERGY STAR windows after the sealing and insulating. The incentive goes through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor and is for market-rate one- to four-family homes whose electric company is Con Edison, NYSEG, Central Hudson or Orange & Rockland. Comfort Home is open in 2026 and closes when the new utility programs start around January 2027, so a homeowner who wants Comfort Home money should not wait.

EmPower+, also run by NYSERDA, is for income-eligible owners and renters. In Ulster County a two-person household at or below $57,525 a year can get air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000, and one below $76,700 can get half the cost covered up to $7,000, through an EmPower+ contractor.

For the share a program does not cover, NYSERDA’s Green Jobs–Green New York program offers unsecured loans of $1,500 to $25,000 over 5, 10 or 15 years, repaid on the Central Hudson bill or as a regular monthly loan, after a no-cost energy assessment. Loans must be paid back. Every program here pays through its own participating contractors, so check eligibility and approved contractors on the MyEnergy portal. Section 25C, the federal insulation tax credit, ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, so a 2026 job carries no federal insulation credit, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. Our New York and New Jersey rebate guide covers the rest.

Code and climate in Hurley

78.0% of Hurley’s housing was built before 1980, a larger share than in any Ulster County town we cover except the City of Kingston. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, after nearly all of the town’s ranches, capes and split-levels were already standing. Ulster County is Climate Zone 6.

A house built today falls under the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State, in force since 31 December 2025, which asks for R-49 in the ceiling, or R-38 across all of it where that depth reaches uncompressed over the wall top plates at the eaves; R-30 floors; basement walls of R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous, with the same choices for crawl space walls; U-0.27 windows; and air leakage no higher than 2.5 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, stricter than the 3.0 set for Zones 4 and 5.

None of that is imposed on a house already standing. Unaltered parts need not comply, New York does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home, and any wall or roof cavity the work opens gets filled to full depth. ENERGY STAR recommends R-49 for an attic that already has 3 to 4 inches, a common starting point in a post-war ranch, and R-60 for an attic with none, in Zones 5 and 6.

Common questions about insulation in Hurley

Do you install insulation in Hurley, NY?

Yes, throughout the Town of Hurley in Ulster County: the Hurley hamlet and Old Hurley, West Hurley and Glenford on the Ashokan Reservoir, Morgan Hill, Riverside Park, Stony Hollow and Rolling Meadows by the Kingston line. Most of the work is 1950s and 60s ranches, capes and split-levels heated with oil, since 71.9% of homes burn it. We also handle raised ranches, stone houses from the garret and cellar, newer houses and mobile homes.

How much does insulation cost in Hurley?

Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. In a ranch the drivers are the attic area, how much old fill must be moved to seal the top plates, the length of basement rim joist and whether bath fans need ducting outdoors. Split-levels and raised ranches add the band joist, the joint between levels and the garage ceiling. A stone house is often a smaller job than it looks, because its walls stay untouched. The written scope and price come after a free walk-through.

Are there insulation rebates in Hurley?

Yes. Hurley is Central Hudson electric territory, so a market-rate one- to four-family home can use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home, which pays $2,500 for sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, or $3,000 with walls and floors, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor, until it closes when new utility programs start around January 2027. Income-eligible owners and renters can use EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation tax credit.

We want to replace the oil boiler in our West Hurley house with a heat pump. Should we insulate first?

Yes. A heat pump is sized to how much heat the house loses on the coldest night, so sealing and insulating first means a smaller unit that runs less in deep cold. Seal the attic and rim joist, have the heat loss calculated on the tightened house, then choose the equipment. New York’s heat pump program allows higher incentive caps in Central Hudson territory, and it is moving to reward, and from 2028 require, a sealed and insulated house before it pays toward a heat pump.

Free energy audit in Hurley

In a Hurley ranch or split we start in the basement at the boiler, the flue and the rim joist, then go up to the attic to lift the old fill at the top plates, check the bath fans and the chimney gap, and look at the knee walls or the joint between levels. If a heat pump is in your plans, we talk through the order before we write anything up. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.

Call 914-825-6824 or use the contact form; we answer 8am–8pm, seven days. The company is based in New Rochelle, NY, and its 100-plus in-house crew never subcontracts.

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