The median Wawarsing house was built in 1957, earlier than in any other Ulster County town we cover; only the City of Kingston’s housing is older. 28.9% of the town’s 6,240 units date from 1939 or earlier, and 12.9%, 803 units, from the 1940s alone, more than Wawarsing has built in any single decade since. 71.7% of the stock predates 1980.
It is also a town of oil heat and empty houses. Fuel oil or kerosene heats 63.3% of occupied homes, bottled propane 14.0%, electricity 10.9%, wood 5.0% and utility gas 4.2%. 1,602 units stand vacant, more than in any other town we cover in the county, and 68.1% of the occupied ones are owner-occupied. 69.3% of units are detached houses, 7.2% sit in two-unit buildings and 8.4% in buildings of three or four, 152 are in buildings of fifty or more, and 501 are mobile homes.
Wawarsing lies in the western part of Ulster County, with Sullivan County along its western and southern borders. The Shawangunk Ridge forms its eastern edge, the northern part of the town is the southern tip of the Catskills, and most of Minnewaska State Park and Sam’s Point Preserve lie inside it. US 209 strings the main communities together: Spring Glen, Ellenville, Napanoch, the hamlet of Wawarsing and Kerhonkson, which the town shares with Rochester. Ellenville, at the junction of Routes 52 and 209, is the town’s one village; Cragsmoor, Greenfield Park, Lackawack, Ulster Heights and The Cape are among its hamlets, and the Rondout Creek passes through the town.
The houses we insulate in Wawarsing
The 1,801 units from 1939 or earlier stand in a place with a long record: Warnaar Hoornbeek leased land at Wawarsing in 1685, British raiders burned farms here during the Revolution, and the O&W Railroad station at Port Ben is on the National Register. An old farmhouse in the hills or a village house in Ellenville or Napanoch was built with empty walls, often on a stone foundation. Cold air comes in low, along that foundation and through the sill, and warm air leaves high, out the tops of wall bays that open straight into the attic. The bays get stopped at both ends and dense-packed, the sill gets sealed, and the wiring gets checked for knob-and-tube before anything is filled.
More of Wawarsing went up in the 1940s than in any decade after it: 803 units, followed by 771 in the 1950s. These are small capes, bungalows and one-story houses, often with a few inches of old rock wool on the attic floor or none, walls with nothing in them or a thin blanket, and a porch or back room added over a crawl space or on a slab. The porch that became a bedroom is the classic cold room: its floor sits over open air and its low roof has no space for depth. We close and insulate the crawl space or the floor from below, and fill or foam the low roof depending on how it is framed.
The 716 units from the 1960s are mostly ranches, and the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s added 574, 511 and 533 units with insulated walls that leak at the rim joist, the attic hatch and the garage wall. The 449 units in two-unit buildings and 524 in buildings of three or four are scoped as whole buildings, since a shared cellar and roof make one air path. The 501 mobile homes are scoped from underneath.
Then the fuel. With 63.3% of homes on oil, 14.0% on propane, and little or no utility gas in the town or in Ellenville, almost every Wawarsing house is heated from a delivery truck. A gallon the house no longer loses through its attic and sill is a gallon not delivered, and delivered fuel generally costs more than utility gas for the same heat, so the same sealing and insulation job tends to pay for itself faster here than in a town on gas mains. Your own delivery history is the best measure of what that is worth.
1,602 empty houses, and the ones coming back
Wawarsing has more vacant housing units than any other town we cover in Ulster County. A vacant unit can be a house for sale or rent, a seasonal place, or one simply closed up. When one comes back into use as a home, the order of work differs from a house lived in all along.
Water comes first. A house left through several winters may have a roof leak that soaked the attic insulation, a cellar that took on water, or pipes that froze. Wet or moldy insulation comes out, and so does insulation animals have nested in; the roof, gutters and grading get fixed before anything new goes up; and a wet cellar is dealt with before its walls are insulated. Insulation laid over a moisture problem hides it and makes it worse.
Renovation comes second, and it is the opportunity. When a house is opened to the studs, every wall and roof cavity is exposed, and New York’s code requires exposed cavities to be filled to full depth. Closed cell foam in open stud bays air-seals and insulates in one pass, and open cell fills a roof slope that will be finished below. Two program limits are worth knowing before you plan: Comfort Home does not cover new construction or additions, and NYSERDA’s Green Jobs–Green New York loans are not available for extensive gut rehabilitation.
We seal before we insulate
Insulation holds back heat moving through a wall, ceiling or floor. Air moving through a crack carries heat right past it. In an old Wawarsing house on a stone foundation the air enters along the sill and leaves through the top of the walls and the attic, and more insulation in the attic alone barely slows that current.
In that house the sequence is: seal the sill and rim joist from the cellar, with closed cell foam where the stone is uneven; stop the wall bays at the top from the attic; seal around the chimney with sheet metal and fire-rated sealant, then the plumbing and wiring holes and the hatch; insulate the floor and low roof of any porch room; then dense-pack the walls and bring the attic to depth.
