Attic Insulation in Kings Mountain, NC

Kings Mountain Homes and Their Attics

Hip Roofs and Center Chimneys at Margrace

The Margrace Mill Village, at the city's southwest edge, holds 46 one-story frame mill houses built for workers at the Neisler family's Margrace and Patricia mills. Its most common type is a four-room house under a broad, low hip roof, with a brick chimney rising near the center. Another type began as duplexes paired under one hip roof around central chimneys. Under that kind of roof, the attic pinches down toward each outside wall, and the chimney stands near its tallest point. The gap around that chimney is closed with aluminum flashing and high-temperature caulk, and a sheet-metal dam keeps insulation off the brick.

Turn-of-the-Century Cottages in the West End

The West End Historic District, just west of the railroad, spans houses from about 1882 to about 1955, and most of them date from 1900 to 1939. Its nomination notes a small group of turn-of-the-century one-story cottages with rear ells, most of them later remodeled or rebuilt as bungalows. A house wired in those early decades may still have knob-and-tube circuits hidden in the attic. ENERGY STAR warns that this wiring can be a fire hazard when insulation touches it. An electrician looks at it before we start, and any live run is left uncovered until it is replaced.