79.6% of Shirley’s occupied homes heat with fuel oil. Only 5.5% use utility gas, 3.9% bottled gas, 3.7% electricity and 3.1% wood, and Shirley has little or no utility gas service for an oil house to switch to. Shirley is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, on the South Shore at Mastic Bay, and most of its 8,934 homes went up after 1960: the median dates from 1975, 33.3% were built in the 1970s and another 24.5% in the 1980s and 90s. 94.7% are detached houses and 90.9% of occupied homes are lived in by their owners.
Those two numbers set the job. A house that burns oil and has no gas main to move to will stay on oil, or go to a heat pump, for a long time, so the heat it loses through an open attic or an unsealed rim joist is paid for in deliveries every winter. And the houses are mostly raised ranches, ranches and colonials, with post-war houses and old summer bungalows scattered among them.
The houses we insulate in Shirley
The hamlet takes its name from Walter T. Shirley, the developer who in the 1940s set out to turn the land on Mastic Bay into an affordable enclave. His company priced its 4,000 four-room homes from $4,700, on lots that sold for $295. 3.2% of today’s homes date from the 1940s and 15.1% from the 1950s. A four-room house of that kind has a low roof and a shallow attic with almost no height where the rafters meet the wall, so the insulation that was there has blown back from the eave and the ceiling below it runs cold.
The 1970s built 2,978 of today’s homes, more than any other decade, and the raised ranch is the house of those years. Its lower level sits half in the ground, with a family room, a garage or both under the bedrooms, and the concrete or block foundation wall stands a few feet above grade with nothing on it but paint. That exposed foundation, the rim joist sitting on top of it and the ceiling of the garage below the bedrooms are where a raised ranch loses its heat, along with the long attic above, where the loose-fill is thin and the top plates are open.
The 1980s added 13.7% of the stock and the 1990s 10.8%. Those ranches and colonials have insulated walls, and blowing more into them is rarely worth the money. Their losses are the attic hatch, recessed lights, the bath fan, a rim joist nobody sealed and, where central air was added, ducts running through the attic. 9.4% of Shirley has been built since 2000.
If your oil comes on automatic delivery, the supplier schedules it by its estimate of how fast the house burns oil as the weather turns cold. After a house is sealed and insulated that estimate is wrong in the right direction: the truck arrives to a tank with more oil left in it. Tell your supplier when the work is finished so the schedule catches up, and watch the gauge through the first winter. That is the plainest measure of what the job did.
Tangiers bungalows and four-room houses that became year-round homes
Before it was Shirley, the area was known as Tangiers, after William “Tangier” Smith, and in the early 1900s it held a few summer bungalows whose owners came mostly from New York City. Most of the Tangiers-era houses still stand, though hurricanes, winter storms and arson destroyed some. 1.9% of the hamlet’s homes predate 1940.
A summer bungalow was built for July. Its walls were thin and empty, its floor was framed over a crawl space or on piers open to the wind, and its roof was often too low for a real attic. Heated all winter, it loses heat through the floor first. A crawl space with walls can be closed: seal the vents and the sill, lay a vapor retarder on the ground, and insulate the crawl space walls so the floor above sits inside the house. A floor on open piers gets insulated and sealed from below, with a rigid air barrier fastened under the joists so wind cannot wash through it. Walls are filled when the siding comes off, or from inside, after the wiring has been checked. A roof with no attic gets closed cell foam under the deck.
A four-room house that has been added onto gets the same treatment piece by piece: a room on a slab or piers, a roof that does not reach the main attic, and a seam where it meets the original wall.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through a ceiling, a wall or a floor. It does not stop air, and in an oil-heated house the air leaking out through the attic is heat the boiler has already burned oil to make.
In a Shirley raised ranch the order is: in the attic, seal the top plates, the plumbing vent, the bath fan housing, the recessed lights and the hatch; at the chimney, close the gap to the framing with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, never foam. Downstairs, seal the sill plate and the rim joist, seal the garage ceiling where it meets the bedroom floor, and air-seal the top of the exposed foundation wall. Then insulate: the attic floor to depth, the rim, the garage ceiling, and the foundation wall where the lower level is lived in. In a bungalow the crawl space or the floor comes first.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Shirley
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A four-room post-war house with one small attic is toward the lower end, though a tight eave may need closed cell foam. A 1970s raised ranch sits in the middle: the long attic, the rim, the garage ceiling and, if the lower level is a family room, its above-grade foundation wall. A bungalow costs more for its size, because the crawl space or open floor, the empty walls and a roof with no attic are three separate jobs. For the foam side of the number, see what spray foam costs.
