Attic Insulation in Carolina Beach, NC

Carolina Beach Homes and Their Attics

Cottages From the Summer Resort Years

The National Register nomination for the Joy Lee Apartment Building traces how slowly the town became a place to live all year. Storms, fires and a thin water supply kept it strictly a summer resort into the early 1920s. Even after a new well and a reservoir later that decade, only a few families stayed through the winter. Building picked up after a new highway and Snow's Cut arrived around 1930, and thirty new cottages went up in 1931 alone. A house that started out as a summer cottage was not necessarily built for winter use, and it may have grown in stages since. Look at every section of the attic before assuming anything, and make sure the bath, kitchen and dryer fans end outdoors.

Concrete Block After the 1940 Fire

On the night of September 19, 1940, a fire that started in the beach pavilion burned much of the business district. Concrete block then became the material of choice, the nomination explains, because it stood up to fire and wind and because wartime left other materials scarce. The Joy Lee itself went up in 1945 from blocks the owner's family pressed by hand, and its roof is flat and tar covered, hidden behind a parapet. A roof like that leaves little or no attic between it and the ceiling, so blown attic insulation is only an option where a real attic space can be reached. If you are not sure your house has one, say so when you call, because that is a house where a closer look comes first.