39.2% of Selden’s 7,180 homes were built in the 1960s. That is 2,818 houses from a single decade, and with the 19.1% added in the 1970s, 58.3% of the hamlet went up in twenty years. The median home dates from 1966, 89.3% of homes are detached houses, and 84.8% of occupied homes are lived in by their owners. That describes one common job: a ranch, high ranch or split in its sixth decade, owned by the family living in it.
Selden is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven with no government of its own. It covers 4.3 square miles, with Centereach to the west, Coram to the east, Farmingville to the south and Terryville to the north, and Middle Country Road running through the middle. PSEG Long Island supplies the electricity. National Grid gas is available on many streets but not all of them, and the heating numbers show it: fuel oil heats 47.1% of occupied homes and utility gas 44.1%, with electricity at 4.3% and bottled gas at 2.8%.
Nearly half of Selden counts its heat loss in oil deliveries. There the return on sealing and insulation shows up as fewer fills each winter, and it keeps paying after the burner is replaced, because a tighter house lets the next system be sized smaller. Oil-heated houses get one extra check before any sealing: the burner, its combustion air and the chimney draft.
The houses we insulate in Selden
Selden had about 131 residents in 1931. Suburban building picked up in earnest in the early 1950s, the Middle Country Central School District was formed in 1957, and by the early 1970s Selden was a suburb. The 964 homes of the 1950s are mostly capes and small ranches; the 2,818 of the 1960s are ranches, high ranches and splits.
A 1960s Selden ranch loses its heat across one long attic floor. The original fiberglass batts are a few inches deep, laid between the ceiling joists with gaps at the ends, and thinnest at the eaves, where the low roof leaves little room and outside air washes across the top of the wall. The openings in that floor matter more than the batts do: plumbing vents and wires through the top plates, the gap around the chimney, bath fans ducted into the attic or not ducted at all, and a hatch in a hallway closet with no weatherstripping.
The high ranch adds a lower level set partly into the ground. Its rim joist sits exposed on top of the block foundation, and the den or bedroom beside the garage shares a wall, and sometimes a ceiling, with an unheated space. The split-level adds the short wall where its upper bedrooms face the attic over the lower wing, where batts often hang with nothing behind them.
The 1,369 homes from the 1970s add two-story colonials, many with a second floor cantilevered past the first. The floor over that overhang sits above outside air, and the batts under it tend to sag away from the subfloor within a few years. The 645 homes from the 1990s have insulated walls; their losses are overhead, in vaulted ceilings, skylight shafts and ductwork running through the attic.
Before the tracts: Westfield farmhouses and the Nature’s Gardens lots
The farmers who settled here in the mid-18th century called the place Westfield. Captain Daniel Roe built his house along Middle Country Road before the Revolutionary War, and the name changed to Selden when the post office opened in 1852, because an upstate community already had Westfield. In 1885 Selden had 88 residents, a Presbyterian church built in 1857, and farms known for melons and early garden vegetables. 475 homes, 6.6% of the stock, predate 1940, and 416 more date from the 1940s.
Some of those older houses are farmhouses and the houses that grew up around them. We treat a 19th-century Selden farmhouse as balloon-framed or timber-framed until we have seen otherwise, which means wall cavities that may run open from the cellar to the attic and pull cold air the full height of the house. We also assume knob-and-tube wiring until we have looked, and any live knob-and-tube comes out before insulation goes near it. Each addition brought its own roof, its own small attic and a joint to the old house that nobody sealed.
Others trace back to 1931, when real estate agents began marketing small lots south of Middle Country Road and Evergreen Drive to New York City residents as retreats from urban living, in a development called Nature’s Gardens. Where a house on one of those lots started life as a weekend place, it was not framed with a Long Island winter in mind: a shallow crawl space or piers instead of a basement, rafters with no room for both a vent channel and a full depth of insulation, and rooms added as a family moved in for good. There the crawl space and the roof slopes are the job, and closed cell foam is often the only way to get a useful R-value into so shallow a rafter bay.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat conducting through a ceiling or a wall. It does very little to stop air moving through a hole in one. Warm air rises through an open plumbing chase all winter, however much loose-fill sits around it.
In a Selden high ranch the order runs from the top down. In the attic: foam at the top plates and at every wire and pipe hole, metal flashing and fire-rated sealant around the chimney, covers over recessed lights not rated for contact with insulation, bath fans ducted outdoors, a weatherstripped and insulated hatch, and baffles at the eaves; then loose-fill blown to full depth. On the lower level: the rim joist sealed and insulated on top of the block, and the wall and ceiling shared with the garage sealed before they are insulated. An oil burner is checked before and after.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Selden
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A 1960s ranch with one open attic and a reachable rim joist sits toward the lower end. A high ranch adds the lower-level rim and the garage wall and ceiling; a 1970s colonial adds the cantilevered floor and often a second, smaller attic over the garage. The older houses cost more for their size: crawl spaces, roof slopes that need closed cell foam, and additions reached one at a time. Our spray foam cost guide explains the foam side of the price.
