Youngsville, NC
6 miles south
Median home built 2007 (Franklinton: 1959)
Attic insulation in YoungsvilleAttic Insulation in Franklinton, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Franklinton, NC, in Franklin County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Franklinton and Its Homes
Franklinton began as Franklin Depot, a stop on the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, and took its present name when it was incorporated in 1842. After 1895 the Sterling Cotton Mill beside the tracks added one-story frame mill houses to the older railroad town.
Franklinton, in Franklin County, grew from 2,471 people in 2020 to 2,890 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 1.74 square miles. That makes Franklinton the second-largest town in Franklin County.
Franklinton has about 1,120 housing units, 4 percent of Franklin County's; about 62 percent of the town's households own their home.
Franklinton at a Glance
- County: Franklin County
- Population: 2,890 (2025), 2,471 (2020), up 17.0%
- Land area: 1.74 square miles (1,661 people each)
- Housing units: about 1,120 (±228)
- Median year built: 1959 (±6); Franklin County: 1997
- Owner-occupied: 62% (±7); Franklin County: 79%
- Detached houses: 75% (±7); Franklin County: 72%
- Attached houses: under 3%
- Apartments: 16% (±9)
- Mobile homes: 7% (±4)
- Climate zone: 4 (state code), 3 (2021 map)
- ENERGY STAR target for Franklinton attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Franklinton, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Franklinton Homes and Their Attics
Sterling Mill Houses Off East Green Street
The Vann family, who ran the Sterling Cotton Mill, built a village for its workers in the early twentieth century. The mill's 1996 nomination places one-story frame houses on East Green Street and Railroad Street, many of the gable and wing type from about 1915. In that plan a front-facing wing meets the main block at a right angle, and the two roofs join in a valley. The attic over the wing can be hard to reach from the main one. We check both, find a way into each, and spread the insulation evenly across the two so the corner where they meet is not left shallow.
Older Streets Still Waiting for a Survey
When Franklin County updated its architectural survey in 2015, the surveyor marked 75 buildings inside Franklinton as worth recording in a later phase, many on Main, Mason, Green and Hillsboro Streets. The same list flags possible remains of a mill village along Bullock, Bowen, Cook and Wilson Streets. Going by the Census figures on this page, Franklinton homes from before 1970 outnumber the newer ones. In houses that age, old insulation streaked dark or gray is a clue: air from the rooms below has been filtering through it. The leak gets sealed, and the insulation itself can usually stay.
Attic Insulation in Franklinton
About 65 percent of Franklinton's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1940 to 1969, about 35 percent of Franklinton homes often have little insulation.
The Local Climate
Franklinton's center sits about 410 feet above sea level, 9 miles from NOAA's Louisburg station, the best match for Franklinton. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,650 heating and 1,550 cooling degree days a year, so at Franklinton's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Franklinton sits about 150 feet above the station, so expect slightly colder winters.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 75 percent of Franklinton housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built before 1940, about 25 percent of Franklinton homes can hide knob-and-tube wiring and vermiculite, jobs for an electrician and an asbestos contractor first.
About 70 percent of Franklinton's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 27% (±6), about 300 units
- 1940s: 9% (±4), about 100 units
- 1950s: 17% (±8), about 190 units
- 1960s: 10% (±7), about 115 units
- 1970s: 7% (±4), about 75 units
- 1980s: 6% (±4), about 70 units
- 1990s: 2% (±2), about 25 units
- 2000s: 6% (±4), about 65 units
- 2010s: 11% (±6), about 125 units
- 2020 or later: 5% (±4), about 60 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Franklinton
In Franklinton, about 59 percent of homes heat with electricity; where that heat is forced air, ducts often run through the attic.
Air sealing comes first, as the EPA advises: wire and pipe holes, wall tops and soffits.
How Homes Here Are Heated
- Electricity: 59% (±11), about 580 households; Franklin County: 72%
- Piped gas: 32% (±8), about 310 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 7% (±4), about 65 households
- Oil or kerosene: under 3%, about 10 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress serves most of Franklinton, Wake Electric its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Franklinton is in the Franklin County franchise of Enbridge Gas North Carolina, and about 32 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas. Duke's free House Call fits many Franklinton homes: about 59 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Franklinton: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Franklinton, check its current terms; the Franklin County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Franklinton
In a Franklinton attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Franklinton attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Franklinton
Nearest to Franklinton first.
Kittrell, NC
8 miles north
Median home built 1976 (Franklinton: 1959); Its NOAA station logs about 240 more heating degree days than Franklinton's
Attic insulation in KittrellLouisburg, NC
9 miles east
Power from its own town system (Franklinton: Duke Energy Progress); Center about 190 feet lower than Franklinton's
Attic insulation in LouisburgWake Forest, NC
10 miles south
Median home built 2009 (Franklinton: 1959); 58,147 people, about 20 times Franklinton's population
Attic insulation in Wake ForestRolesville, NC
12 miles south
Median home built 2013 (Franklinton: 1959); Power from Duke Energy (Franklinton: Duke Energy Progress)
Attic insulation in Rolesville
Franklinton Insulation FAQs
Did Sterling Mill put any insulation in the houses it built in Franklinton?
Nothing required it to. The mill houses went up around 1915, and the company sold them off in the 1950s and 1960s. State law tied insulation standards to new houses only from January 1, 1978. What the mill put overhead, if anything, goes unrecorded in its nomination. When the crew arrives, they measure the depth in each roof section, check the wiring and any chimney, and seal the leaks first.
Is downtown Franklinton a historic district that limits work on my house?
No district, as the state's records stand. Franklinton's National Register entries are single buildings, among them the 1886 depot, the Sterling Cotton Mill and a few houses, not a district. Even on those, a listing binds no owner who pays for the work privately, as the State Historic Preservation Office explains. The 2023 state list shows only one local commission in Franklin County, and it belongs to Louisburg. So no district rules shape attic work in Franklinton.
Could the old insulation in a Franklinton attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 50 percent of Franklinton's homes predate 1960. If a Franklinton 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 Franklinton need a permit?
Franklinton Town Hall can say whether Franklin County Building Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Franklinton; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Franklinton, NOAA normals for the Louisburg station, Duke Energy Progress (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Franklinton notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Franklinton, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Franklinton Depot, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Sterling Cotton Mill, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Franklin County Architectural Survey Update, 2015 (Coastal Carolina Research for Franklin County and the NC HPO)
- Year Structure Built (table B25034), Franklinton town, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 143-139.2, Enforcement of insulation requirements; certificate for occupancy
- 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)
Franklinton, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Franklinton and the rest of Franklin County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Franklinton attic, or call (336) 870-3893.