Walnut Creek, NC
7 miles southeast
Median home built 1989 (Goldsboro: 1975); Its NOAA station logs about 550 fewer heating degree days than Goldsboro's
Attic insulation in Walnut CreekInsulation Contractor Serving Goldsboro, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Goldsboro, NC, in Wayne County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Goldsboro and Its Homes
Goldsboro was incorporated in 1847 on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and took over the county seat from Waynesborough, on the Neuse. Its older housing runs from twin merchants' houses of 1875 to mill houses of 1900 and the bungalows of a neighborhood laid out on a Borden family farm.
Goldsboro, in Wayne County, grew from 34,452 people in 2020 to 35,012 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 28.6 square miles. No town in Wayne County has more people than Goldsboro.
Goldsboro has about 17,300 housing units, 32 percent of Wayne County's; 36 percent of the city's households own their home.
Goldsboro at a Glance
- County: Wayne County
- Population: 35,012 (2025), 34,452 (2020), up 1.6%
- Land area: 28.6 square miles (1,225 people each)
- Housing units: about 17,300 (±452)
- Median year built: 1975 (±2); Wayne County: 1984
- Owner-occupied: 36% (±3); Wayne County: 61%
- Detached houses: 50% (±3); Wayne County: 60%
- Attached houses: 7% (±1)
- Apartments: 39% (±4)
- Mobile homes: 5% (±1)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Goldsboro attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Goldsboro, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Goldsboro Homes and Their Attics
Worker Houses of the Borden Mill
Wayne Cotton Mills, set up in 1895 on North William Street, was unusual for a North Carolina textile company: it did not house its workers. Borden Manufacturing, which built across the street in 1900, did. Its directors hired builders for twenty-three operatives' houses alongside the new mill. When the mill was listed in 2005, the nomination noted a few of the mill houses still north of the plant and others torn down. A frame house from those years may still carry its first wiring. Old porcelain knobs and tubes in the attic, the kind used until about 1930, are a fire risk once insulation smothers them, ENERGY STAR cautions. Before we add anything, an electrician decides what is live, and live wiring is left open.
Gambrel Roofs and Bungalows Off Walnut Street
West of the business district, the blocks around Walnut and Virginia Streets were laid out on part of Arnold Borden's farm and brought into the city in 1895 and 1909. A 1984 nomination for a 1922 house there sums the area up as modest Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and bungalow homes. That house carries a Dutch Colonial gambrel roof with shed dormers nearly the width of the house. Under roofs like these, upstairs rooms borrow space from the attic. Low side walls, called knee walls, close off wedge-shaped attic pockets that ENERGY STAR and an Iowa state housing guide both point to as leaky. We treat each pocket as its own little attic, closing the open joist bays under the knee wall before any insulation goes behind it.
Attic Insulation in Goldsboro
Some 41 percent of Goldsboro's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1940 to 1969, 33 percent of Goldsboro homes often have little insulation.
The Local Climate
Goldsboro's center sits about 110 feet above sea level, 3 miles from NOAA's Goldsboro Ag 1 N station, the best match for Goldsboro. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,210 heating and 1,670 cooling degree days a year, so at Goldsboro's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Readings change over short distances around Goldsboro: NOAA's Goldsboro 4 SE station, 3 miles away, averages about 2,660 heating degree days.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 50 percent of Goldsboro housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built from 1970 to 1989, 29 percent of Goldsboro homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
About 59 percent of Goldsboro's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too. Some 39 percent of Goldsboro units sit in buildings of two or more homes, where the attic is often shared. Renters hold 64 percent of Goldsboro's occupied homes, so many attic decisions rest with landlords.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 8% (±2), about 1,310 units
- 1940s: 4% (±1), about 750 units
- 1950s: 12% (±2), about 2,000 units
- 1960s: 17% (±2), about 3,000 units
- 1970s: 18% (±2), about 3,100 units
- 1980s: 12% (±2), about 2,000 units
- 1990s: 10% (±2), about 1,740 units
- 2000s: 12% (±2), about 2,100 units
- 2010s: 6% (±1), about 1,080 units
- 2020 or later: 1% (±1), about 155 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Goldsboro
In Goldsboro, 81 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: 81% (±3), about 12,300 households; Wayne County: 82%
- Piped gas: 11% (±2), about 1,670 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 6% (±2), about 900 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress serves most of Goldsboro, Tri-County EMC its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Goldsboro is in the Wayne County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and 11 percent of the city's homes heat with piped gas. Duke's free House Call fits many Goldsboro homes: 81 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Goldsboro: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Goldsboro, check its current terms; the Wayne County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Goldsboro
In a Goldsboro attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Goldsboro attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Goldsboro
Nearest to Goldsboro first.
