Farmville, NC
6 miles southeast
Power from its own town system (Fountain: a town system); 4,577 people, about 12 times Fountain's population
Attic insulation in FarmvilleAttic Insulation in Fountain, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Fountain, NC, 6 miles from Farmville, plus removal and air sealing.
About Fountain and Its Homes
Fountain began about 1902 as a flag stop on the East Carolina Railway in western Pitt County and was incorporated in 1903, named for its first storekeeper. Its historic district keeps the workers' houses, bungalows and ranches built while the trains ran, until 1963.
Fountain, in Pitt County, grew from 381 people in 2020 to 396 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 0.92 square miles.
Fountain has about 235 housing units.
Fountain at a Glance
- County: Pitt County
- Population: 396 (2025), 381 (2020), up 3.9%
- Land area: 0.92 square miles (430 people each)
- Housing units: about 235 (±72)
- Detached houses: 67% (±11); Pitt County: 49%
- Attached houses: 20% (±14)
- Apartments: under 16%
- Mobile homes: under 18%
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Fountain attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Fountain, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Fountain Homes and Their Attics
Workers' Houses That Grew Out the Back
The 2016 nomination describes Fountain's usual workers' house as a one-story frame dwelling of two or three rooms, with a rear ell and later rooms added as families grew. One house from about 1905 had gathered a whole string of rear wings by 1923. Every one of those add-on roofs can shelter a separate pocket of attic, some shallow, some with no hatch at all. Insulation in the main attic tells you nothing about the wings. ENERGY STAR wants the layer level across the whole ceiling, without thin patches, so each pocket gets opened up and measured on its own.
Craftsman Bungalows With Rooms Upstairs
By the 1920s the Craftsman bungalow had overtaken the small frame house as the town's most common new build, the nomination says. Several in the district rise a story and a half, with bedrooms fitted beneath the roof. A short knee wall closes off the low triangle at each side. According to ENERGY STAR, the open joist bays under such a wall leak house air even when insulation is stuffed in. In a Fountain bungalow like that, we get into each triangle and plug those bays. Then we insulate the knee wall and the triangle's floor along with the attic above.
Attic Insulation in Fountain
If the joists show above the insulation in a Fountain attic, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
The Local Climate
Fountain's center sits about 110 feet above sea level, 14 miles from NOAA's Greenville station, the best match for Fountain. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,940 heating and 1,920 cooling degree days a year, so at Fountain's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 67 percent of Fountain housing units are detached single-family houses. With about 235 housing units in Fountain, read the figures as rough proportions.
Built before 1940, about 25 percent of Fountain homes can hide knob-and-tube wiring and vermiculite, jobs for an electrician and an asbestos contractor first. From 1990 to 2009, about 10 percent of Fountain homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
About 90 percent of Fountain's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 25% (±11), about 60 units
- 1940s: 19% (±13), about 45 units
- 1950s: 4% (±4), about 10 units
- 1960s: 14% (±12), about 30 units
- 1970s: 25% (±12), about 60 units
- 1980s: under 2%
- 1990s: under 11%, about 10 units
- 2000s: under 13%, about 15 units
- 2010s: under 3%
- 2020 or later: under 6%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Fountain
In Farmville, the nearest town to Fountain with solid figures, about 65 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: under 8%
- Oil or kerosene: under 3%
Power, Gas and Rebates
Fountain, an ElectriCities public power town, runs its own electric system. For gas, Fountain is in the Pitt County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Fountain.
Program to ask about in Fountain: ElectriCities energy audits (the town's electric system), home energy audits for member-town customers; ask the town's utility office. Before a job in Fountain, check its current terms; the Pitt County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Fountain
In a Fountain attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Fountain attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Fountain
Nearest to Fountain first.
Macclesfield, NC
6 miles north
Its NOAA station logs about 440 more heating degree days than Fountain's; 408 people to Fountain's 396
Attic insulation in MacclesfieldWalstonburg, NC
6 miles southwest
198 people, about half of Fountain's population
Attic insulation in WalstonburgFalkland, NC
7 miles east
Power from Duke Energy Progress (Fountain: a town system); 51 people, about an eighth of Fountain's population
Attic insulation in Falkland
Fountain Insulation FAQs
Fountain has a National Register district. Does attic work there need approval?
No. The Fountain Historic District was listed in 2016, and the state's preservation office says being on the National Register sets no conditions for an owner paying for work on a private house. Approval comes into play only in a district a town designates through its own preservation commission, and the state's 2023 roster has none for Fountain. Blowing insulation and sealing ceiling gaps happen indoors in any case.
Before the attic of an old Fountain house is insulated, who checks the wiring?
An electrician, before we add anything. The district's oldest houses date from about 1900, early enough for knob-and-tube wiring, the porcelain knobs and tubes that carried wires before about 1930. ENERGY STAR calls that wiring a fire risk wherever insulation buries it. If live runs turn up in the attic, those areas stay uncovered until the wiring is dealt with.
Does attic insulation in Fountain need a permit?
Fountain Town Hall can say whether Pitt County Permitting & Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Fountain; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Hot summers at NOAA's Greenville station: radiant barriers
- An energy audit program from the town's own utility: home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Fountain, NOAA normals for the Greenville station, Fountain's municipal electric system (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Fountain notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Fountain Historic District, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Fountain, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- History, Town of Fountain
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- Building Construction Problem Areas, weatherization training text, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
- 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
- Sealing Air Leaks in the Attic, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
Fountain, NC
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Serving Fountain, NC
Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Fountain and the rest of Pitt County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Fountain attic, or call (336) 870-3893.