The Home Insulators

Insulation Contractors in Mount Hope, NY

Only 1.8% of Mount Hope’s occupied homes heat with utility gas. Fuel oil heats 67.4%, bottled propane 19.8%, electricity 3.4%, wood 3.0% and solar 3.0%. The town and the Village of Otisville have little or no utility gas service, so most of the heat here arrives by truck and goes into a tank.

The town has 2,289 housing units. 82.0% are single-family detached houses, 3.5% are attached, 4.5% are in three- and four-unit buildings, 2.6% in buildings of twenty to forty-nine and 3.4% in buildings of fifty or more, and 1.4% are mobile homes. 80.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. The median unit dates from 1976, and the stock falls into three large groups: 20.3% before 1940, 28.7% in the 1960s and 70s, and 23.3% since 2000, with 9.9% from the 1940s and 50s and 17.8% from the 1980s and 90s between them.

Those are three different kinds of house, and a household paying for oil or propane by the fill wants to know which part of its own house to fix first. That question runs through everything below.

The houses we insulate in Mount Hope

Mount Hope sits in the northwestern corner of Orange County, west of Middletown, with Sullivan County on its northern line and the Shawangunk Mountains along its western edge. Shawangunk Creek runs through the town and Shawangunk Lake lies on its eastern line. The first known settler arrived around 1733, and Finchville, a hamlet on County Road 35, is named after the earliest known settler. The town was created from Deerpark and Wallkill in 1825. Otisville, the one village, lies near the western line on NY 211 and has a station on the Port Jervis Line; the hamlet of Mount Hope is south of it on County Road 11, and Guymard sits on the town line in the southwest.

The 464 units built before 1940 are village houses and farmhouses. Many have a walk-up attic with a plank floor laid over the joists for storage, and that floor is the problem: there is often little or nothing under the boards, and you cannot simply blow insulation on top of them. We lift boards along a row, or drill and dense-pack the joist bays beneath the floor, and seal the attic stair, which is usually an open shaft from the second floor. Down in the cellar the stone foundation, the sill, the oil tank and the boiler share one space, and the sill leaks along its whole length.

The 1970s were the busiest decade, with 485 units, 21.2% of the stock. A ranch, raised ranch or colonial of that decade hides its biggest leaks where nobody looks: the soffits over the kitchen cabinets, which are hollow boxes open to the attic; the framed chase around a fireplace flue, open from the basement to the roof; the plumbing wall behind the bathroom; and the top plates under three or four inches of settled fiberglass. The rim joist in the basement is bare.

The 2000s added 394 units, 17.2%, the biggest wave since. Those houses have insulated walls and decent attic depth, so the work is air sealing: the recessed lights, the attic hatch, the room over the garage and the wall between the garage and the house. That last one matters beyond heat. A garage holds a car, a mower and often fuel cans, and every gap in the shared wall or the ceiling above it lets fumes into the house, so we seal it before we touch anything else there.

Oil, propane and the order of work

With 67.4% of homes on oil and 19.8% on propane, the payoff from sealing a Mount Hope house shows up as fewer deliveries over a winter. The order that saves the most for the money spent is the same in almost every house here. First, air-seal the attic floor, because warm air escapes upward all winter. Second, seal and insulate the rim joist, where cold air enters low in the house. Third, bring the attic to full depth. Walls, floors over garages and crawl spaces come after that, and they are worth doing, but not first.

A basement with an oil tank and a boiler needs care of its own. We keep foam away from the burner, the flue, the oil lines and the tank, and we leave the boiler its clearances. If the plan is to insulate the basement walls and bring the basement inside the heated envelope, the boiler room still has to get the combustion air it needs.

Propane houses need the same attention to air. A propane water heater or an older furnace that draws air from the room and vents up a chimney can spill exhaust back into the house when the house is made tighter. Before we seal a house heated that way, we look at every propane and oil appliance, how it gets its air and how it vents, and we tell you if your heating contractor needs to see it first. A working carbon monoxide alarm on each floor belongs in every house with a flame in it.

We seal before we insulate

Insulation slows heat moving through a surface. It is not a seal, and warm air finds its way through it. A thick new layer over a 1970s Mount Hope attic with the kitchen soffits and the fireplace chase still open is an expensive blanket with holes cut in it.

