The Home Insulators

Insulation Contractors in Ulster, NY

The Town of Ulster is one town inside Ulster County, not the county itself. It is the county’s newest town, created in 1879 from land taken from the Town of Kingston, and it lies directly north of the City of Kingston with the Hudson River as its eastern line: Lake Katrine, where the town hall is, East Kingston, Lincoln Park, Hillside, Ruby, Eddyville and Ulster Landing. For the county as a whole, see our Ulster County page.

The number that sets the Town of Ulster apart is 845: that many of its 5,811 housing units, 14.5%, are mobile homes. 59.4% are detached houses and 3.0% attached, 7.8% sit in buildings of five to nine units and 5.4% in buildings of ten to nineteen, and 67.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

The rest of the stock is post-war and later. The median unit dates from 1973. Only 8.0% predates 1940; 24.0% is from the 1940s and 50s, 26.6% from the 1960s and 70s, 22.8% from the 1980s and 90s and 18.6% from 2000 on. Fuel oil or kerosene heats 40.9% of occupied homes, utility gas 30.6%, electricity 13.8% and bottled propane 11.3%.

The houses we insulate in the Town of Ulster

The town stayed mostly rural and agricultural until after the Second World War. Then IBM opened its Kingston facility, and housing developments, schools and businesses followed across Ulster, the City of Kingston and the towns around them. The 1950s alone built 18.6% of today’s stock and the 1960s another 14.4%, and those two decades are the core of our work here.

A 1950s ranch was built with little or nothing in its walls and a few inches in its attic. Seventy years on, that attic insulation has settled, the top plates were never sealed, the bath fan vents into the attic, and wind washes across the first two feet of ceiling at the eaves. The capes of the same years fail at the knee wall: no air barrier on its back side, floor joists open to the eave, and a slope with no baffle.

The 1960s brought the split-level and the raised ranch. A split fails where its levels meet: the band joist between them is open to the garage or the attic, and the bedroom over the garage sits on a floor with joist bays open to garage air. A raised ranch loses heat at the rim joist on top of its block wall and through a lower level set half below grade.

The 879 units from the 1980s have insulated walls and attics of R-19 to R-30, the standard of their day, and they leak at the rim, the recessed lights, the attic hatch and the wall shared with the garage. The 539 units built in the 2010s, 9.3% of the town, are tighter on paper; in them we find ductwork running through a vented attic, bonus rooms over garages and bath fans that never reach outdoors.

The older town is small but real. East Kingston, first called Flatbush, had cement works, ice houses and brickyards; Eddyville grew with the Delaware and Hudson Canal and the Eddy family’s mills on the Rondout; bluestone quarrying was Ruby’s main industry. The 465 units built in 1939 or earlier get the pre-war treatment: balloon-framed walls blocked and dense-packed, the sill sealed on its stone foundation, and knob-and-tube ruled out before anything goes into a wall. The 455 units in buildings of five to nine and 315 in buildings of ten to nineteen are apartments or condominiums, where the attic and walls belong to an owner or an association, not to the resident of one unit.

845 mobile homes: the belly, the roof and the marriage line

A mobile home is built differently from a site-built house, and so is the job. The floor comes first. Under it runs the belly, or bottom board, a fabric or plastic sheet that holds the floor insulation up and usually wraps the heating ducts. Once that sheet tears, from animals, an old plumbing repair or plain age, the insulation sags or falls out, the ducts hang in open air, and the floor goes cold. We repair and seal the bottom board, seal the duct joints, and blow insulation back into the belly cavity.

The roof is second. Many mobile homes have a shallow, bowed roof cavity with a few inches of fiberglass and no attic to walk in, and it gets filled from the roof edge or from above, depending on the roof. On a double-wide, the marriage line where the two halves meet often leaves a strip of open air along the full length of the ceiling and floor, and the crossover duct between the halves leaks; sealing both costs little and matters a lot. Window and door frames on older units get sealed too.

Skirting matters less than most people expect. A sealed and insulated belly keeps the floor and the water lines on the warm side; the skirting only slows the wind underneath. If the home sits on a rented lot in a park, the home itself is still yours to improve, but check the park’s rules before anything changes on the outside.

We seal before we insulate

Insulation slows heat moving through a surface. It does nothing about air moving through a gap. A torn bottom board under a mobile home makes the point: the floor insulation can be thick, and the wind still blows straight through it.

In a post-war Town of Ulster ranch the order is: from the attic side, seal the top plates of every wall, the plumbing stack, the flue chase, the bath fan housing, the ceiling light boxes and the attic hatch; baffle the eaves so new insulation cannot choke the soffit vents; then blow cellulose to depth across the attic floor. Below, seal and insulate the rim joist. In a split-level, add the band joist between levels 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 the Town of Ulster

Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. A mobile home is usually a compact scope: the belly repaired and refilled, the ducts and marriage line sealed, the roof cavity filled. A 1950s ranch is priced on its attic area, eave baffles and rim; a split or raised ranch adds the garage ceiling, the band joists and the lower-level walls; a house built since 2000 is priced on its ducts and bonus-room floor rather than its walls.

