Attic Insulation in Butner, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Butner, NC, in Granville County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Butner and Its Homes
Butner grew up on part of Camp Butner, a World War II army post set up in 1942 on farmland in southern Granville County. The state ran the community after the war, and Butner only became a town on November 1, 2007.
Butner, in Granville County, grew from 7,963 people in 2020 to 8,112 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 13.8 square miles. That makes Butner the second-largest town in Granville County.
Butner has about 3,200 housing units, 13 percent of Granville County's; about 74 percent of the town's households own their home.
Butner at a Glance
- County: Granville County
- Population: 8,112 (2025), 7,963 (2020), up 1.9%
- Land area: 13.8 square miles (588 people each)
- Housing units: about 3,200 (±292)
- Median year built: 1991 (±3); Granville County: 1992
- Owner-occupied: 74% (±6); Granville County: 77%
- Detached houses: 56% (±6); Granville County: 71%
- Attached houses: under 3%
- Apartments: 19% (±7)
- Mobile homes: 24% (±6)
- Climate zone: 4 (state code), 3 (2021 map)
- ENERGY STAR target for Butner attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Butner, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Butner Homes and Their Attics
Homes Built After the Army Left
When the camp was phased out, more than 20,000 acres went back to the farmers who had owned them. The state turned the army hospital into a psychiatric hospital and a set of barracks into a training school. The housing figures on this page put most homes here in 1970 or later. In houses from those years, look at the kitchen. If a dropped soffit is boxed in above the cabinets, that box can be open to the attic, and air from the kitchen rises straight through it. It gets capped and sealed from the attic side first, then the insulation goes back over it.
Attic Insulation in Butner
Some 17 percent of Butner's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
From 1990 to 2009, about 45 percent of Butner homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
The Local Climate
Butner's center sits about 370 feet above sea level, 13 miles from NOAA's Durham station, the best match for Butner. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,750 heating and 1,350 cooling degree days a year, so at Butner's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 56 percent of Butner housing units are detached single-family houses, about 24 percent mobile homes.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 30 percent of Butner homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
About 30 percent of Butner's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: under 1%, about 15 units
- 1940s: 3% (±2), about 105 units
- 1950s: 8% (±4), about 240 units
- 1960s: 5% (±2), about 170 units
- 1970s: 12% (±4), about 380 units
- 1980s: 19% (±5), about 590 units
- 1990s: 22% (±6), about 700 units
- 2000s: 22% (±5), about 700 units
- 2010s: 7% (±3), about 220 units
- 2020 or later: 1% (±1), about 30 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Butner
In Butner, about 62 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: 62% (±7), about 1,670 households; Granville County: 65%
- Piped gas: 31% (±5), about 830 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 4% (±3), about 105 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy serves most of Butner, Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Butner is in the Granville County franchise of Enbridge Gas North Carolina, and 31 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas. Duke's free House Call fits many Butner homes: about 62 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Butner: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Butner, check its current terms; the Granville County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Butner
In a Butner attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Butner attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Butner
Nearest to Butner first.
Stem, NC
4 miles north
Median home built 2011 (Butner: 1991); 1,023 people, about an eighth of Butner's population
Attic insulation in StemDurham, NC
14 miles southwest
305,561 people, about 38 times Butner's population
Insulation contractor serving DurhamFranklinton, NC
16 miles east
Median home built 1959 (Butner: 1991); Power from Duke Energy Progress (Butner: Duke Energy)
Attic insulation in Franklinton
Butner Insulation FAQs
Is any part of Butner covered by historic district rules?
None that the state has on file. Nothing in Butner appears in the National Register lists kept by the State Historic Preservation Office. When that office counted the county's preservation commissions in 2023, Oxford had the only one. The camp held barracks, firing ranges and support buildings, and the state later reused some of them. So no district review touches attic work here.
Butner only became a town in 2007. Does that change anything for my attic?
Not for the attic itself. From 1947 the State Board of Mental Health could adopt and enforce rules for development here. That job later passed to what is now the state Department of Health and Human Services, and the town took over in 2007. Whoever governed when your house went up, the attic is judged as it stands. We measure the depth, find the gaps around wires, pipes and the hatch, and seal them before adding more.
Does attic insulation in Butner need a permit?
Butner Town Hall can say whether Granville County Building Permits, the town itself or another office handles permits in Butner; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Butner, NOAA normals for the Durham station, Duke Energy (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Butner notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Town History, Town of Butner
- Incorporation, Town of Butner
- Butner, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Camp Butner, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Year Structure Built (table B25034), Butner town, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter
- Seal Air Leaks in the Attic, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- NC Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- Historic Preservation Commission Staff in North Carolina, listed by county, as of 2/20/2023 (NC HPO)
Butner, NC
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Serving Butner, NC
Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Butner and the rest of Granville County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Butner attic, or call (336) 870-3893.