If a quote specifies a depth of insulation and never mentions air sealing, it is half a job.
What insulation costs in Wawarsing
Most of our projects run between $3,500 and $12,500. In Wawarsing the number moves with the age of the house and the state it is in. A 1940s house is priced on its attic floor, its walls and whatever porch room or addition hangs off it; a pre-war house adds the sill and the stone cellar. A house coming back from vacancy may need wet or damaged insulation removed first, which we price as its own line so you can see it. A two-family or a three- or four-unit building is priced as one building.
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 Wawarsing
Wawarsing, Ellenville included, is Central Hudson electric territory, and the town has little or no utility gas service. Central Hudson customers use NYSERDA’s Comfort Home for insulation incentives, or EmPower+ if the household is income-eligible.
Comfort Home 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 serves Con Edison, NYSEG, Central Hudson and Orange & Rockland electric customers in market-rate one- to four-family homes. 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: at no cost up to $14,000 for lower-income households, or half the cost up to $7,000 for moderate-income households in our area, through an EmPower+ contractor. It covers a primary residence only, so a second home does not qualify.
NYSERDA’s Green Jobs–Green New York program lends $1,500 to $25,000, unsecured, over 5, 10 or 15 years, on the Central Hudson bill or as a regular monthly loan; loans must be paid back. For an oil-heated house headed toward a heat pump, 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. Comfort Home and EmPower+ pay through their 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 a 2026 job carries no federal insulation credit, and New York has no state tax credit for insulation. More in our New York and New Jersey rebate guide.
Code and climate in Wawarsing
71.7% of Wawarsing’s housing was built before 1980. New York’s first statewide energy code took effect on 1 January 1979, decades after the town’s 1940s and 1950s houses went up. Ulster County is Climate Zone 6.
The 2025 Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has applied to new homes since 31 December 2025. Its table sets ceilings at R-49, with R-38 accepted over the full ceiling where it keeps its uncompressed height over the wall top plates at the eaves; floors at R-30; basement and crawl space walls at R-15 continuous, R-19, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous; and windows at U-0.27. A new home in Zone 6 must test no leakier than 2.5 air changes per hour at 50 pascals, against 3.0 in Zones 4 and 5.
An existing house is treated differently. Parts left unaltered do not have to comply, no blower door test is required when you insulate an existing home, and cavities opened during the work are filled to full depth, which matters most in a house being renovated. ENERGY STAR recommends R-60 for an attic with no insulation in Zones 5 and 6, and R-49 where there are already 3 to 4 inches.
Common questions about insulation in Wawarsing
Do you install insulation in Wawarsing, NY?
Yes, across the town and the Village of Ellenville: Napanoch, Spring Glen, the hamlet of Wawarsing, the Wawarsing side of Kerhonkson, Cragsmoor, Greenfield Park, Lackawack, Ulster Heights and The Cape. With a median build year of 1957, most of the work is in older houses: pre-war farmhouses and village houses, 1940s and 50s capes and one-story houses with added porch rooms, and houses coming back into use after sitting vacant. We also do two-families, small apartment buildings and mobile homes.
How much does insulation cost in Wawarsing?
Most projects run $3,500 to $12,500. In a 1940s or 50s house the drivers are the attic floor, the walls and any porch room or addition; in a pre-war house, the sill and stone cellar as well. If a house has sat empty and its attic insulation is wet, soiled or full of nests, removal is priced as its own line so you can see it. A building of two to four units is priced as one building. You get the written scope and price after a free walk-through.
Are there insulation rebates in Wawarsing?
Yes. Wawarsing and Ellenville are Central Hudson electric territory, so a market-rate one- to four-family home 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+ for a primary residence. There is no federal 25C credit on 2026 work and no New York state insulation tax credit.
We bought a Wawarsing house that sat empty for years. What should happen before it is insulated?
Start with water. Fix any roof leak, gutter or grading problem, and deal with a wet cellar, because insulation laid over a moisture problem hides it. Pull out attic insulation that is wet, moldy or has had animals in it. Have an electrician check for knob-and-tube and damaged wiring. Then, if walls are coming open for a renovation, insulate them while they are open, since New York’s code requires exposed cavities to be filled to full depth. Seal the sill, the wall tops and the attic, and insulate last.
Free energy audit in Wawarsing
In a Wawarsing house we start in the cellar or crawl space, at the stone, the sill and any sign of water, check any porch room or addition, and finish in the attic at the old insulation, the tops of the wall bays and the chimney. In a house that has been vacant we tell you plainly what has to be removed or repaired before insulation makes sense. Then a written scope and a price. No charge, no obligation.
Call 914-825-6824 or use the contact form, any day from 8am to 8pm. We work out of New Rochelle, NY, with a 100-plus in-house crew that never subcontracts.
Learn more
- Insulation contractors across Ulster County
- Insulation contractors in the Town of Rochester
- Insulation contractors in Shawangunk
- Insulating older homes
- Crawl space insulation
- Spray foam insulation
- What happens during an energy audit