Cerro Gordo, NC
6 miles west
144 people, under a tenth of Chadbourn's population
Attic insulation in Cerro GordoAttic Insulation in Chadbourn, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Chadbourn, NC, in Columbus County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Chadbourn and Its Homes
Chadbourn started out as Timberville, a settlement that grew up around its railroad depot, and took the name of Wilmington lumber merchants when it was incorporated in 1883. In the 1890s it became the meeting point of two rail lines, and farm families recruited from the North and Midwest helped make it a strawberry market.
Chadbourn, in Columbus County, fell from 1,556 people in 2020 to 1,539 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 2.6 square miles. That makes Chadbourn the third-largest town in Columbus County.
Chadbourn has about 810 housing units, 3 percent of Columbus County's; about 54 percent of the town's households own their home.
Chadbourn at a Glance
- County: Columbus County
- Population: 1,539 (2025), 1,556 (2020), down 1.1%
- Land area: 2.6 square miles (592 people each)
- Housing units: about 810 (±150)
- Owner-occupied: 54% (±12); Columbus County: 71%
- Detached houses: 64% (±10); Columbus County: 62%
- Apartments: 19% (±10)
- Mobile homes: 17% (±10)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Chadbourn attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Chadbourn, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Chadbourn Homes and Their Attics
Bungalows Around the Old Westside School
The 2022 National Register nomination for Westside High School describes modest 1920s homes on either side of the campus, bungalows and Craftsman houses among them, mixed with ranch houses and new ones. It adds that houses near the elementary school go back as far as 1900. Across Columbus County, the 1998 survey found the bungalow caught on early in the twentieth century, helped by kit house makers with plants in Wilmington. If your Chadbourn bungalow has rooms upstairs under the roof, the short knee walls hide narrow side attics. Those wedge-shaped spaces are known leak points. Each one needs its own sealing and insulation, beyond the main attic overhead.
Attic Insulation in Chadbourn
About 45 percent of Chadbourn's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 30 percent of Chadbourn homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Chadbourn's center sits about 110 feet above sea level, 6 miles from NOAA's Whiteville 7 NW station, the best match for Chadbourn. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,910 heating and 1,760 cooling degree days a year, so at Chadbourn's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
The state energy code marks Columbus County warm and humid.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 64 percent of Chadbourn housing units are detached single-family houses, about 17 percent mobile homes.
Built from 1940 to 1969, about 25 percent of Chadbourn homes often have little insulation.
About 60 percent of Chadbourn's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 19% (±9), about 155 units
- 1940s: under 4%, about 15 units
- 1950s: 12% (±6), about 95 units
- 1960s: 10% (±5), about 80 units
- 1970s: 15% (±5), about 120 units
- 1980s: 16% (±10), about 135 units
- 1990s: 15% (±9), about 125 units
- 2000s: 6% (±4), about 50 units
- 2010s: under 11%, about 35 units
- 2020 or later: under 2%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Chadbourn
In Whiteville, the nearest town to Chadbourn with solid figures, about 86 percent of homes heat with electricity.
Air sealing comes first, as the EPA advises: wire and pipe holes, wall tops and soffits.
How Homes Here Are Heated
- Electricity: 81% (±12), about 500 households; Columbus County: 76%
- Piped gas: under 3%
- Bottled or tank gas: 15% (±6), about 90 households
- Wood: under 8%, about 20 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress supplies Chadbourn's electricity. For gas, Chadbourn is in the Columbus County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Chadbourn. Bottled or tank gas, bought by the delivery, heats 15 percent of homes in Chadbourn.
Rebate to check in Chadbourn: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Chadbourn, check its current terms; the Columbus County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Chadbourn
In a Chadbourn attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Chadbourn attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Chadbourn
Nearest to Chadbourn first.
Whiteville, NC
7 miles east
4,765 people, about 3 times Chadbourn's population
Attic insulation in WhitevilleBoardman, NC
10 miles northwest
163 people, about a ninth of Chadbourn's population
Attic insulation in BoardmanFair Bluff, NC
12 miles west
737 people, about half of Chadbourn's population
Attic insulation in Fair Bluff
Chadbourn Insulation FAQs
Does the Westside High School listing in Chadbourn include the houses near it?
No. The listing, added to the National Register in 2022, takes in only the school tract, where Gould Academy began teaching Black children in 1886. The homes around it fall outside the boundary. It is the only National Register listing in town. And even a listed building's private owner faces no restriction from the Register when spending private money, the state preservation office says.
Was a house from Chadbourn's strawberry boom built with any insulation?
Nothing obliged the builder to add any. State law began linking a new home's right to be occupied to insulation standards with houses started on January 1, 1978, or later. A house from the railroad and strawberry decades is generations older, and no record says its builder insulated it. We measure its depth in several spots, and we look at old wiring and chimneys before topping anything up.
Could the old insulation in a Chadbourn attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 35 percent of Chadbourn's homes predate 1960. If a Chadbourn attic holds a pebble-like gray-brown or silver-gold fill, leave it undisturbed: the EPA says vermiculite may contain asbestos.
Does attic insulation in Chadbourn need a permit?
Chadbourn Town Hall can say whether Columbus County Building Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Chadbourn; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Columbus County is warm and humid by the state energy code: attic condensation and mold and attic ventilation
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Chadbourn, 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 Chadbourn notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Chadbourn, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Columbus County Architectural Reconnaissance Survey, 1998 (Edward F. Turberg), NC HPO
- Westside High School, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- NC Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- What Is the National Register of Historic Places?, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- Building Construction Problem Areas, weatherization training text, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 143-139.2, Enforcement of insulation requirements; certificate for occupancy
Chadbourn, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Chadbourn and the rest of Columbus County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Chadbourn attic, or call (336) 870-3893.