In a 1970s house we start at the attic plane: cap the kitchen soffits with rigid board sealed at the edges, close the fireplace chase with sheet metal and fire-rated sealant, seal the plumbing wall, the top plates, the wire holes and the attic hatch, and vent the bath fans outdoors. Then we baffle the eaves, go to the basement and seal and insulate the rim joist, and only then blow the attic to depth.

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

What insulation costs in Mount Hope

Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In a 1970s house the number follows the attic area, the soffits and chases to close and the length of the rim joist. In a pre-1940 house with a floored attic it follows how many boards come up or how many bays are drilled, plus the stair, the sill and the wiring. A house built since 2000 is mostly air-sealing time at the attic plane and the garage. It is reasonable to do the attic and rim first and come back for the rest.

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 Mount Hope

Orange & Rockland is the electric company for all of Mount Hope, Otisville included. The town has little or no utility gas service.

New York lets the electric company set the program lane, and Orange & Rockland publishes no insulation rebate amount of its own. It refers customers to NYSERDA’s Comfort Home and EmPower+ programs and to 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. That first package matches the first steps above. NYSERDA says the average home saves 14% on heating and cooling bills with it, and 20% with the larger package. It is for market-rate one- to four-family homes that pay the System Benefits Charge, and the home must meet every condition of the package it applies for. 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+ is for 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. In Orange County a three-person household is in the no-cost tier at $67,332 or less and the half-cost tier below $89,776.

For the rest of the cost, NYSERDA’s Green Jobs–Green New York program lends $1,500 to $25,000 over 5, 10 or 15 years after a no-cost energy assessment. The On-Bill Recovery version is repaid on the utility bill, and the estimated monthly energy savings must be greater than the monthly payment. Loans are not rebates and must be paid back. Each program works 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, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. See our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.

Code and climate in Mount Hope

58.9% of Mount Hope’s housing was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, so the village houses, the farmhouses and nearly all of the 1970s wave were built with no energy requirement at all. Orange County is Climate Zone 5.

New construction has followed the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State since 31 December 2025, with no transition period. A new Zone 5 house needs R-49 in the ceiling, or R-38 over the entire ceiling if it holds full height over the wall top plate at the eaves; R-30 in floors; R-15 continuous, R-19 or R-13 plus R-5 continuous on basement and crawl space walls; U-0.27 windows; and air leakage of 3.0 air changes per hour or less at 50 pascals.

Your existing house is not pulled up to those numbers when you insulate it. Anything left unaltered need not comply, the state code requires no blower door test when an existing home is insulated, and any cavity opened during the work must be filled to full depth. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an attic with no insulation and R-49 for one with 3 to 4 inches already in place, as many 1970s attics have.

Common questions about insulation in Mount Hope

Do you install insulation in Mount Hope, NY?

Yes, across the town: the Village of Otisville, the hamlets of Mount Hope, Finchville and Guymard, and the roads out toward Shawangunk Lake and the Sullivan County line. The work ranges from pre-1940 houses with floored attics, 20.3% of the stock, through the 1970s ranches and colonials of the town’s busiest decade, to the houses built since 2000. Most of them burn oil or propane, so every visit includes the boiler room.

How much does insulation cost in Mount Hope?

Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1970s house is priced on attic area, the kitchen soffits and fireplace chase to close, and the rim joist. A pre-1940 house with a plank attic floor is priced on the boards to lift or bays to drill, the attic stair and the sill. A house built since 2000 is mostly air sealing at the attic and the garage. You get a written scope and a price after a free walk-through.

Are there insulation rebates in Mount Hope?

Yes. Mount Hope is Orange & Rockland electric territory, so market-rate homes of one to four units can use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home: $2,500 for sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, $3,000 with walls and floors, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor, until new utility programs start around January 2027. Income-eligible households can use EmPower+. The federal 25C credit ended after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation tax credit.

We can only afford one project this year on our Mount Hope house. What should come first?

Seal the attic floor and the rim joist. In an oil- or propane-heated house those two stop the most air for the money: warm air leaves through the top of the house and cold air enters at the bottom. If the budget allows, bring the attic to full depth in the same visit. Walls, the floor over the garage and crawl spaces can wait for next year. That first step is also the scope of Comfort Home’s attic-and-rim package.

Free energy audit in Mount Hope

We start in the basement with the boiler or furnace, the tank, the flue and the rim joist, then go to the attic: the plank floor in an old house, the soffits and fireplace chase in a 1970s house, the attic plane and garage wall in a newer one. We check every oil and propane appliance for how it gets its air. Then you get a written scope and a price, in the order we would do the work. No charge, no obligation.

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

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