Fuel oil or kerosene heats 75.6% of occupied homes in Somers, Connecticut, and bottled gas another 11.7%. Electricity heats 4.6%, wood 2.9% and utility gas 2.8%, though Eversource is the gas company listed for the town. This is the Tolland County town on the Massachusetts line, 13 miles southeast of Springfield, not Somers in Westchester County, New York.
Somers has 3,558 housing units, and 92.5% of them are detached houses; 89.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. The median home dates from 1978. The 1960s and 70s built 33.5% of the stock, 592 and 599 homes, and the 2000s were the single busiest decade, with 618. By era, 7.7% predates 1940, 11.9% is from the 1940s and 50s, 21.6% from the 1980s and 90s and 25.4% has been built since 2000.
For our work that means a town of owner-occupied single houses, most of them heated by oil delivered to a tank, split between 1960s and 70s ranches and raised ranches that were insulated thinly and larger houses of the 2000s that were insulated better but sealed poorly. In both, the heat that leaks away is heat bought by the gallon.
The houses we insulate in Somers
The 592 homes of the 1960s and 599 of the 1970s are ranches, raised ranches, split-levels and garrison colonials. The raised ranch loses at the rim joist that rises above grade around its lower level and at the garage ceiling beneath the bedrooms. The garrison loses at the second-floor overhang, where the floor framing cantilevers past the wall below and the bays over the overhang hold little or no insulation. All of them have attics insulated to the standard of their decade, a few inches of fiberglass laid between the joists over top plates, wiring holes and a flue chase that were never sealed.
The 327 homes of the 1950s and 96 of the 1940s are capes and small ranches. The cape leaks behind its knee walls, where the floor joists run open under the bedrooms, and through thin slopes and a shallow flat attic. The ranch leaks through a long attic of settled insulation.
The 445 homes of the 1980s and 322 of the 1990s are mainly colonials and some contemporaries. Their walls are insulated; their problems are overhead, at the attic plane, the pull-down stair and the bonus room over the garage, and below, at the rim joist.
The 618 homes of the 2000s and 258 of the 2010s are typically larger colonials, likely to have a heating and cooling system with ductwork in the attic, a two-story foyer whose tall walls and ceiling abut attic space, and a bonus room with kneewall attics on both sides. The builder insulated all of it; often little of it was air sealed.
The 275 homes built before 1940 include the houses of the Somers Historic District in Somers Center. The town’s roots go back to 1689, when Benjamin Jones built a summer house in what was then East Enfield. We work houses of that age from the cellar up, and keep the walls closed until the wiring has been checked.
Before you replace the oil burner, seal the house
A house that heats with oil eventually faces a decision about its boiler or furnace: replace it with another oil unit, switch to propane, or move to a heat pump. With 75.6% of Somers homes on oil, the order in which that work is done matters.
Heating equipment is sized to the heat the house loses on the coldest night, and the state’s code table sets that design night at 7 degrees Fahrenheit for Connecticut. A house that leaks at its top plates, rim joist and attic hatch loses heat faster than the same house sealed and insulated, so equipment sized before the work is sized for a house that will no longer exist. Oversized equipment costs more to buy and runs in short, inefficient cycles.
The better order is sealing and insulation first, then a heat-loss calculation on the improved house, then the new equipment. A Home Energy Solutions visit includes a blower-door test, and its report gives a before number that shows how leaky the house is. If the equipment cannot wait, replace it, but tell the heating contractor what envelope work is planned so it can be sized with that in mind.
Oil usually costs more per unit of heat than utility gas, so in a Somers house the savings from sealing show up as fewer deliveries whether the burner is new or old. On oil, a tighter house burns less; on a heat pump, it needs a smaller one.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation resists heat flowing through a surface. It cannot stop warm air flowing through a gap, and a Somers attic full of fiberglass laid over unsealed top plates and chases is still leaking oil-heated air through it.
In a 2000s Somers colonial the sequence is: seal the ducts, register boots and air handler in the attic; seal the top plates, recessed lights, wiring holes and flue chase; seal the attic side of the two-story foyer wall and the bonus room kneewalls; weatherstrip the attic hatch; bring the attic floor to depth; then insulate the rim joist in the basement. In a 1970s raised ranch it is the attic plane first, then the above-grade rim and the garage ceiling.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Somers
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A raised ranch or ranch is priced on attic area, the length of exposed rim and the garage ceiling. A garrison adds its overhang. A 2000s colonial is priced on attic area, the ductwork to seal, the foyer walls and the bonus room, and a large one with several attic sections sits toward the top of the range. A pre-1940 house is priced after we have seen the cellar and the wiring.
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 Somers
Eversource delivers electricity in Somers and is also the town’s listed gas company, though few homes use utility gas. Home Energy Solutions is open to customers of Eversource, United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas, whatever fuel heats the house, so a Somers home on oil or propane enrolls through its Eversource electric account. It is written for homes of one to four units that have not had program services in the last six years, and a renter needs the landlord’s approval.
The Home Energy Solutions visit costs a $40 copay on the standard tier, effective 1 April 2026. An authorized contractor carries out health and safety tests, a blower-door test to pinpoint drafts and air leaks, and a duct test where there is forced hot air or central air conditioning. Air sealing is provided at no cost for up to seven hours, with a $10 hourly fee for the extra time a larger or older home may need. A Quality Assurance Inspector may be on site or contact you afterward. There may be a waiting list, and the program is subject to available funding.
