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Leland, NC
4 miles south
35,731 people, about 19 times Navassa's population
Attic insulation in LelandAttic Insulation in Navassa, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Navassa, NC, 4 miles from Leland, plus removal and air sealing.
About Navassa and Its Homes
Navassa sits where the Brunswick and Northeast Cape Fear rivers meet, across from Wilmington, and grew up around a guano fertilizer works opened in 1869. Incorporated in 1977, it is described in the Gazetteer as a historically African American community and a center of Gullah Geechee culture.
Navassa, in Brunswick County, grew from 1,385 people in 2020 to 1,889 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 13.3 square miles.
Navassa has about 810 housing units, 1 percent of Brunswick County's; about 78 percent of the town's households own their home.
Navassa at a Glance
- County: Brunswick County
- Population: 1,889 (2025), 1,385 (2020), up 36.4%
- Land area: 13.3 square miles (142 people each)
- Housing units: about 810 (±162)
- Owner-occupied: 78% (±11); Brunswick County: 85%
- Detached houses: 69% (±9); Brunswick County: 69%
- Attached houses: under 7%
- Mobile homes: 28% (±7)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Navassa attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Navassa, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Navassa Homes and Their Attics
Frame Houses of the Fair Oaks and Weeks Subdivisions
Brunswick County's 2010 architectural survey says Navassa's present downtown took shape in the early twentieth century. Owners laid out the Fair Oaks Subdivision in 1919, the Weeks Subdivision in 1920 and others, and they filled with small frame houses in the Queen Anne and Craftsman styles. The survey points to two 1920s houses with late Queen Anne touches and a hip-roofed Craftsman bungalow from the 1930s or 1940s. Under a hip roof the attic slopes down on all four sides, leaving little height at the edges, where ENERGY STAR warns insulation can run thin. Baffles at the soffits keep a path open for outside air while the insulation is pushed out to the walls. Wiring from the 1920s may be knob-and-tube, which has to be checked by an electrician before anything covers it.
Attic Insulation in Navassa
About 10 percent of Navassa's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
From 1990 to 2009, about 45 percent of Navassa homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
The Local Climate
Navassa's center sits about 20 feet above sea level, 6 miles from NOAA's Wilmington International Airport station, the best match for Navassa. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,330 heating and 2,130 cooling degree days a year, so Navassa attics work in both seasons.
Readings change over short distances around Navassa: NOAA's Wilmington 7 N station, 7 miles away, averages about 2,750 heating degree days. The state energy code marks Brunswick County warm and humid.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 69 percent of Navassa housing units are detached single-family houses, about 28 percent mobile homes.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 30 percent of Navassa homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
About 25 percent of Navassa's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: under 7%, about 20 units
- 1940s: under 6%, about 20 units
- 1950s: under 1%
- 1960s: 5% (±4), about 35 units
- 1970s: 17% (±8), about 135 units
- 1980s: 11% (±6), about 90 units
- 1990s: 13% (±6), about 100 units
- 2000s: 30% (±8), about 245 units
- 2010s: 17% (±6), about 140 units
- 2020 or later: under 4%, about 15 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Navassa
In Navassa, about 90 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: 90% (±9), about 600 households; Brunswick County: 87%
- Piped gas: under 11%, about 35 households
- Bottled or tank gas: under 7%, about 25 households
- Wood: under 3%
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy Progress supplies Navassa's electricity. For gas, Navassa is in the Brunswick County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Navassa. Duke's free House Call fits many Navassa homes: about 90 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Navassa: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Navassa, check its current terms; the Brunswick County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Navassa
In a Navassa attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Navassa attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Navassa
Nearest to Navassa first.
Sandy Creek, NC
7 miles west
280 people, about a seventh of Navassa's population
Attic insulation in Sandy CreekWilmington, NC
10 miles southeast
126,809 people, about 67 times Navassa's population
Insulation contractor serving Wilmington
Navassa Insulation FAQs
Is any Navassa building on the National Register?
No property in town appears on the state's National Register list, and the preservation office's 2023 roster names no local historic commission in Brunswick County. Still, the architectural survey of 2010 recorded several local places, among them Pride of Navassa Lodge. It also recorded the railroad bridge over the Cape Fear, which reuses a stone abutment from the 1869 original. A survey record is not a listing, and even a listing would not restrict a private owner's own work. Nothing historic stands in the way of insulating your attic.
Was my 1920s Navassa bungalow ever required to have attic insulation?
No. North Carolina tied a home's occupancy to insulation standards only for houses begun on or after January 1, 1978, decades after Navassa's early subdivisions filled in. Whatever is up there now may be thin, patchy or missing. The work starts with a tape measure in several spots and a note of any old wiring or chimney, and then the ceiling gets sealed and insulated.
Does attic insulation in Navassa need a permit?
Navassa Town Hall can say whether Brunswick County Permits & Development, the town itself or another office handles permits in Navassa; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Brunswick County is warm and humid by the state energy code: attic condensation and mold
- Power from Duke Energy Progress: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
- Hot summers at NOAA's Wilmington International Airport station: radiant barriers
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Navassa, NOAA normals for the Wilmington International Airport station, Duke Energy Progress (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Navassa notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- History, Town of Navassa
- Navassa, 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)
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- About Attic Ventilation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Attic Insulation 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)
- What Is the National Register of Historic Places?, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 143-139.2, Enforcement of insulation requirements; certificate for occupancy
Navassa, NC
Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)Serving Navassa, NC
Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Navassa and the rest of Brunswick County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Navassa attic, or call (336) 870-3893.