The Home Insulators

Insulation Contractors in Marbletown, NY

28.6% of Marbletown’s 3,231 housing units were built in 1939 or earlier, and another 16.5% in the 1980s alone. The town’s houses cluster at those two ends: 924 units from before 1940 and 534 from the 1980s, with thinner decades between. Marbletown sits near the center of Ulster County, southwest of the City of Kingston, at the eastern edge of the Catskill Park, with US 209 and NY 213 running through it and the Rondout Creek and Esopus Creek both crossing it.

The median unit dates from 1967. 14.0% of the stock is 1940s and 50s, 22.6% is 1960s and 70s, 25.9% is 1980s and 90s and 8.8% has been built since 2000. 85.8% of units are detached houses, 3.7% sit in buildings of three or four units and 215 are mobile homes. 87.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, and 866 units were vacant at the count, which takes in houses kept as second homes. Fuel oil or kerosene heats 57.5% of occupied homes, bottled propane 17.1%, wood 6.6%, electricity 6.1% and solar 1.3%; Marbletown has little or no utility gas service.

The area was settled around 1638, the land patent came in 1703, the town was formed in 1788, and the community of Marbletown served briefly as the state capital after the British burned Kingston. Stone Ridge on Route 209, High Falls on the Rosendale line, Kripplebush and Lyonsville near the southern line, Atwood on Route 213, Lomontville northeast of Stone Ridge, and Lapla, Pacama and The Vly make up the rest.

The houses we insulate in Marbletown

The 924 units from 1939 or earlier are stone houses, early frame farmhouses and hamlet houses, often enlarged over the years. A frame house of that age has walls with nothing in them, a sill laid on stone, plaster on lath or boards inside, and a garret floor with daylight at the eaves. The heat leaves at the sill, up the open wall bays and out through the garret, and each addition brings its own roof, its own crawl space and its own seam with the house before it. We check the wiring before anything goes into a wall; knob-and-tube comes out first.

The 201 units from the 1940s and 252 from the 1950s are small capes and ranches. The cape leaks at its knee walls and the floor bays behind them; the ranch across an attic floor with a few inches of old fill and unsealed top plates. The 342 units from the 1960s and 389 from the 1970s add raised ranches and early contemporaries, the first losing heat at the band joist and the garage ceiling, the second at a cathedral ceiling framed too shallow for much insulation.

The 534 units from the 1980s and 304 from the 1990s are colonials, saltboxes and contemporaries, often with a woodstove, a great room under a sloped ceiling and a walk-out basement. They have insulation in their walls, and their losses are at the chimney where it passes through the slope, the skylight wells, the rim joist along a walk-out wall and a basement left unfinished and uninsulated.

The 121 units in buildings of three or four are priced and scoped as whole buildings, because the attic, the stair and the cellar run through every unit. The 215 mobile homes are worked from beneath. On payback, with 57.5% of homes on oil and 17.1% on propane, the saving is delivered fuel not bought, and delivered fuel generally costs more for the same heat than utility gas, so sealing and insulating pays back sooner here than in a town with gas mains. In the 6.6% heated with wood, it means fewer cords split.

Stone houses, frame wings and the seam between them

Two of Marbletown’s National Register listings are stone houses, the Bevier Stone House and the Cornelius Wynkoop Stone House, and the Kripplebush and Rest Plaus historic districts are listed as well. A house of that kind rarely stayed the size it was built. A stone core gets a frame kitchen wing, then a porch closed in, then a bedroom or bath added in the 20th century, and each piece meets the last at a seam that no one ever sealed.

The stone itself is left alone. A mortared stone wall has no cavity, it takes on moisture from the ground and the weather and needs to dry, and foam sprayed against its inside face traps that moisture where it can do damage. So in the stone core the work is overhead and underneath: the garret floor sealed and insulated, the chimney gap closed with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, the sill and cellar openings sealed.

The frame wings are handled like any old frame house: wall bays blocked at top and bottom and dense-packed with cellulose, the roof slope or attic insulated to depth, the crawl space beneath sealed at the rim and insulated at its walls. The seams get the most attention. Where a frame wing’s roof butts against a stone gable, where its wall framing meets the stone, and where its floor runs over a crawl space into the stone cellar, there is almost always an open path from outside to inside. Sealing those three joints often changes how a stone house feels in winter more than anything else in the job.

We seal before we insulate

Insulation slows heat conducted through a wall or ceiling. It does not stop air, and an old house with several additions has more open joints than a newer one has holes.