The 2026 Energize CT insulation rebate pays up to $2.00 per square foot or 75 percent of the total cost, whichever is less, up to a maximum of $10,000. Its qualifying areas are attic floors, floored-over attics, walls, basement and garage ceilings and rim joists; a garage ceiling at R-6 or less has to finish at R-19 or more, and a rim joist at R-6 or less at R-13 or more. Foam on the underside of a roof deck is not on the list, so ask the program before counting on a rebate if the plan is to bring attic ductwork inside with roof-deck foam. The insulation must be recommended during a Home Energy Solutions visit, approved before installation, and installed by an approved contractor from the Energize CT Insulation Installers Network.
A four-person household, on Energize CT’s 2026–2027 figures, is Income Eligible at $93,681 or less, with no-cost service and up to 100 percent coverage of insulation costs; in Enhanced Incentives from $93,682 to $124,908, with a no-cost visit and up to $2.50 per square foot, on default limits that vary by zip code; and on the standard tier from $124,909. Ask which tier applies before paying a copay.
The rebate is paid only on work by the program’s network installers. Before you sign, ask any installer, including us, whether they are in that network, and compare prices after any rebate. Smart-E loans from the Connecticut Green Bank run 6.99% APR for 5, 7 or 10 years, 7.49% for 12 and 7.99% for 15 where a lender offers the longest term, with no money down and up to $50,000 on owner-occupied homes of one to four units, through participating contractors. Section 25C, the federal tax credit, ended for anything placed in service after 31 December 2025, whatever a contractor’s old advertising says. Our Connecticut rebate guide has the full detail.
Code and climate in Somers
53.1% of Somers’ housing was built before 1980. The town is in climate zone 5A, the zone for all of Connecticut, with a code design temperature of 7 degrees Fahrenheit and a 42-inch frost line.
The current code for new homes and additions with applications filed from 1 October 2022 is the 2022 Connecticut State Building Code, built on the 2021 IECC with Connecticut amendments. A new house in Somers would need R-60 in the ceiling, with R-49 qualifying where it keeps full depth over the top plate at the eaves; R-30 in floors; U-0.30 windows; basement walls at R-15 continuous, R-19 cavity or R-13 cavity plus R-5 continuous; and wood-frame walls at R-30 cavity, R-20 cavity plus R-5 continuous, R-13 plus R-10 continuous or R-20 continuous. It would also have to pass a blower-door test at 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals on the prescriptive path, and no worse than 5.0, the kind of airtightness that lets a heating system be sized small. Connecticut’s next code, based on the 2024 IECC, has been adopted in draft, but its effective date has been delayed.
Common questions about insulation in Somers
Do you install insulation in Somers, CT?
Yes, in Somers, Connecticut: Somers Center, Somersville, North Somers, Hall Hill and the rest of the Tolland County town on the Massachusetts line. Somers in Westchester County, New York, is a different town. Most of the work here is the 1960s and 70s house, 33.5% of the housing, meaning ranches, raised ranches, splits and garrisons, and the larger colonials built since 2000, plus the older houses of Somers Center, worked from the cellar up.
How much does insulation cost in Somers?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A raised ranch or ranch is priced on its attic, rim joist and garage ceiling, and a garrison adds its overhang. A 2000s colonial is priced on attic area, ductwork, the foyer walls and the bonus room, and a large one sits toward the top of the range. A pre-1940 house is priced once we have seen the cellar and wiring. The price comes in writing after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Somers?
Yes. With 75.6% of homes on oil, most Somers households reach Energize Connecticut through their Eversource electric account, booking a Home Energy Solutions visit that costs $40 on the standard tier. Insulation the visit recommends, which the program approves before installation and an Energize CT Insulation Installers Network contractor installs, can be rebated at up to $2.00 per square foot or 75 percent of cost, whichever is less, to a $10,000 maximum. Lower income tiers can receive more. No federal tax credit covers insulation installed in 2026.
Our oil boiler is near the end of its life. Should we insulate first or replace it first?
Seal and insulate first if you can. Heating equipment is sized to how fast the house loses heat on a cold night, and sealing the attic, rim and hatch lowers that number, so a boiler, furnace or heat pump sized afterward can be smaller and will cycle less. If the boiler fails mid-winter and cannot wait, replace it, but tell the heating contractor what envelope work is planned. A Home Energy Solutions blower-door test gives a useful before number either way.
Free estimate in Somers
Our free estimate is our own assessment and quote, separate from the Home Energy Solutions program, and it does not open the door to any rebate. In a Somers house we go through the attic plane, the ducts and hatch, the rim joist in the basement and the garage ceiling, and in a garrison the overhang, and we note the age of the heating system so the scope fits any replacement you are planning. You get a written scope and price, with no charge and no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824, 8am–8pm, seven days, or use the contact form. We work out of New Rochelle, NY, with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Tolland County
- Ellington, bordering Somers to the south
- Stafford, Somers’ neighbor to the east
- Enfield, which Somers was part of as East Enfield
- Spray foam insulation
- Basement and rim joist insulation
- Air sealing