North Bellmore is split down the middle on heat. 47.4% of its occupied homes burn fuel oil and 47.2% burn utility gas, with 3.5% on electricity and 1.0% on bottled gas, so nearly one house in two runs on an oil burner. North Bellmore is an unincorporated hamlet in the Town of Hempstead, and it and Bellmore are referred to together as “the Bellmores.”
Its 6,736 housing units are mostly post-war and mostly single-family. 41.3% were built in the 1950s and 25.6% in the 1960s, and the median home dates from 1958. 90.9% of units are detached houses, 4.1% are in two-unit buildings, and 90.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. 87.8% of the housing predates 1980. That mix — 1950s and 60s houses, nearly half of them heated by oil — decides both how an insulation job pays back here and how carefully the house has to be tightened.
The houses we insulate in North Bellmore
The 1950s houses are capes and ranches. The cape’s upper floor lives inside its roof, and its weak line runs all the way around the edge of that floor: a knee wall with a batt on the room side and open attic behind it, floor joists passing underneath to an eave that is effectively outside, and sloped ceilings with little room for insulation. The ranch’s weakness is spread across one attic floor: a few inches of old insulation, thinner at the eaves than at the center, with the tops of the interior walls, the ceiling boxes and the bath fan housing all open underneath it.
The 1960s houses, 1,726 of them, are the other half of North Bellmore’s story. Split-levels and high-ranches bring more surfaces and more kinds of surface. The high-ranch sits with its lower level half below grade: a family room and a garage side by side, the rim joist exposed at eye level around the lower rooms, and a wall between the family room and the garage that is often insulated only on one side or not at all. Upstairs, the front of many high-ranches cantilevers out past the foundation, and the floor joists at that overhang are open to the soffit below. The split puts a bedroom over the garage on a floor of open joist bays, and the side wall of its upper level faces straight into the lower roof’s attic.
The 9.1% built before 1940 get a wiring check before any wall work. The 4.6% from the 1990s have insulated walls; their losses are at the attic, the ducts and any room over a garage. Two-unit buildings are scoped as one building, because the stair, the floor between the units and the roof are shared.
An oil burner in the basement: tightening the house safely
Most oil boilers and furnaces, and many gas water heaters and boilers, send their exhaust up a chimney and depend on its draft. The flue gas rises because it is hot, and the house has to supply the air that replaces it. In a leaky 1950s or 60s house there has always been plenty of that air, coming in at the rim joist, the sill and every gap in the basement.
Sealing changes that balance, which is the point of sealing, but it has a consequence. A tighter house has less spare air for the burner, and the exhaust fans in it — the kitchen range hood, the bath fans, the clothes dryer — now pull against the chimney instead of against a leaky shell. If a chimney-vented appliance cannot get enough air, its exhaust can spill back into the basement rather than going up the flue, and exhaust from an oil burner or a gas water heater carries carbon monoxide.
So in a North Bellmore house with a chimney-vented appliance, we look at how every burner vents before the work starts, and when the sealing is done we check that the chimney still draws with the house’s exhaust fans running. If an appliance needs more combustion air or service, that goes to your heating contractor before the house is closed up. Every house with a fuel-burning appliance should have working carbon monoxide alarms, whether or not it has been insulated.
The chimney itself needs care too. The gap where it passes through the attic floor is one of the biggest leaks in the house, and it gets closed with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, never with foam or insulation packed against the masonry or the flue pipe. Down in the basement, the oil fill and vent pipes pass through the foundation or the rim, and the holes around them get sealed with the rest of the rim joist. An oil-heated house then buys less oil: the savings show up as fewer deliveries, worth more in an expensive winter and less in a cheap one.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation resists heat moving through a surface. Air moving through a gap carries heat straight past it. In a North Bellmore house the warm air leaves through the attic and the replacement air comes in through the basement, so both get sealed.
In a North Bellmore high-ranch the order is: in the attic, the top plates, the plumbing stack, the chimney gap, the ceiling boxes and the bath fan, which should vent outdoors, then baffles at the eaves; on the lower level, the rim joist all the way around with closed cell foam, the fill and vent pipe holes, the wall between the family room and the garage, and the open joist bays at the front overhang. Then the attic is insulated to depth and the garage wall and ceiling are filled. Last, with the fans running, the chimney draft gets checked.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in North Bellmore
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A 1950s ranch sits toward the lower end: one attic, the eaves and a basement rim. A cape moves up with its knee walls and slopes. A high-ranch or split-level is priced on the length of its rim, the garage wall and ceiling, the front overhang and the attic, so it usually costs more than a ranch of the same size. Any work a heating contractor does on a burner or chimney is separate from our price. A two-family is priced as one building.
