Nearly half of South Huntington was built in one decade. 48.1% of the hamlet’s 3,538 homes, 1,701 of them, went up in the 1950s, and the median home dates from 1958. Another 21.7% followed in the 1960s, and 88.5% of the stock was built before 1980. Very little has been added since: 3.6% of homes date from 2000 or later.
These are owned, detached, oil-heated houses. 90.3% are detached, 89.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, and 63.3% heat with fuel oil, against 30.9% on utility gas, 2.8% on electricity and 2.0% on bottled gas. In an oil house, what the work saves arrives as fewer deliveries, worth more or less each winter as oil prices move, so we explain where the heat goes rather than put a date on the payback.
South Huntington is a hamlet in the Town of Huntington, part of the Greater Huntington area, and its homes carry a Huntington Station mailing address. Walt Whitman was born here, and the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site stands on Walt Whitman Road, Route 110, across from the Walt Whitman Shops. Abraham & Straus bought 45 acres here in 1956 for that mall, which opened in 1962 as the first enclosed shopping center on Long Island. Most South Huntington houses were already standing by then.
The houses we insulate in South Huntington
The 190 homes from before 1940 and the 156 from the 1940s are the oldest layer. In the pre-1940 houses we assume balloon framing until we have looked, with wall cavities open from the cellar to the attic, and we check for knob-and-tube wiring before anything is blown into a wall; old wiring comes out first.
The 1,701 houses of the 1950s are mostly ranches and capes. A ranch of that decade has a low, wide attic holding whatever was put down seventy years ago, usually a thin blanket or loose-fill that has settled to a few inches, laid over top plates, light boxes and a plumbing vent that were never sealed, with an oil chimney rising through an open gap. A cape has the same attic in miniature over its bedrooms, plus knee walls with no air barrier on the attic side and floor bays open to the eave, which is why its upstairs rooms are cold in winter and hot in August.
The 767 houses of the 1960s and 318 of the 1970s are splits, high ranches and colonials. They came with batts in the walls, but their attics were never sealed, their rim joists sit bare in the basement or the lower-level family room, and the high ranch has a garage under the bedrooms with a ceiling full of pipe and wire holes.
The rest is small. 224 homes date from the 1980s and 114 from the 2010s, with full walls and the usual newer-house leaks overhead: ducts in the attic, recessed lights and bath fans. The 121 attached homes and 101 units in two-unit buildings we scope as whole buildings. The 74 mobile homes are a limited job, and we say so on the phone.
Built before the mall: what is inside a 1950s South Huntington wall
Most of South Huntington’s houses were framed before ground was broken for the mall in 1961, and after the attic, their exterior walls are the big unknown. A 1950s wall is a two-by-four stud bay, three and a half inches deep, between the siding and the interior finish. What is in that bay varies house by house. We find a thin paper-backed blanket stapled to the studs, a foil-faced paper, a few inches of loose rock wool slumped to the bottom, or nothing at all.
We check before we quote. An outlet cover on an exterior wall comes off to show what is behind it; a thermal scan on a cold day shows which bays are empty and which are partly filled; and where the answer is unclear, one small inspection hole in a closet settles it. A wall that already holds a full-depth batt is not worth drilling. A wall that is empty, or holds a slumped blanket, usually is.
Filling an empty 1950s wall is done without opening it. From outside, a course of siding is lifted, a hole is drilled into each stud bay, and cellulose is blown in at high density until the bay is packed tight, so it will not settle and it also slows air moving through the wall. Each bay is checked for blocking at mid-height, which stops the fill and needs a second hole. Then the siding goes back. Where the siding is asbestos-cement shingle, we do not drill through it; the walls get filled from inside or by carefully lifting shingles. Where aluminum or vinyl covers the original siding, both layers are dealt with at each hole.
The order matters. Walls come after the attic is sealed and insulated and after the basement rim is closed, because the attic and rim move more air than the walls do, and a filled wall under a leaking attic still leaves the house cold. In a house with live old wiring, the wiring is replaced before any wall is filled.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation slows heat moving through a surface. It does nothing about air moving through a gap, and a 1950s ranch with an unsealed ceiling loses warm air into its attic through every hole in that ceiling, however many inches lie on top.