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 the Town of Ulster

The Town of Ulster buys its electricity from Central Hudson. Central Hudson gas lines reach only parts of the town, and many homes heat with oil, propane or electricity. In New York the electric company decides which programs a home can use, and Central Hudson customers use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home, or EmPower+ if income-eligible, for insulation incentives.

NYSERDA’s Comfort Home program pays $2,500 toward sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, $3,000 if walls and floors are added, and $2,000 more toward ENERGY STAR windows, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor. It is for Con Edison, NYSEG, Central Hudson and Orange & Rockland electric customers in market-rate homes of one to four units, and its rules include manufactured homes and townhomes; condominiums in buildings of more than four units are not eligible. Comfort Home is open in 2026 and closes when the new utility programs start around January 2027, so a homeowner who wants Comfort Home money should not wait.

EmPower+, also run by NYSERDA, is for income-eligible owners and renters of one- to four-family households. Under Ulster County’s 2026 limits it pays for air sealing and insulation at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households — $50,325 or less for one person, $80,160 or less for four — or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households under $67,100 for one person or $106,880 for four, through an EmPower+ contractor. Federal HEAR funds add up to $1,600 for air sealing, insulation and ventilation on top of that.

New York’s heat pump program is moving to reward — and from 2028 require — a sealed and insulated house before it pays for a heat pump, so insulate first. Every program here pays through its own participating contractors; check eligibility and approved contractors on the MyEnergy portal. The federal Section 25C credit 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. See our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.

Code and climate in the Town of Ulster

58.6% of the town’s housing was built before 1980. The 24.0% from the 1940s and 50s went up two decades or more before New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979. Ulster County, and with it the Town of Ulster, is Climate Zone 6, the coldest zone New York’s county table gives any of the counties we serve.

For new construction, the 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has applied since 31 December 2025. Its Zone 6 requirements: R-49 in ceilings, with R-38 accepted where it covers the entire ceiling at full height over the wall top plate at the eaves; wood-framed walls at R-30, R-20 plus R-5 continuous, R-13 plus R-10 continuous, or R-20 continuous; floors at R-30; basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; windows at U-0.27; and air leakage no higher than 2.5 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, where Zones 4 and 5 allow 3.0.

Insulating a house that already stands does not trigger that table. Unaltered portions need not comply, New York’s code does not require a blower door test when you insulate an existing home, and exposed wall or roof cavities are filled to full depth. ENERGY STAR’s recommendation for Zones 5 and 6 is R-60 in an attic with no insulation and R-49 in one with 3 to 4 inches already in place.

Common questions about insulation in the Town of Ulster

Do you install insulation in Ulster, NY?

Yes, in the Town of Ulster, the town just north of the City of Kingston: Lake Katrine, East Kingston, Lincoln Park, Hillside, Ruby, Eddyville and Ulster Landing. Most of the work is post-war, with 24.0% of units from the 1940s and 50s and 26.6% from the 1960s and 70s, plus the town’s 845 mobile homes and its newer houses with ducts in the attic. We also work across the rest of Ulster County, from Saugerties to Shawangunk.

How much does insulation cost in the Town of Ulster?

Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. A mobile home is usually a compact scope: the bottom board repaired and the belly refilled, the ducts and marriage line sealed, the roof cavity filled. A 1950s ranch is priced on attic area, eave baffles and the rim joist; a split-level or raised ranch adds the garage ceiling, the band joists and the lower level. A house built since 2000 is priced on its ducts and bonus-room floor. The price comes in writing after a free walk-through.

Are there insulation rebates in the Town of Ulster?

Yes. The town is Central Hudson electric territory, so market-rate homes of one to four units, manufactured homes and townhomes included, can use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home: $2,500 for sealing and insulating the attic and rim joist, or $3,000 with walls and floors, through a NYSERDA-approved Comfort Home contractor, until it closes when new utility programs start around January 2027. Income-eligible owners and renters can use EmPower+. There is no federal 25C credit on 2026 work and no New York state insulation tax credit.

Our mobile home in the Town of Ulster has a cold floor all winter. Is it worth insulating?

Usually, yes, and the floor is where to start. A cold floor almost always means the bottom board under the home is torn or sagging, the insulation it held has dropped, and the heating ducts in the belly are leaking into open air. Repairing and sealing the bottom board, sealing the duct joints and refilling the belly is a compact job that changes how the home feels in a Climate Zone 6 winter. The roof cavity and, on a double-wide, the marriage line come next.

Free energy audit in the Town of Ulster

In a mobile home we look underneath first: the bottom board, the ducts, the water lines, the skirting. Then the roof cavity, the marriage line on a double-wide, and the window and door frames. In a site-built house we go to the attic, the eaves and the top plates, then the rim joist, the garage ceiling and, in a split, the band joist between levels. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.

Call 914-825-6824 or use the contact form. Open 8am–8pm, seven days. We work out of New Rochelle, NY with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.

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