In a Marbletown stone house with a frame wing the sequence is: seal the sill and cellar openings under the stone core; seal the rim joist and the floor over the wing’s crawl space; close the seams where the wing’s roof, walls and floor meet the stone; seal the chimney gap and the garret floor penetrations; dense-pack the frame walls once the wiring is confirmed safe; then insulate the garret floor and the wing’s roof to depth.

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

What insulation costs in Marbletown

Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a stone house with frame additions, the number depends on how many additions there are, how many seams and crawl spaces they bring, the wall area of frame to dense-pack and how the garret can be reached. The stone walls stay out of the scope, which keeps the cost lower than the size of the house suggests. A 1980s contemporary is priced on its sloped ceiling, chimney and skylight openings and walk-out basement; a post-war cape on its knee walls and attic.

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 Marbletown

Marbletown, Stone Ridge and the Marbletown side of High Falls take their electricity from Central Hudson, and the town has little or no utility gas service. A Central Hudson customer uses NYSERDA’s Comfort Home for insulation incentives, or EmPower+ if the household is income-eligible.

Comfort Home begins with a no-fee consultation with a trained and qualified contractor and pays $2,500 toward sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, $3,000 when walls and floors are added, and $2,000 more toward ENERGY STAR windows, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor. It is open to market-rate one- to four-family homes whose owners pay the System Benefits Charge as Con Edison, NYSEG, Central Hudson or Orange & Rockland electric customers. Knob-and-tube wiring can block eligibility, which matters in Marbletown’s older houses, and the incentive may not exceed the cost of the project. 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+ covers income-eligible owners and renters: 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 in our area, through an EmPower+ contractor. On top of those amounts, federal money routed through EmPower+ adds up to $1,600 for air sealing, insulation and ventilation; it is the only federal home-energy rebate New York is paying out for insulation right now.

Both programs work through their own participating contractors, so check eligibility and find approved contractors on the MyEnergy portal. The federal Section 25C credit 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. The full picture is in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.

Code and climate in Marbletown

65.2% of Marbletown’s housing was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979; the stone houses, the farmhouses and the post-war houses all went up without one. Ulster County is Climate Zone 6.

For new construction the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has been in force since 31 December 2025. It sets R-49 for ceilings, satisfied by R-38 over the whole ceiling where that depth extends uncompressed over the wall top plates at the eaves; R-30 for floors; R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous for basement and crawl space walls; U-0.27 for windows; and a blower door result of no more than 2.5 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, below the 3.0 allowed in Zones 4 and 5.

Old houses are not measured against that table. Unaltered portions need not comply, the insulation already in place may not be reduced, cavities opened by the work are filled to full depth, and New York does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an attic or garret with no insulation in Zones 5 and 6, and R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are there already.

Common questions about insulation in Marbletown

Do you install insulation in Marbletown, NY?

Yes, across the Town of Marbletown in Ulster County: Stone Ridge, the Marbletown side of High Falls, Kripplebush, Lyonsville, Lomontville, Atwood, Lapla, Pacama and The Vly. With 28.6% of the housing built in 1939 or earlier, a lot of the work is stone houses and old frame farmhouses with additions. We also insulate 1980s colonials and contemporaries, post-war capes and ranches, small multi-unit buildings and mobile homes.

How much does insulation cost in Marbletown?

Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. In an old house with additions, the drivers are the number of additions, the seams and crawl spaces they bring, the frame wall area to dense-pack and garret access; stone walls are left out of the scope. A 1980s contemporary is priced on its sloped ceiling, chimney and skylight openings and walk-out basement, a cape on its knee walls and attic. The written scope and price follow a free walk-through.

Are there insulation rebates in Marbletown?

Yes. Marbletown is Central Hudson electric territory, so a market-rate one- to four-family home can use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home: $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. Knob-and-tube wiring can block eligibility. 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.

Our Stone Ridge house has a stone core and a frame wing added later. Where does the cold get in?

Mostly at the seams. Where the wing’s roof butts against the stone gable, where its walls meet the stone and where its floor runs over a crawl space into the old cellar, there is usually an open path to outside. The frame wing’s walls are often empty and can be dense-packed. The stone walls themselves are not foamed, because they need to dry; the stone core is sealed and insulated at the garret floor, the chimney and the sill instead.

Free energy audit in Marbletown

In an old Marbletown house we start in the cellar under the oldest part, at the sill and the stone, then follow each addition: its crawl space, the seam where it joins, its walls and roof. We finish in the garret and at the chimney, and we look at the wiring before recommending anything for the walls. In a 1980s house we begin at the chimney and the sloped ceiling. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.

Call 914-825-6824 or send a note through the contact form, 8am–8pm, seven days. We are a New Rochelle, NY company with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.

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