In a South Huntington ranch the sequence is: pull back or work around the old insulation at the attic floor; seal the top plates, the chimney gap with sheet metal and high-temperature sealant, the plumbing vent, the light boxes, the bath fan and the hatch; baffle the eaves so new insulation does not block the soffit vents; blow the attic to depth. Then the rim joist and the sill in the basement. Then, if they are empty, the walls. After the house is tighter, the oil burner’s 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 South Huntington
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A 1950s ranch with one attic and a basement rim sits toward the lower half. Walls are what move the number: how many exterior stud bays are empty, whether the siding is asbestos-cement shingle, and whether blocking at mid-height doubles the holes. A cape adds knee walls and slopes; a high ranch adds a garage ceiling. See what spray foam costs for 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 South Huntington
South Huntington’s electric company is PSEG Long Island. National Grid gas runs on many of the hamlet’s streets, though 63.3% of homes still burn oil, so the bill settles what you have. NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program does not serve PSEG Long Island customers, so it is not available in South Huntington.
The utility program is PSEG Long Island’s, and it begins with a free Whole House Energy Assessment: a check of insulation and drafts, a thermal scan and a blower door test. PSEG Long Island lists a $2,500 insulation rebate, covering attic, wall, floor and band joist insulation among others, 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. An oil-heated house qualifies. The insulation must be installed together with blower-door-assisted air sealing, and the rebates are paid through PSEG Long Island’s participating contractors, so ask whoever quotes the walls and attic whether they are one.
National Grid’s Long Island insulation rebate program is not taking new applications, and income-eligible households use EmPower+ instead. NYSERDA’s EmPower+ program can pay for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households (at or below $98,925 for a Suffolk household 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. Green Jobs–Green New York loans of $1,500 to $25,000 over 5, 10 or 15 years are also available, and PSEG Long Island customers apply for the on-bill version directly through PSEG Long Island.
The federal insulation tax credit (Section 25C) ended for work placed in service after 31 December 2025; 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 goes through all of it.
Code and climate in South Huntington
88.5% of South Huntington’s homes were built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, more than twenty years after the hamlet’s 1950s houses were framed. Suffolk County is Climate Zone 4.
Today’s standard for new houses is the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State, in force since 31 December 2025. It requires R-49 ceilings, or R-38 across the entire ceiling where the uncompressed R-38 reaches full height over the wall top plate at the eaves. A new wood-framed wall needs R-30, or R-20 plus R-5 continuous, or R-13 plus R-10 continuous, or R-20 continuous, which a three-and-a-half-inch 1950s stud bay cannot hold on its own. Floors need R-30, basement and crawl space walls R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous, windows U-0.27, and air leakage no more than 3.0 air changes per hour at 50 pascals.
None of that is required of a house already standing. Unaltered portions of an existing home need not comply, and New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home. If an alteration exposes wall or roof cavities, as when siding is stripped or plaster comes down, the exposed cavities must be insulated to full depth. A dense-packed stud bay is 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 South Huntington
Do you install insulation in South Huntington, NY?
Yes. Most of our South Huntington work is the 1950s ranch and cape, 48.1% of the hamlet: attics sealed and brought to depth, basement rims closed, knee walls in the capes, and exterior walls filled where they turn out to be empty. We also insulate the 1960s splits and high ranches, the pre-1940 houses where balloon framing and old wiring get checked first, and the newer houses with ducts in the attic. A Huntington Station mailing address does not change any of that.
How much does insulation cost in South Huntington?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A 1950s ranch with one attic and a basement rim sits in the lower half of that range. The walls move it most: the number of empty stud bays, whether the siding is asbestos-cement shingle, and whether mid-height blocking needs a second hole in each bay. Knee walls in a cape and a garage ceiling in a high ranch add to it. We give a written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in South Huntington?
Yes. South Huntington is served by PSEG Long Island, which 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 houses qualify, and wall insulation is on the list. Comfort Home is not open to PSEG Long Island customers. Income-eligible households can apply to EmPower+. There is no federal 25C credit on a 2026 job, and no New York state insulation credit.
We need a new oil boiler in our South Huntington house. Should the insulation come first?
If the old boiler is still running safely, yes. A boiler is sized to the house’s heat loss, and sealing the attic and rim and filling empty walls lowers that loss, so a replacement sized afterward can be smaller and run longer, steadier cycles instead of short ones. Ask the heating contractor to size it from a heat loss calculation, not from the old boiler’s label. If the boiler has already failed mid-winter, replace it now and seal and insulate after; the new unit will simply run less.
Free energy audit in South Huntington
We start in the attic: what is there and how deep, the chimney gap, the top plates, the hatch and the eaves. Then we check the exterior walls, pulling an outlet cover or two and looking for empty bays, and note the siding. Then the basement rim and sill, the boiler and its chimney, and in a high ranch the garage ceiling. If the walls are already full and the job is the attic and rim, we say so. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or reach us through our contact page. Open 8am–8pm, seven days. We 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 Huntington Station
- Insulation in Melville
- Insulation in Dix Hills
- Wall insulation
- Attic insulation
- Insulation for older homes