Kitty Hawk, NC
3 miles south
Median home built 1987 (Southern Shores: 1990)
Attic insulation in Kitty HawkAttic Insulation in Southern Shores, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Southern Shores, NC, 3 miles from Kitty Hawk, plus removal and air sealing.
About Southern Shores and Its Homes
Southern Shores opened as a planned resort in 1946, on land between Kitty Hawk and Duck that had held little but woods and two sand roads. Its signature house type is the Flat Top, a one-story block cottage, and that shape changes what an attic job looks like here.
Southern Shores, in Dare County, grew from 3,102 people in 2020 to 3,110 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 3.95 square miles. That makes Southern Shores the fourth-largest town in Dare County.
Southern Shores has about 2,500 housing units, 7 percent of Dare County's; 91 percent of the town's households own their home. Only about 1,310 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 1,310.
Southern Shores at a Glance
- County: Dare County
- Population: 3,110 (2025), 3,102 (2020), up 0.3%
- Land area: 3.95 square miles (787 people each)
- Housing units: about 2,500 (±216)
- Median year built: 1990 (±3); Dare County: 1988
- Owner-occupied: 91% (±2); Dare County: 78%
- Detached houses: 99% (±12); Dare County: 80%
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Southern Shores attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Southern Shores, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Southern Shores Homes and Their Attics
The Flat Tops of Southern Shores
Frank Stick built the first Flat Top in 1947, and scores more followed through about 1965, according to a history of Outer Banks building that the town posts on its website. They were one-story cottages of cement block made from local beach sand, and later of cinder block, set on a concrete slab under a flat roof with a wide overhang. Stick's own house leaked where its roof levels met, and later Flat Tops used a single raked roof. A roof that flat leaves no ordinary attic above the rooms. So if yours is a Flat Top, mention it when you call. Whether any space sits over its ceiling is worth a closer look, and any roof leak gets fixed first.
Attic Insulation in Southern Shores
If the joists show above the insulation in a Southern Shores attic, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
From 1990 to 2009, about 45 percent of Southern Shores homes were built to codes below ENERGY STAR's target; check their eaves, where ENERGY STAR says insulation is often thinnest.
The Local Climate
Southern Shores' center sits about 20 feet above sea level, 15 miles from NOAA's Manteo Airport station, the best match for Southern Shores. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 2,890 heating and 1,700 cooling degree days a year, so at Southern Shores' station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 99 percent of Southern Shores housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 40 percent of Southern Shores homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
About 20 percent of Southern Shores' housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: under 1%
- 1940s: under 1%
- 1950s: 7% (±5), about 170 units
- 1960s: 3% (±3), about 75 units
- 1970s: 9% (±5), about 230 units
- 1980s: 32% (±7), about 820 units
- 1990s: 24% (±8), about 620 units
- 2000s: 19% (±7), about 490 units
- 2010s: 3% (±2), about 85 units
- 2020 or later: under 5%, about 50 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Southern Shores
In Kitty Hawk, the nearest town to Southern Shores with solid figures, 96 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
- Electricity: 97% (±12), about 1,270 households; Dare County: 93%
- Bottled or tank gas: under 3%, about 15 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Dominion Energy North Carolina serves most of Southern Shores, Tideland EMC its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Southern Shores is in the Dare County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, whose mains may not reach every street in Southern Shores.
Rebate to check in Southern Shores: Home Energy Evaluation (Dominion Energy's contractor network). Before a job in Southern Shores, check its current terms; the Dare County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Southern Shores
In a Southern 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 Southern Shores attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Southern Shores
Nearest to Southern Shores first.
Duck, NC
5 miles north
Median home built 1988 (Southern Shores: 1990); 736 people, about a quarter of Southern Shores' population
Attic insulation in DuckKill Devil Hills, NC
8 miles southeast
Median home built 1985 (Southern Shores: 1990); 7,731 people, about twice Southern Shores' population
Attic insulation in Kill Devil Hills
Southern Shores Insulation FAQs
Would insulating a designated Southern Shores landmark need the commission's approval?
No, not the insulating. The town's Historic Landmarks Commission designates a landmark only when its owner applies, and eight properties had been designated by October 2025. Altering a landmark takes a certificate of appropriateness. State law limits that review to the outside of the building and leaves the inside arrangement alone. Insulating over a ceiling is inside work, but new roof vents on a landmark would go to the commission first.
How can I tell if my Southern Shores house is an original Flat Top?
Start with the walls and the roofline. The history the town posts describes one-story block cottages, whitewashed, with a nearly flat or gently raked roof, deep overhangs and exposed soffits, built from 1947 to about 1965. Since this page's housing figures show the bulk of local homes dating from 1970 onward, an original stands out. The town's 2022 list of possible landmarks is made up almost entirely of Flat Tops.
Does attic insulation in Southern Shores need a permit?
Southern Shores Town Hall can say whether Dare County Building Permits & Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Southern Shores; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- A coastal town: attic condensation and mold and attic ventilation
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Southern Shores, NOAA normals for the Manteo Airport station, Dominion Energy North Carolina (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Southern Shores notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- History, Town of Southern Shores
- Southern Shores, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Frank Stick and the Southern Shores Flat Top, from Outer Banks Architecture: An Anthology of Outposts, Lodges, and Cottages (Marimar McNaughton, John F. Blair 2000), posted by the Town of Southern Shores
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
- Historic Landmark Designation Frequently Asked Questions, Town of Southern Shores
- Designated Historic Landmarks, Town of Southern Shores
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 160D-947, Certificate of appropriateness required
- Year Structure Built (table B25034), Southern Shores town, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, U.S. Census Bureau via Census Reporter
- Inventory of Potential Historic Landmarks (September 27, 2022), Town of Southern Shores
Southern Shores, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Southern Shores and the rest of Dare County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Southern Shores attic, or call (336) 870-3893.