.jpg){kind=link}
Franklin, NC
14 miles northwest
Median home built 1981, as in Highlands; Power from Duke Energy Carolinas (Highlands: a town system)
Insulation contractor serving FranklinAttic Insulation in Highlands, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Highlands, NC, 14 miles from Franklin, plus removal and air sealing.
About Highlands and Its Homes
Highlands was laid out in 1875 by two developers from Kansas as a summer resort high in Macon County, and incorporated in 1879. Many of its historic houses were built for warm-season stays, and some only later became homes for all twelve months.
Highlands, in Macon County, grew from 1,069 people in 2020 to 1,127 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 6.25 square miles.
Highlands has about 2,500 housing units, 9 percent of Macon County's. Only about 640 of those 2,500 units were someone's usual home in the Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 survey; the heating and owner figures on this page describe those 640.
Highlands at a Glance
- County: Macon County
- Population: 1,127 (2025), 1,069 (2020), up 5.4%
- Land area: 6.25 square miles (180 people each)
- Housing units: about 2,500 (±242)
- Median year built: 1981 (±2); Macon County: 1987
- Detached houses: 75% (±3); Macon County: 76%
- Attached houses: 1% (±1)
- Apartments: 19% (±5)
- Mobile homes: 4% (±3)
- Climate zone: 4 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Highlands attics: R-60 from bare, R-49 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Highlands, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Highlands Homes and Their Attics
Summer Houses That Became Year-Round Homes
The houses in the Satulah Mountain and Playmore-Bowery Road historic districts went up as summer or seasonal residences. A 2011 nomination for a third district notes that some are still used that way, while others are now lived in all year. The Satulah Mountain nomination, written in 1995, found that most outside changes there had been made to suit year-round living, mainly storm windows and new siding. Those records describe the outside only. A house first built for summer may never have had its attic insulated for winter, so the crew measures what is really up there before adding any.
The Oldest Houses North of Main Street
The Highlands North Historic District sits inside the town plan of 1875. It holds the largest group of the town's oldest surviving houses, with seven contributing houses from about 1883 to about 1896. Year-round and summer families lived side by side there from the start. A house that old got its electric wiring later, and some early wiring was knob-and-tube. ENERGY STAR counts that pre-1930 type as a fire danger once insulation buries it. An electrician clears it before we add anything, and live runs are kept out in the open.
Attic Insulation in Highlands
Some 25 percent of Highlands' homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 50 percent of Highlands homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
Mountain Climate
Highlands' center sits about 3,830 feet above sea level, under a mile from NOAA's Highlands station, the best match for Highlands. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 5,370 heating and 240 cooling degree days a year, so Highlands attics work hardest in winter.
Readings change over short distances around Highlands: NOAA's Mountain City 2 SW, GA station, 16 miles away, averages about 4,610 heating degree days.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 75 percent of Highlands housing units are detached single-family houses.
From 1990 to 2009, 21 percent of Highlands homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
About 47 percent of Highlands' housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 6% (±3), about 140 units
- 1940s: 4% (±2), about 100 units
- 1950s: 8% (±3), about 205 units
- 1960s: 7% (±2), about 170 units
- 1970s: 22% (±5), about 550 units
- 1980s: 29% (±6), about 710 units
- 1990s: 12% (±3), about 300 units
- 2000s: 9% (±3), about 215 units
- 2010s: 2% (±2), about 55 units
- 2020 or later: under 1%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Highlands
In Franklin, the nearest town to Highlands with solid figures, about 76 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: 3% (±3), about 20 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 42% (±7), about 275 households
- Wood: under 3%
Power, Gas and Rebates
Highlands runs its own electric system. For gas, Highlands is in the Macon County franchise of Toccoa Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Highlands. Bottled or tank gas, bought by the delivery, heats about 42 percent of households in Highlands.
No utility insulation rebate for Highlands turned up on the pages we read; income-eligible households may qualify for Energy Saver North Carolina, so check whether it has opened in Macon County. The Macon County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Highlands
In a Highlands attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Highlands attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Highlands
Nearest to Highlands first.
Forest Hills, NC
17 miles north
Power from Duke Energy (Highlands: a town system); Center about 1,540 feet lower than Highlands'
Attic insulation in Forest HillsWebster, NC
21 miles north
Center about 1,680 feet lower than Highlands'; Its NOAA station logs about 1,240 fewer heating degree days than Highlands'
Attic insulation in WebsterDillsboro, NC
22 miles north
Center about 1,840 feet lower than Highlands'; Its NOAA station logs about 1,030 fewer heating degree days than Highlands'
Attic insulation in DillsboroSylva, NC
22 miles north
Center about 1,790 feet lower than Highlands'; 2,691 people, about twice Highlands' population
Attic insulation in Sylva
Highlands Insulation FAQs
Does a National Register district in Highlands control what I do in my attic?
No. Highlands has three listed residential districts: Satulah Mountain, Playmore-Bowery Road and Highlands North. Register listing, the state preservation office explains, sets no limits on what a private owner does with private funds. Its 2023 roster of commissions shows no local one in Macon County. Insulation and air sealing stay inside the house. If your attic also needs new roof or gable vents, ask the town first whether any local rule covers outside changes.
Highlands gets so much rain. What does damp attic insulation tell me?
That the roof is letting water in. The North Carolina Gazetteer puts the town's average yearly rainfall at about 79 inches. In ENERGY STAR's checklist, insulation that is wet or damp points to a roof leak, and the leak gets fixed first. After that, the soaked insulation is vacuumed out and new insulation goes in over a dry ceiling.
Do the old rustic log houses around Highlands have an attic to insulate?
Often a small, awkward one. The county's architectural study calls rustic revival the most popular vacation style in Highlands in the first half of the 1900s. Some of the log houses it credits to local builder Joe Webb rise one and a half stories, with dormers. The upstairs in such a house is tucked under the rafters, walled off by low knee walls. The wedge-shaped spaces behind those walls tend to leak, so we seal and insulate them, not only the space over the ceiling.
Does attic insulation in Highlands need a permit?
Highlands Town Hall can say whether Macon County Planning & Code Enforcement, the town itself or another office handles permits in Highlands; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Mountain winters: attic stairs and hatches
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Highlands, NOAA normals for the Highlands station (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Highlands notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Highlands, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Highlands North Historic District, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Satulah Mountain Historic District, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
- 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)
- Historic and Architectural Resources of Macon County, North Carolina, ca. AD 600-1945, National Register multiple property documentation form (NC HPO)
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- Building Construction Problem Areas, weatherization training text, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services
Highlands, NC
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Serving Highlands, NC
Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Highlands and the rest of Macon County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Highlands attic, or call (336) 870-3893.