Clarkton, NC
9 miles southeast
Median home built 1974 (Bladenboro: 1972); 604 people, about a third of Bladenboro's population
Attic insulation in ClarktonAttic Insulation in Bladenboro, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Bladenboro, NC, in Bladen County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Bladenboro and Its Homes
Bladenboro, in southwestern Bladen County, grew from a turpentine still into a cotton mill town and was incorporated in 1903. No state survey or National Register nomination has described its houses, so the clues to an attic here come from the house over it.
Bladenboro, in Bladen County, grew from 1,646 people in 2020 to 1,656 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 2.21 square miles. That makes Bladenboro the second-largest town in Bladen County.
Bladenboro has about 950 housing units, 6 percent of Bladen County's; about 47 percent of the town's households own their home.
Bladenboro at a Glance
- County: Bladen County
- Population: 1,656 (2025), 1,646 (2020), up 0.6%
- Land area: 2.21 square miles (749 people each)
- Housing units: about 950 (±167)
- Median year built: 1972 (±5); Bladen County: 1983
- Owner-occupied: 47% (±11); Bladen County: 69%
- Detached houses: 64% (±13); Bladen County: 62%
- Apartments: 18% (±8)
- Mobile homes: 18% (±9)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Bladenboro attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Bladenboro, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Bladenboro Homes and Their Attics
From Turpentine Still to Cotton Mill
A 2003 resolution of the General Assembly traces the town's industry to a turpentine distillery set up in 1857. Two Bridger brothers came from South Carolina in 1885, and their family later founded the Bank of Bladenboro and Bladenboro Cotton Mills, with the railroad carrying out what the town made. A historian who grew up here wrote of the 1930s and 1940s town as a place the mill company dominated. By the housing figures on this page, roughly half of the town's homes went up before 1970. If yours has been added onto over the years, each roof section can hide a separate attic with its own depth. We measure each one, so no part of the house is left thin.
Attic Insulation in Bladenboro
If the joists show above the insulation in a Bladenboro attic, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1940 to 1969, before the state's 1978 insulation rule, about 40 percent of Bladenboro homes often have little insulation.
The Local Climate
Bladenboro's center sits about 100 feet above sea level, 9 miles from NOAA's Whiteville 7 NW station, the best match for Bladenboro. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,910 heating and 1,760 cooling degree days a year, so at Bladenboro's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
With about 950 housing units in Bladenboro, read the figures as rough proportions.
From 1990 to 2009, about 10 percent of Bladenboro homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
Renters hold about 53 percent of Bladenboro's occupied homes, so many attic decisions rest with landlords.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 6% (±5), about 55 units
- 1940s: 15% (±10), about 140 units
- 1950s: 11% (±6), about 105 units
- 1960s: 14% (±5), about 135 units
- 1970s: 22% (±12), about 205 units
- 1980s: 15% (±5), about 145 units
- 1990s: 7% (±5), about 65 units
- 2000s: under 9%, about 40 units
- 2010s: 5% (±4), about 45 units
- 2020 or later: under 4%, about 15 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Bladenboro
In Bladenboro, about 75 percent of homes heat with electricity; where that heat is forced air, ducts often run through the attic.
Air sealing comes first, as the EPA advises: wire and pipe holes, wall tops and soffits.
How Homes Here Are Heated
- Electricity: 75% (±11), about 650 households; Bladen County: 75%
- Piped gas: 11% (±5), about 90 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 14% (±7), about 120 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress serves most of Bladenboro, Four County EMC its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Bladenboro is in the Bladen County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and 11 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas. Duke's free House Call fits many Bladenboro homes: about 75 percent heat with electricity. Bottled or tank gas, bought by the delivery, heats about 14 percent of homes in Bladenboro.
Rebate to check in Bladenboro: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Bladenboro, check its current terms; the Bladen County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Bladenboro
In a Bladenboro attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Bladenboro attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Bladenboro
Nearest to Bladenboro first.
Dublin, NC
9 miles northeast
267 people, about a sixth of Bladenboro's population
Attic insulation in DublinBoardman, NC
11 miles southwest
163 people, about a tenth of Bladenboro's population
Attic insulation in BoardmanElizabethtown, NC
12 miles northeast
Median home built 1978 (Bladenboro: 1972); 3,306 people to Bladenboro's 1,656
Attic insulation in ElizabethtownOrrum, NC
13 miles southwest
61 people, under a tenth of Bladenboro's population
Attic insulation in Orrum
Bladenboro Insulation FAQs
Is any part of Bladenboro listed as historic?
No. The National Register list kept by state preservation officials has no entry for Bladenboro, and Bladen County is missing from its 2023 roster of local preservation commissions. So there is no historic district here and no review board for outside changes. Work in your attic is your own decision. The usual checks for an older house still come first: the wiring, the roof and any chimney.
Why is the old insulation in my Bladenboro attic dark in patches?
Because house air has been leaking up through it. ENERGY STAR explains that insulation turns dark where it filters dust out of air rising from the rooms below, and it calls that dirt evidence of air movement. The gaps under those patches are found and sealed first, around wiring holes, pipes and flues. The darkened material can stay. In a house from the mill decades, such leaks may have been at work a long time.
Does attic insulation in Bladenboro need a permit?
Bladenboro Town Hall can say whether Bladen County Building Inspections Department, the town itself or another office handles permits in Bladenboro; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Bladenboro, NOAA normals for the Whiteville 7 NW station, Duke Energy Progress (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Bladenboro notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Bladenboro, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Resolution 2003-1 (Senate Joint Resolution 21), Honoring the Founders of the Town of Bladenboro on the Town's 100th Anniversary, General Assembly of North Carolina
- Architectural Survey Status, Records, and Reports (survey reports by county), NC State Historic Preservation Office
- NC Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- "My World Is Gone": Memories of Life in a Southern Cotton Mill Town, by George G. Suggs, Jr. (Wayne State University Press, 2002), publisher's description
- Year Structure Built (table B25034), Bladenboro town, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Historic Preservation Commission Staff in North Carolina, listed by county, as of 2/20/2023 (NC HPO)
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
Bladenboro, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Bladenboro and the rest of Bladen County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Bladenboro attic, or call (336) 870-3893.