Mocksville, NC
6 miles north
6,282 people, about 6 times Cooleemee's population
Insulation contractor serving MocksvilleAttic Insulation in Cooleemee, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Cooleemee, NC, 6 miles from Mocksville, plus removal and air sealing.
About Cooleemee and Its Homes
Cooleemee began in 1898 as a company town for a cotton mill on the South Yadkin River, and its streets of company-built houses spread north and east from the mill. The town itself was not incorporated until 1985, decades after the mill sold those houses to private buyers in 1953.
Cooleemee, in Davie County, grew from 948 people in 2020 to 1,002 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 0.75 square miles.
Cooleemee has about 500 housing units, 3 percent of Davie County's; about 75 percent of the town's households own their home.
Cooleemee at a Glance
- County: Davie County
- Population: 1,002 (2025), 948 (2020), up 5.7%
- Land area: 0.75 square miles (1,336 people each)
- Housing units: about 500 (±103)
- Median year built: 1939 or earlier; Davie County: 1990
- Owner-occupied: 75% (±12); Davie County: 82%
- Detached houses: 93% (±7); Davie County: 75%
- Attached houses: under 3%
- Mobile homes: 4% (±4)
- Climate zone: 4 (state code), 3 (2021 map)
- ENERGY STAR target for Cooleemee attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Cooleemee, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Cooleemee Homes and Their Attics
T-Plan Mill Houses Built Around One Chimney
The Cooleemee Mill Town Historic District nomination sorts the company's houses into twelve types. The most common is a one-story T-plan from 1898 to about 1911. It has a side-gable front block and a rear ell, and both roof ridges meet at a double-flue brick chimney in the middle of the house. The 2014 nomination notes that some of these chimneys were taken down above the roof when owners added central heating and air, which leaves the brick below the roofline in place. Wherever masonry comes up through a ceiling, we seal the opening around it with aluminum flashing and caulk rated for high heat. Insulation stays 2 inches clear of the brick, kept there by a small metal dam.
Attic Insulation in Cooleemee
Some 88 percent of Cooleemee's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built before 1940, about 60 percent of Cooleemee homes can hide knob-and-tube wiring and vermiculite, jobs for an electrician and an asbestos contractor first.
The Local Climate
Cooleemee's center sits about 720 feet above sea level, 4 miles from NOAA's Mocksville 5 SE station, the best match for Cooleemee. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 4,080 heating and 1,220 cooling degree days a year, so at Cooleemee's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Readings change over short distances around Cooleemee: NOAA's Salisbury 9 WNW station, 9 miles away, averages about 3,760 heating degree days.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 93 percent of Cooleemee housing units are detached single-family houses. With about 500 housing units in Cooleemee, read the figures as rough proportions.
Built from 1940 to 1969, about 25 percent of Cooleemee homes often have little insulation.
About 89 percent of Cooleemee's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 61% (±11), about 300 units
- 1940s: 9% (±5), about 45 units
- 1950s: 5% (±3), about 25 units
- 1960s: 12% (±5), about 60 units
- 1970s: under 4%
- 1980s: under 6%, about 15 units
- 1990s: under 8%, about 20 units
- 2000s: 2% (±2), about 10 units
- 2010s: under 3%
- 2020 or later: under 5%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Cooleemee
In Cooleemee, about 47 percent of homes heat with electricity and about 43 percent with piped gas; forced air from either moves through ducts.
Air sealing comes first, as the EPA advises: wire and pipe holes, wall tops and soffits.
How Homes Here Are Heated
- Electricity: 47% (±11), about 190 households; Davie County: 72%
- Piped gas: 43% (±9), about 175 households
- Bottled or tank gas: under 6%
- Oil or kerosene: 4% (±4), about 20 households
- Wood: 4% (±3), about 15 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Carolinas serves most of Cooleemee, EnergyUnited its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Cooleemee is in the Davie County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and about 43 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas. Duke's free House Call fits many Cooleemee homes: about 47 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Cooleemee: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Cooleemee, check its current terms; the Davie County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Cooleemee
In a Cooleemee attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Cooleemee attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Cooleemee
Nearest to Cooleemee first.
Cleveland, NC
9 miles southwest
Its NOAA station logs about 330 fewer heating degree days than Cooleemee's; 902 people to Cooleemee's 1,002
Attic insulation in ClevelandSpencer, NC
11 miles southeast
Its NOAA station logs about 550 fewer heating degree days than Cooleemee's; 3,450 people, about 3 times Cooleemee's population
Attic insulation in SpencerSalisbury, NC
11 miles south
36,879 people, about 37 times Cooleemee's population
Insulation company serving SalisburyEast Spencer, NC
12 miles southeast
1,650 people to Cooleemee's 1,002
Attic insulation in East Spencer
Cooleemee Insulation FAQs
Did the mill company put any insulation in Cooleemee's mill houses?
Nothing required it, and the district's nomination never mentions any. The company owned the houses until it sold them to individual buyers in 1953. North Carolina's insulation rule for new houses reaches only those begun in 1978 or later, a quarter century after that sale. The nomination also records rear porches closed in around 1930 for bathrooms, and many later rear additions. Each of those can sit under its own small roof, so we check every attic space, not only the one over the front rooms.
Will the Cooleemee historic district stop me from insulating my attic?
Not by itself. The mill town district joined the National Register in 2014. That listing honors the old company streets, but it is not a rulebook. As the State Historic Preservation Office puts it, a listing places no duty or restriction on an owner working on the house at their own expense. Davie County has no entry in the office's 2023 roster of local historic commissions, and we found no local design review in Cooleemee. Sealing and insulating an attic happen indoors in any case.
Could the old insulation in a Cooleemee attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 75 percent of Cooleemee's homes predate 1960. If a Cooleemee 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 Cooleemee need a permit?
Cooleemee Town Hall can say whether Davie County Building Inspection, the town itself or another office handles permits in Cooleemee; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy Carolinas: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Cooleemee, NOAA normals for the Mocksville 5 SE station, Duke Energy Carolinas (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Cooleemee notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Welcome Packet and FAQ, Town of Cooleemee
- Cooleemee Mill Town Historic District, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Cooleemee, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Furnace Flues Require Special Sealing Techniques, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 143-139.2, Enforcement of insulation requirements; certificate for occupancy
- 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)
Cooleemee, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Cooleemee and the rest of Davie County included.
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Send the square footage of your Cooleemee attic, or call (336) 870-3893.