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 Shirley
Shirley’s electric company is PSEG Long Island, and the hamlet has little or no utility gas service. Because the electric company is PSEG Long Island, NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program is not available to Shirley homes.
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 assessment includes a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test. In a hamlet on oil, one rule matters most: single-family homes heated with oil, natural gas, propane or electricity are all eligible. The insulation must be installed with comprehensive, blower-door-assisted air sealing, and PSEG Long Island pays only through its own participating contractors, so check its list first.
NYSERDA’s EmPower+ pays for air sealing and insulation for income-eligible owners and renters through an EmPower+ contractor: at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income Suffolk households (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), with up to $1,600 more from federal HEAR funds for air sealing, insulation and ventilation. Shirley’s median household income is $105,379, under the moderate-income line for a family of four, so the program is worth checking. National Grid says EmPower+ opened to Long Island gas customers’ one- to four-family homes on 1 November 2025, and neither National Grid nor PSEG Long Island says whether a home with no gas account qualifies. Long Island households should check eligibility on the MyEnergy portal.
PSEG Long Island’s REAP program offers a free in-home energy survey to owners and renters at or below its income guideline, $131,900 for a household of four, with no REAP visit in the past five years. It can install a smart thermostat, door sweeps and attic hatch covers at no cost, but it does not install insulation.
The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) 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. More detail is in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in Shirley
66.1% of Shirley’s homes were built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, so nearly all of the 1970s raised ranches, and every four-room house and bungalow, went up with no state energy standard behind them. Suffolk County is Climate Zone 4.
The 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has been in force since 31 December 2025. A new home must have R-49 in the ceiling, or R-38 over the whole ceiling where the full uncompressed height reaches over the wall top plate at the eaves. Floors get R-30, and basement and crawl space walls R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous. Windows must reach U-0.27, and the house may leak no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
None of that is forced on a house already standing. The unaltered parts of an existing home 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 opens a roof or wall cavity, the code wants that cavity filled 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 down.
Common questions about insulation in Shirley
Do you install insulation in Shirley, NY?
Yes. Most of our Shirley work is the 1970s raised ranch, 33.3% of the hamlet: the attic, the rim joist, the garage ceiling and the exposed foundation wall of the lower level. We also insulate the 1980s and 90s ranches and colonials, the four-room houses of the 1940s and 50s and their additions, and the Tangiers-era bungalows that became year-round homes, from the streets near Mastic Bay to the northern end the post office also calls East Yaphank.
How much does insulation cost in Shirley?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A four-room post-war house with a single small attic is usually at the lower end. A 1970s raised ranch is in the middle, with its long attic, rim joist, garage ceiling and lower-level foundation wall. A bungalow costs more for its size because the crawl space or floor, the empty walls and a roof with no attic are separate pieces of work. We give a written scope and a price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Shirley?
Yes. Shirley is PSEG Long Island territory, and PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate and a $1,000 air-sealing rebate for 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 are eligible. Comfort Home is not open to PSEG Long Island homes. Income-eligible households should 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.
We heat our Shirley house with oil and a wood stove. Is it safe to seal it up?
Yes, if the sealing is planned around the stove and the boiler. Both need air to burn and a chimney that draws. In a tighter house, a bath fan, a range hood or a dryer can pull air back down a chimney, and smoke or exhaust spills into the room. So we seal around chimneys with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, never foam, and keep required clearances. Where the stove allows it, an outside combustion air supply solves the problem. After the work, have the draft checked and keep carbon monoxide alarms on every level.
Free energy audit in Shirley
In a Shirley raised ranch we start in the attic, at the eaves, the top plates and the hatch, then go down to the lower level for the rim joist, the sill, the garage ceiling and the exposed foundation wall. In a bungalow we get under the floor. Where there is a wood stove we check its air supply and clearances. If the attic is fine and the real loss is the floor over a crawl space, we say so. Then a written scope and a price, with no charge and no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use our contact form. Open 8am–8pm, seven days. We work out of New Rochelle, NY, a family-owned company since 2015 with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Suffolk County
- Insulation in Mastic
- Insulation in Mastic Beach
- Insulation in Manorville
- Crawl space insulation for bungalows and additions
- Insulating a raised ranch lower level
- Air sealing