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 Selden
Selden’s electricity comes from PSEG Long Island and its gas, where a street has it, from National Grid. NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program does not cover homes that PSEG Long Island serves.
PSEG Long Island’s own offer starts with a free Whole House Energy Assessment, which includes a thermal scan and a blower door test. For market-rate single-family homes it then lists a $2,500 rebate for insulation and a $1,000 rebate for air sealing, with higher amounts for income-qualified homes and homes in state-designated disadvantaged communities. Oil, gas, propane and electric heat are all eligible. The insulation has to go in together with blower-door-assisted air sealing, and the rebates are paid only through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not taking new applications, and income-eligible households now use EmPower+. In Suffolk County, NYSERDA’s EmPower+ program can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for a lower-income household (at or below $98,925 for a family of four), or cover half the cost up to $7,000 for a moderate-income household (below $131,900 for four), with federal HEAR funds adding up to $1,600 for air sealing, insulation and ventilation. Owners and renters can apply, the work is done by an EmPower+ contractor, and Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal.
For the rest, NYSERDA’s Green Jobs–Green New York program offers unsecured loans of $1,500 to $25,000 over 5, 10 or 15 years, on the utility bill or as a monthly loan; PSEG Long Island customers apply for the on-bill version through PSEG Long Island, and loans must be repaid. Each program works through its own contractors, so ask an installer which ones they take part in and confirm it with the program. The federal Section 25C insulation credit ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025, so a 2026 job carries no federal credit, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. Our New York and New Jersey rebate guide has each program in full.
Code and climate in Selden
84.2% of Selden’s homes were built before 1980. The 1950s and 1960s houses, and most of the 1970s ones, were finished before New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. Suffolk County is Climate Zone 4.
For new construction, the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has been in force since 31 December 2025. Its table for this zone sets ceilings at R-49, though R-38 satisfies that where it covers the whole ceiling and keeps its full uncompressed height over the wall top plate at the eaves. Floors are set at R-30, and basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous. Windows must reach U-0.27, and a new house may leak no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
In an existing house, unaltered parts do not have to comply, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. When an alteration exposes wall or roof cavities, though, they must be insulated to full depth before they are closed. ENERGY STAR’s recommendation for an attic in this zone is R-60 when it starts empty and R-49 when it already holds 3 to 4 inches.
Common questions about insulation in Selden
Do you install insulation in Selden, NY?
Yes, across the hamlet, north and south of Middle Country Road. Most of our Selden work is the 1960s house, 39.2% of the stock, and the 1970s house, another 19.1%: ranches, high ranches, splits and colonials. We also work on the older farmhouses, on houses grown from the 1931 lots, and on 1990s colonials. In larger apartment and condominium buildings the envelope is the board’s decision. Call and we will tell you where your house fits.
How much does insulation cost in Selden?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1960s ranch with a single open attic is usually near the low end. A high ranch adds the rim joist on top of the block and the wall and ceiling it shares with the garage. A 1970s colonial adds the cantilevered floor and often a second attic. An older farmhouse, or a house grown out of a small 1930s cottage, costs more for its size, because crawl spaces and shallow roof slopes often need closed cell foam. The written price follows a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Selden?
Yes. Selden is PSEG Long Island territory, so the rebates are PSEG Long Island’s: a listed $2,500 for insulation and $1,000 for air sealing in market-rate single-family homes, 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 available to PSEG Long Island homes. Income-eligible owners and renters can use EmPower+, and Green Jobs–Green New York loans can finance the rest. The federal 25C credit has ended, and New York has no state insulation credit.
Our 1960s attic still has its original batts. Should we add on top or pull them out?
Usually add on top, once the air sealing is done. Old fiberglass batts still slow heat; the trouble is the gaps and holes beneath them. We lift or cut back batts wherever a top plate, chimney or fan needs sealing, then lay them back and blow loose-fill over everything to full depth. Batts come out when they are wet, moldy or soiled by rodents. If there is loose, pebbly vermiculite under them, it gets tested before anyone disturbs it, because some vermiculite contains asbestos.
Free energy audit in Selden
In a Selden house we start in the attic: the depth and condition of what is there, every hole through the ceiling, the chimney gap, the bath fan ducts and the eaves. Then the lower level: the rim joist on the block, the garage wall and ceiling, and in an oil-heated house the burner, its air supply and the chimney draft. An older house adds the crawl space, roof slopes and wiring. If the attic is fine and the loss is at the rim and the garage, we say so. The written scope and price cost nothing and carry no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or reach us through our contact form. We are open 8am–8pm, seven days a week, and work out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Suffolk County
- Insulation in Centereach
- Insulation in Coram
- Insulation in Farmingville
- Crawl space insulation
- Insulation for older homes
- Air sealing