Varnamtown, NC
6 miles northeast
Median home built 1990 (Holden Beach: 1992)
Attic insulation in VarnamtownAttic Insulation in Holden Beach, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Holden Beach, NC, in Brunswick County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Holden Beach and Its Homes
Holden Beach covers about three and a half miles of outer beach west of Lockwoods Folly Inlet, a summer resort with cottages in the Gazetteer's words. Aerial photos from 1938 show only a scattered row of houses, and a geographer writing in 1958 called it a cottage beach slowly rebuilding after Hazel.
Holden Beach, in Brunswick County, grew from 911 people in 2020 to 916 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 3.03 square miles.
Holden Beach has about 2,500 housing units, 3 percent of Brunswick County's; about 95 percent of the town's households own their home. Only about 480 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 480.
Holden Beach at a Glance
- County: Brunswick County
- Population: 916 (2025), 911 (2020), up 0.5%
- Land area: 3.03 square miles (302 people each)
- Housing units: about 2,500 (±129)
- Median year built: 1992 (±3); Brunswick County: 2002
- Owner-occupied: 95% (±7); Brunswick County: 85%
- Detached houses: 90% (±3); Brunswick County: 69%
- Attached houses: 3% (±1)
- Apartments: 7% (±2)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Holden Beach attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Holden Beach, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Attic Insulation in Holden Beach
Some 5 percent of Holden Beach's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, 41 percent of Holden Beach homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Holden Beach's center sits near sea level, 5 miles from NOAA's Shallotte Ag station, the best match for Holden Beach. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,430 heating and 1,860 cooling degree days a year, so Holden Beach attics work in both seasons.
The state energy code marks Brunswick County warm and humid.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 90 percent of Holden Beach housing units are detached single-family houses.
From 1990 to 2009, 40 percent of Holden Beach homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
About 17 percent of Holden Beach's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: under 1%
- 1940s: 1% (±1), about 20 units
- 1950s: 1% (±1), about 25 units
- 1960s: 3% (±2), about 80 units
- 1970s: 12% (±3), about 295 units
- 1980s: 29% (±5), about 730 units
- 1990s: 19% (±4), about 480 units
- 2000s: 21% (±3), about 530 units
- 2010s: 10% (±3), about 260 units
- 2020 or later: 3% (±2), about 75 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Holden Beach
In Holden Beach, about 91 percent of households 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: 91% (±7), about 440 households; Brunswick County: 87%
- Piped gas: 2% (±1)
- Bottled or tank gas: 6% (±3), about 25 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress serves most of Holden Beach, Brunswick Electric its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Holden Beach is in the Brunswick County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Holden Beach. Duke's free House Call fits many Holden Beach homes: about 91 percent of households heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Holden Beach: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Holden Beach, check its current terms; the Brunswick County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Holden Beach
In a Holden Beach attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Holden Beach attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Holden Beach
Nearest to Holden Beach first.
Shallotte, NC
6 miles northwest
Median home built 2004 (Holden Beach: 1992); 5,335 people, about 6 times Holden Beach's population
Attic insulation in ShallotteOcean Isle Beach, NC
8 miles west
Median home built 1996 (Holden Beach: 1992)
Attic insulation in Ocean Isle BeachSunset Beach, NC
11 miles west
Median home built 2000 (Holden Beach: 1992); 4,642 people, about 5 times Holden Beach's population
Attic insulation in Sunset BeachOak Island, NC
12 miles east
Median home built 1997 (Holden Beach: 1992); Its NOAA station logs about 230 fewer heating degree days than Holden Beach's
Attic insulation in Oak Island
Holden Beach Insulation FAQs
Our Holden Beach cottage was built for summers. Was it ever insulated for winter?
Maybe not, so it is worth a look before assuming anything. The Gazetteer describes Holden Beach as a summer resort, and the county's 2010 architectural survey calls most beach houses from the years before Hazel simple affairs. A house meant for warm months may have had little or nothing over its ceilings, and owners since then may have added some. If you now use the place in winter or rent it out all year, we measure what is there, seal the ceiling gaps first, and then insulate.
Our Holden Beach house dates from the 1950s. Does that make it historic?
Not in any way that limits your attic work. The county's 2010 survey says Holden Beach holds Brunswick County's largest group of beach houses from the 1940s and 1950s, ones that came through Hurricane Hazel or went up soon after it. It also singles out one island house as an example of 1950s and 1960s beach modernism. Survey notes like these are records for planners, not rules. The National Register lists nothing in town, and Brunswick County had no preservation commission when the state compiled its 2023 list.
Does attic insulation in Holden Beach need a permit?
Holden Beach Town Hall can say whether Brunswick County Permits & Development, the town itself or another office handles permits in Holden Beach; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Brunswick County is warm and humid by the state energy code: attic condensation and mold and attic ventilation
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Holden Beach, NOAA normals for the Shallotte Ag station, Duke Energy Progress (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Holden Beach introduction and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Holden Beach, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Comprehensive Historical/Architectural Site Survey of Brunswick County, North Carolina (Landmark Preservation Associates, 2010; listed by the NC HPO as the Brunswick County Survey, 2010)
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- NC Listings in 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)
Holden Beach, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Holden Beach and the rest of Brunswick County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Holden Beach attic, or call (336) 870-3893.