Pikeville, NC
8 miles north
Median home built 1974 (Goldsboro: 1975); Power from its own town system (Goldsboro: Duke Energy Progress)
Attic insulation in PikevilleLa Grange, NC
11 miles southeast
2,947 people, under a tenth of Goldsboro's population
Attic insulation in La GrangeFremont, NC
11 miles north
1,237 people, under a tenth of Goldsboro's population
Attic insulation in FremontPrinceton, NC
12 miles northwest
Median home built 1977 (Goldsboro: 1975); 1,544 people, under a tenth of Goldsboro's population
Attic insulation in Princeton
Goldsboro Insulation FAQs
Does Goldsboro's historic district commission have to approve attic insulation?
Not for the insulation itself. Goldsboro has a Historic District Commission, and a 2022 nomination describes the edge of downtown as part of the Goldsboro Local Historic District. Under state law, a commission in a local district reviews changes to the outside of a building through a certificate of appropriateness and has no say over interior arrangement. Blowing insulation and sealing gaps up in the attic happen indoors. A new vent through the roof or eaves alters what people see from the street, so talk with the commission first. Listing on the National Register, alone, binds nobody who spends private money on a listed house.
Can a landlord near Seymour Johnson have a rental's attic insulated with tenants living there?
Yes. The attic belongs to the owner, so the decision is the landlord's. Seymour Johnson Field opened in 1942, shut down from 1946 to 1956 and then came back as an air force base. Tenants mostly need to give us a way into the attic and clear any stored boxes off its floor. We measure every section, seal the leaks we find and blow the insulation in level, with no thin spots.
Is a radiant barrier a good idea in a Goldsboro attic?
Sometimes. Wayne County lies on the flat coastal plain, and the answer depends on what is already up there. Building America finds a radiant barrier helps most where an attic has little insulation and ducts run through it, and adds very little over a deep layer of insulation. So the depth of the insulation and where the ducts sit decide it. Sheets laid flat on the attic floor gather dust, which is why sheet barriers belong under the roof deck or rafters instead.
Are there rebates for attic insulation in Goldsboro?
Duke Energy's Smart $aver Insulate and Seal is the one to check: a rebate for attic insulation done together with air sealing, and a separate one for duct sealing, when the attic starts at R-19 or less; a contractor in Duke's Smart $aver network must do the work, and Insulation Pros is an approved Duke Energy trade ally. Check its current terms. The Wayne County page lists every other program.
Could the old insulation in a Goldsboro attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 24 percent of Goldsboro's homes predate 1960. If a Goldsboro attic holds a pebble-like gray-brown or silver-gold fill, leave it undisturbed: the EPA says vermiculite may contain asbestos.
How do I choose an insulation company in Goldsboro?
Compare written estimates for your Goldsboro attic listing air sealing, any removal and the added depth; for Duke Energy's rebate the contractor must be in Duke's network, and Insulation Pros is an approved Duke Energy trade ally.
Does attic insulation in Goldsboro need a permit?
Goldsboro City Hall can say whether Wayne County Inspections Department, the city itself or another office handles permits in Goldsboro; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Goldsboro, NOAA normals for the Goldsboro Ag 1 N station, Duke Energy Progress (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Goldsboro notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Goldsboro, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Borden Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Soloman and Henry Weil Houses, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Harry Fitzhugh Lee House, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- Building Construction Problem Areas, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services weatherization program
- Sealing Air Leaks in the Attic, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Historic Preservation Commission Staff in North Carolina, listed by county, as of 2/20/2023 (NC HPO)
- Goldsboro Woman's Club, National Register nomination (NC HPO, listed 2022)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 160D-947, Certificate of appropriateness required
- What Is the National Register of Historic Places?, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Wayne County, NCpedia (State Library of North Carolina)
- Attic Radiant Barriers, Building America Solution Center (PNNL, U.S. Department of Energy)
Goldsboro, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Goldsboro and the rest of Wayne County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Goldsboro attic, or call (336) 870-3893.