Attic Insulation in Calabash, NC

About Calabash and Its Homes

Calabash began as Pea Landing, a shipping point on a branch of the Little River by the South Carolina line. It was still a small fishing village with a handful of seafood restaurants when it incorporated in 1973, and in 1954 Hurricane Hazel came ashore close by.

Calabash, in Brunswick County, grew from 1,987 people in 2020 to 3,069 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 4.53 square miles.

Calabash has about 1,770 housing units, 2 percent of Brunswick County's; 70 percent of the town's households own their home.

A long tan courthouse with a columned center behind a parking lot — The Brunswick County Courthouse near Bolivia, the county seat. (Bolivia is 26 miles northeast of Calabash; no suitable free-to-use photo of Calabash itself was found.) Photo: DiscoA340, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped and resized

Calabash at a Glance

County: Brunswick County
Population: 3,069 (2025), 1,987 (2020), up 54.5%
Land area: 4.53 square miles (677 people each)
Housing units: about 1,770 (±207)
Median year built: 1995 (±3); Brunswick County: 2002
Owner-occupied: 70% (±6); Brunswick County: 85%
Detached houses: 53% (±11); Brunswick County: 69%
Apartments: 21% (±10)
Mobile homes: 25% (±8)
Climate zone: 3 on both maps
ENERGY STAR target for Calabash attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)

Census Bureau estimates for Calabash, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).

Calabash Homes and Their Attics

Where Hurricane Hazel Came Ashore

The National Weather Service puts the landfall of Hurricane Hazel, on October 15, 1954, near Calabash. It is the only Category 4 hurricane on record to strike the North Carolina coast. Its surge reached as high as 18 feet at Calabash, arriving with the highest lunar tide of the year. Brunswick County's 2010 architectural survey names storms like Hazel, along with rot and termites in a humid climate, among the reasons so few early buildings survive in the county. For an attic here, the worry is water from above. After any big storm, look for new ceiling stains and matted, damp insulation. Those point to a roof leak, so the roof is fixed first, and then the wet insulation is vacuumed out and replaced.

Attic Insulation in Calabash

If the joists show above the insulation in a Calabash attic, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.

From 1990 to 2009, about 50 percent of Calabash homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.

The Local Climate

Calabash's center sits about 50 feet above sea level, 8 miles from NOAA's Longwood station, the best match for Calabash. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,670 heating and 1,830 cooling degree days a year, so Calabash attics work in both seasons.

Readings change over short distances around Calabash: NOAA's North Myrtle Beach Airport, SC station, 11 miles away, averages about 2,340 heating degree days. The state energy code marks Brunswick County warm and humid.

Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic

About 53 percent of Calabash housing units are detached single-family houses, about 25 percent mobile homes.

Built from 1970 to 1989, about 30 percent of Calabash homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.

About 15 percent of Calabash's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.

Homes by Year Built

Before 1940: under 1%
1940s: under 1%
1950s: under 6%, about 50 units
1960s: 3% (±3), about 60 units
1970s: 8% (±5), about 145 units
1980s: 20% (±8), about 350 units
1990s: 33% (±10), about 590 units
2000s: 15% (±7), about 265 units
2010s: 13% (±5), about 235 units
2020 or later: 4% (±3), about 75 units

Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Calabash

In Calabash, 91 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: 91% (±3), about 1,040 households; Brunswick County: 87%
Piped gas: under 9%, about 45 households
Bottled or tank gas: 5% (±3), about 55 households

Power, Gas and Rebates

Power in and around Calabash comes from Duke Energy Progress and Brunswick Electric; your bill says which. For gas, Calabash is in the Brunswick County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Calabash. Duke's free House Call fits many Calabash homes: 91 percent heat with electricity.

Rebate to check if Duke Energy Progress serves your Calabash home: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Calabash, check its current terms; the Brunswick County page lists every program.

Attic Insulation Removal in Calabash

In a Calabash attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Calabash attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.

Free Estimate in Calabash

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Also Serving Near Calabash

Nearest to Calabash first.

Carolina Shores, NC

1 mile northwest
Median home built 2004 (Calabash: 1995)
Attic insulation in Carolina Shores⁠
Sunset Beach, NC

3 miles east
Median home built 2000 (Calabash: 1995); Its NOAA station logs about 240 fewer heating degree days than Calabash's
Attic insulation in Sunset Beach⁠
Ocean Isle Beach, NC

5 miles east
Median home built 1996 (Calabash: 1995); 940 people, about a third of Calabash's population
Attic insulation in Ocean Isle Beach⁠
Shallotte, NC

12 miles northeast
Attic insulation in Shallotte⁠
Holden Beach, NC

14 miles east
Median home built 1992 (Calabash: 1995); 916 people, about a third of Calabash's population
Attic insulation in Holden Beach⁠

Every town in Brunswick County. See all service areas.

Calabash Insulation FAQs

Is Hickory Hall, or any other old Calabash house, listed as historic?

The state's National Register list has no Calabash entry, Hickory Hall included. Brunswick County's 2010 survey dates that timber frame plantation house to the 1810s and places it in what is now downtown Calabash. A two-story Greek Revival section went on soon after 1841. The survey put the house up as a candidate for the Study List, the state's first step toward a Register listing. Brunswick County had no preservation commission on the 2023 state roster either, so no historic body reviews attic work here.

Can you insulate the roof space over a Calabash restaurant or shop?

Yes. Commercial insulation is one of the services we offer, along with air sealing. The town's own history counts about 30 restaurants, plus shops, offices and other businesses. Where one of those buildings has an attic above its ceiling, we treat it much like a house attic: close the openings first, then add insulation evenly, and leave the vents clear. Any exhaust duct that ends in that space instead of outdoors gets pointed out before the work starts.

Does attic insulation in Calabash need a permit?

Calabash Town Hall can say whether Brunswick County Permits & Development, the town itself or another office handles permits in Calabash; ask before work starts.

Helpful Guides

Brunswick County is warm and humid by the state energy code: attic condensation and mold and attic ventilation

Sources

Census Bureau figures for Calabash, NOAA normals for the Longwood station (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.

Sources for the Calabash notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):

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