Indian Beach, NC
4 miles west
Median home built 1988 (Pine Knoll Shores: 1984); Its NOAA station logs about 300 more heating degree days than Pine Knoll Shores'
Attic insulation in Indian BeachAttic Insulation in Pine Knoll Shores, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Pine Knoll Shores, NC, in Carteret County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Pine Knoll Shores and Its Homes
Pine Knoll Shores fills the middle of Bogue Banks on a tract a relative of the Theodore Roosevelt family bought in the late 1910s. Her niece's family developed it with home sites left in the maritime forest, and the town was incorporated in 1973.
Pine Knoll Shores, in Carteret County, grew from 1,386 people in 2020 to 1,423 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 2.21 square miles.
Pine Knoll Shores has about 2,100 housing units, 4 percent of Carteret County's; 98 percent of the town's households own their home. Only about 670 of those 2,100 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 670.
Pine Knoll Shores at a Glance
- County: Carteret County
- Population: 1,423 (2025), 1,386 (2020), up 2.7%
- Land area: 2.21 square miles (644 people each)
- Housing units: about 2,100 (±149)
- Median year built: 1984 (±1); Carteret County: 1989
- Owner-occupied: 98% (±1); Carteret County: 75%
- Detached houses: 51% (±4); Carteret County: 61%
- Apartments: 47% (±6)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Pine Knoll Shores attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Pine Knoll Shores, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Pine Knoll Shores Homes and Their Attics
Houses From the Building Rush of the Early 1970s
The town's land use plan of 1976 found that house building did not start in volume until 1970. Over half the houses its survey covered went up from 1972 through 1974. The Census counts on this page tell the same story: few homes here predate 1970. That timing matters overhead. The state law that made new houses meet insulation standards before anyone moved in reached only construction begun from the first day of 1978. A house from the early rush was never held to it. Its ceiling holds whatever the builder chose and later owners added, so we measure in several spots first.
Homes Set Into the Maritime Forest
The 1976 plan describes bands of tall maritime forest running the whole length of the town, and the 2012 county survey says lots were laid out to stay as natural as possible. That shade bears on one question in particular. Building America's guidance says a radiant barrier earns its place where an attic takes on a lot of heat. It helps a great deal over thin insulation and adds very little where the attic is already well insulated. It also keeps attic ducts cooler. So how much sun the roof gets, how deep the insulation is and whether ducts run up there decide whether one is worth it.
Attic Insulation in Pine Knoll Shores
Some 8 percent of Pine Knoll Shores' homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 70 percent of Pine Knoll Shores homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Pine Knoll Shores' center sits near sea level, 5 miles from NOAA's Morehead City 2 WNW station, the best match for Pine Knoll Shores. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,480 heating and 1,850 cooling degree days a year, so Pine Knoll Shores attics work in both seasons.
Readings change over short distances around Pine Knoll Shores: NOAA's Newport/Morehead City Weather Office station, 7 miles away, averages about 2,780 heating degree days. The state energy code marks Carteret County warm and humid.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 51 percent of Pine Knoll Shores housing units are detached single-family houses.
From 1990 to 2009, 20 percent of Pine Knoll Shores homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
About 32 percent of Pine Knoll Shores' housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too. About 47 percent of Pine Knoll Shores units sit in buildings of two or more homes, where the attic is often shared.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: under 1%
- 1940s: under 1%
- 1950s: under 1%, about 10 units
- 1960s: 7% (±2), about 150 units
- 1970s: 24% (±5), about 510 units
- 1980s: 45% (±5), about 950 units
- 1990s: 15% (±3), about 310 units
- 2000s: 6% (±2), about 120 units
- 2010s: 3% (±1), about 55 units
- 2020 or later: 0% (±1)
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Pine Knoll Shores
In Pine Knoll Shores, 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% (±4), about 610 households; Carteret County: 87%
- Piped gas: 1% (±1)
- Bottled or tank gas: 7% (±4), about 50 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Power in and around Pine Knoll Shores comes from Duke Energy Progress and Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative; your bill says which. For gas, Pine Knoll Shores is in the Carteret County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Pine Knoll Shores. Duke's free House Call fits many Pine Knoll Shores homes: 91 percent of households heat with electricity.
Rebate to check if Duke Energy Progress serves your Pine Knoll Shores home: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Pine Knoll Shores, check its current terms; the Carteret County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Pine Knoll Shores
In a Pine Knoll Shores attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Pine Knoll Shores attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Pine Knoll Shores
Nearest to Pine Knoll Shores first.
Atlantic Beach, NC
5 miles east
Median home built 1984, as in Pine Knoll Shores
Attic insulation in Atlantic BeachMorehead City, NC
6 miles east
10,434 people, about 7 times Pine Knoll Shores' population
Attic insulation in Morehead CityNewport, NC
6 miles northwest
4,500 people, about 3 times Pine Knoll Shores' population
Attic insulation in NewportBeaufort, NC
10 miles east
4,912 people, about 3 times Pine Knoll Shores' population
Attic insulation in Beaufort
Pine Knoll Shores Insulation FAQs
Is Pine Knoll Shores a historic district?
No. The 2012 survey of Carteret County recorded the planned community as a historic resource, calling it the first development on Bogue Banks built with the environment in mind. Being recorded in a survey is not the same as being listed, though. The state's National Register list has nothing in Pine Knoll Shores, and the one preservation commission it names in the county belongs to Beaufort. Insulating your attic involves no historic review.
My house here sits empty for months at a time. When should someone check the attic?
After each storm season, and before any new insulation goes in. Part-time owners have been part of the town from the start: the 1976 plan polled permanent residents, seasonal residents and lot owners as separate groups. The county has taken repeated blows, and its survey lists Floyd and Dennis in 1999, Isabel in 2003, Ophelia in 2005 and Irene in 2011. ENERGY STAR ties damp insulation to a leaking roof, which gets mended before the soaked layer is lifted out.
Does attic insulation in Pine Knoll Shores need a permit?
Pine Knoll Shores Town Hall can say whether Carteret County Planning & Development, the town itself or another office handles permits in Pine Knoll Shores; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Carteret County is warm and humid by the state energy code: attic condensation and mold and attic ventilation
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Pine Knoll Shores, NOAA normals for the Morehead City 2 WNW station (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Pine Knoll Shores notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- A Comprehensive Architectural Survey of Carteret County, Final Report (M. Ruth Little, Longleaf Historic Resources, 2012), NC HPO
- The Land Use Plan for Pine Knoll Shores, N.C., March 1976 (Coastal Area Management Act plan; Coastal Zone Information Center copy, U.S. Government Publishing Office)
- Year Structure Built (table B25034), Pine Knoll Shores town, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 143-139.2, Enforcement of insulation requirements; certificate for occupancy
- Attic Radiant Barriers, Building America Solution Center (U.S. Department of Energy, PNNL)
- 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)
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
Pine Knoll Shores, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Pine Knoll Shores and the rest of Carteret County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Pine Knoll Shores attic, or call (336) 870-3893.