Bladenboro, NC
9 miles northwest
Median home built 1972 (Clarkton: 1974); 1,656 people, about 3 times Clarkton's population
Attic insulation in BladenboroAttic Insulation in Clarkton, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Clarkton, NC, 9 miles from Bladenboro, plus removal and air sealing.
About Clarkton and Its Homes
Clarkton began as Brown Marsh Station, a depot on the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad, and took merchant John Hector Clark's name in 1874. Tobacco made it a Border Belt market town before its 1901 incorporation, and it grew slowly for a century rather than in one boom, so its houses span many decades.
Clarkton, in Bladen County, fell from 613 people in 2020 to 604 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 1.25 square miles. That makes Clarkton the fourth-largest town in Bladen County.
Clarkton has about 300 housing units, 2 percent of Bladen County's.
Clarkton at a Glance
- County: Bladen County
- Population: 604 (2025), 613 (2020), down 1.5%
- Land area: 1.25 square miles (483 people each)
- Housing units: about 300 (±89)
- Median year built: 1974 (±4); Bladen County: 1983
- Owner-occupied: 67% (±12); Bladen County: 69%
- Apartments: 16% (±14)
- Mobile homes: 15% (±14)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Clarkton attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Clarkton, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Clarkton Homes and Their Attics
A Tobacco Market Town That Never Boomed
The 1986 nomination for the old depot tells how the railroad kept Clarkton going without ever setting off a boom. Turpentine, lumber and cotton went out by rail first. After the Panic of 1893, tobacco took over. Men sent by the Reynolds tobacco company taught local farmers to grow and cure the leaf, and the first auction warehouse in Bladen County opened here in 1898. With growth that steady and slow, no single era stamped the town, so we treat each attic as its own case. ENERGY STAR warns that the edge of an attic, along the eaves, can carry far less insulation than its center. We check across the whole span and bring the thin edges up to match.
Attic Insulation in Clarkton
About 35 percent of Clarkton's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 45 percent of Clarkton homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Clarkton's center sits about 90 feet above sea level, 9 miles from NOAA's Whiteville 7 NW station, the best match for Clarkton. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,910 heating and 1,760 cooling degree days a year, so at Clarkton's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
With about 300 housing units in Clarkton, read the figures as rough proportions.
Built from 1940 to 1969, about 30 percent of Clarkton homes often have little insulation.
About 70 percent of Clarkton's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 7% (±6), about 20 units
- 1940s: under 5%
- 1950s: 19% (±10), about 55 units
- 1960s: 10% (±6), about 30 units
- 1970s: 36% (±12), about 110 units
- 1980s: 10% (±8), about 30 units
- 1990s: under 8%, about 10 units
- 2010s: under 5%
- 2020 or later: under 5%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Clarkton
In Elizabethtown, the nearest town to Clarkton with solid figures, about 74 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
- Piped gas: 14% (±12), about 30 households
- Bottled or tank gas: under 18%, about 20 households
- Wood: under 8%
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress serves most of Clarkton, Four County EMC its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Clarkton is in the Bladen County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and about 14 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas.
Rebate to check in Clarkton: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Clarkton, check its current terms; the Bladen County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Clarkton
In a Clarkton attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Clarkton attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Clarkton
Nearest to Clarkton first.
Elizabethtown, NC
10 miles north
Median home built 1978 (Clarkton: 1974); 3,306 people, about 5 times Clarkton's population
Attic insulation in ElizabethtownWhiteville, NC
11 miles south
Median home built 1971 (Clarkton: 1974); 4,765 people, about 8 times Clarkton's population
Attic insulation in WhitevilleDublin, NC
12 miles north
267 people, about half of Clarkton's population
Attic insulation in DublinLake Waccamaw, NC
14 miles southeast
Median home built 1977 (Clarkton: 1974); 1,239 people, about twice Clarkton's population
Attic insulation in Lake Waccamaw
Clarkton Insulation FAQs
Clarkton's old depot is on the National Register. Does that affect my house?
No. The listing covers the depot alone: the 1915 Seaboard Air Line station that the town moved a short way off the railroad's land in 1975 and made its town hall. Two other listings, Brown Marsh Presbyterian Church and the John Hector Clark House, are outside the town limits. State preservation officials say being listed does not tie an owner's hands when the money spent is private. Nor does Bladen County appear among the counties with a local preservation commission in the state's 2023 listing.
Who should look at the wiring in an old Clarkton house before insulating?
An electrician, and before anything else. The tobacco market years here began in the 1890s, so a house in town may be old enough to have been wired before 1930. ENERGY STAR warns that the knob-and-tube wiring of that period can catch fire where insulation smothers it. If live knob-and-tube turns up in the attic, that section stays bare until the circuit is replaced. We do not blow insulation over it.
Could the old insulation in a Clarkton attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 25 percent of Clarkton's homes predate 1960. If a Clarkton 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 Clarkton need a permit?
Clarkton Town Hall can say whether Bladen County Building Inspections Department, the town itself or another office handles permits in Clarkton; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Clarkton, 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 Clarkton notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- (former) Clarkton Depot, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Clarkton, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- 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
- Historic Preservation Commission Staff in North Carolina, listed by county, as of 2/20/2023 (NC HPO)
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
Clarkton, NC
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Serving Clarkton, NC
Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Clarkton and the rest of Bladen County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Clarkton attic, or call (336) 870-3893.