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 North Bellmore
North Bellmore’s electric company is PSEG Long Island. Its gas company is National Grid, and gas lines are common in the hamlet even though 47.4% of homes still burn oil. NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program is not available to PSEG Long Island customers, so North Bellmore’s rebates come from PSEG Long Island.
PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, with higher amounts for income-qualified homes and homes in state-designated disadvantaged communities, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment that includes a thermal scan and a blower door test. Its 2026 rules make single-family homes heated with oil, natural gas, propane or electricity eligible, so an oil-heated North Bellmore house is not ruled out. Insulation must be installed with blower-door-assisted air sealing, and ductwork in unconditioned space must be sealed.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not accepting new applications; income-eligible households now go through EmPower+. NYSERDA’s EmPower+ can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households (in Nassau, at or below $98,925 for a family of four), or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households (below $131,900 for four), through an EmPower+ contractor; owners and renters can apply, and Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal. National Grid gas customers who meet the EmPower+ income guidelines can also get no-cost home safety improvements through National Grid’s Weatherization Health and Safety Program, which is available only after applying to EmPower+ and completing a no-cost Health and Safety Assessment.
Each program pays through its own participating contractors, so confirm the contractor with the program 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 insulation credit on a 2026 job, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. More in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in North Bellmore
87.8% of North Bellmore’s housing was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, after the hamlet’s 1950s and 60s streets were built. Nassau County is Climate Zone 4.
The 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State took effect on 31 December 2025. A new home built under it needs R-49 ceilings, or R-38 over the entire ceiling where it runs full height and uncompressed over the wall top plate at the eaves; R-30 floors, the standard a floor over a garage or an overhang is measured against; basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; U-0.27 windows; and air leakage of no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
An existing house is not pulled up to that table. Unaltered parts of the house need not comply, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home, though the draft check on a chimney-vented appliance is still worth doing. Where an alteration exposes roof or wall cavities, they are to be insulated to full depth. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an uninsulated attic in this zone and R-49 where 3 to 4 inches are already in place.
Common questions about insulation in North Bellmore
Do you install insulation in North Bellmore, NY?
Yes. Most of our North Bellmore work is the 1950s cape and ranch, 41.3% of the hamlet, and the 1960s high-ranches and split-levels, 25.6%, with their lower-level rims, garage walls, front overhangs and rooms over garages. We also do the pre-1940 houses after a wiring check, the 1990s houses where the attic and ducts are the job, and two-family houses scoped as one building. In the many oil-heated homes, we check the chimney draft after sealing.
How much does insulation cost in North Bellmore?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1950s ranch with one attic and a basement rim is toward the lower end, and a cape adds knee walls and slopes. A high-ranch or split-level usually costs more than a ranch of the same size, because the rim, the garage wall and ceiling and the front overhang are all part of it. Work a heating contractor does on a burner is separate. You get a written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in North Bellmore?
Yes, through PSEG Long Island, North Bellmore’s electric company. It lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for market-rate single-family homes, with more for income-qualified homes, paid through its participating contractors after a free Whole House Energy Assessment. Oil-heated homes qualify. Comfort Home is not open to PSEG Long Island customers. Income-eligible owners and renters can check EmPower+ on the MyEnergy portal. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, and New York has no state insulation credit.
The family room on the lower level of our North Bellmore high-ranch is always cold. Why?
Because nearly every surface around it loses heat. The room sits half below grade against a concrete foundation, with the rim joist running around it at eye level, usually bare or stuffed with a batt that stops no air. One wall is often shared with an unheated garage and insulated poorly or not at all, and the floor is a slab. The fix starts with sealing and insulating the rim with closed cell foam, then the garage wall, then the foundation walls where the finish allows.
Free energy audit in North Bellmore
We start in the basement or the lower level of a North Bellmore house: the boiler or furnace and how it vents, the chimney, the oil fill and vent pipes, the rim joist, and in a high-ranch the garage wall and the front overhang. Then the garage ceiling of a split, and up to the attic: depth, eaves, the chimney gap, the knee walls and slopes of a cape. If the attic is fine and the rim is the problem, we say so. Then a written scope and a price, no charge and no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use our 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.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Nassau County
- Insulation in Bellmore
- Insulation in Merrick
- Insulation in North Wantagh
- Basement and rim joist insulation
- Garage insulation
- What happens during an energy audit