Graham, NC
3 miles northwest
20,131 people, about 8 times Swepsonville's population
Attic insulation in GrahamAttic Insulation in Swepsonville, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Swepsonville, NC, 3 miles from Graham, plus removal and air sealing.
About Swepsonville and Its Homes
Swepsonville is named for George Swepson, who built a cotton mill, a company store and mill houses beside the Haw River here in 1868. Its first town charter was repealed in 1901, and the General Assembly chartered it again in 1997.
Swepsonville, in Alamance County, grew from 2,453 people in 2020 to 2,632 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 1.44 square miles.
Swepsonville has about 910 housing units, 1 percent of Alamance County's; 88 percent of the town's households own their home.
Swepsonville at a Glance
- County: Alamance County
- Population: 2,632 (2025), 2,453 (2020), up 7.3%
- Land area: 1.44 square miles (1,828 people each)
- Housing units: about 910 (±102)
- Owner-occupied: 88% (±5); Alamance County: 65%
- Detached houses: 81% (±6); Alamance County: 66%
- Attached houses: 10% (±6)
- Apartments: under 8%
- Mobile homes: 5% (±4)
- Climate zone: 4 (state code), 3 (2021 map)
- ENERGY STAR target for Swepsonville attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Swepsonville, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Swepsonville Homes and Their Attics
The Virginia Cotton Mills Houses
After two fires the mill was rebuilt in brick in 1893 and renamed Virginia Cotton Mills. Its owner added more workers' housing as the plant grew in the early 1900s. During the First World War the company extended electricity from its own power plant to the mill houses, the county's 2002 survey records. The county's 2014 inventory describes frame mill houses from about 1886 to 1930 on Carolina, East Main and Thompson Streets. More, built mostly after that war, stand on West Main Street. Wiring that old is looked at by an electrician before insulation goes in. Knob-and-tube circuits that are still live cannot be covered.
Attic Insulation in Swepsonville
About 20 percent of Swepsonville's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
In 2010 or later, about 45 percent of Swepsonville homes went up; check their air sealing as well as the depth.
The Local Climate
Swepsonville's center sits about 520 feet above sea level, 3 miles from NOAA's Haw River 1 E station, the best match for Swepsonville. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,550 heating and 1,590 cooling degree days a year, so at Swepsonville's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
About 81 percent of Swepsonville housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built from 1970 to 1989, 17 percent of Swepsonville homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
About 30 percent of Swepsonville's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 13% (±6), about 120 units
- 1940s: 6% (±5), about 55 units
- 1950s: under 3%, about 10 units
- 1960s: 2% (±2), about 20 units
- 1970s: 9% (±5), about 80 units
- 1980s: 8% (±4), about 70 units
- 1990s: 7% (±4), about 70 units
- 2000s: 8% (±3), about 75 units
- 2010s: 43% (±6), about 390 units
- 2020 or later: 3% (±2), about 25 units
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Swepsonville
In Swepsonville, about 21 percent of homes heat with electricity and 76 percent with piped gas; forced air from either moves through ducts.
Air sealing comes first, as the EPA advises: wire and pipe holes, wall tops and soffits.
How Homes Here Are Heated
- Electricity: 21% (±7), about 185 households; Alamance County: 52%
- Piped gas: 76% (±5), about 670 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 2% (±2), about 20 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy supplies Swepsonville's electricity. Swepsonville's gas comes from Piedmont Natural Gas or Enbridge Gas North Carolina, by street. Duke's free House Call fits many Swepsonville homes: about 21 percent heat with electricity.
Rebate to check in Swepsonville: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Swepsonville, check its current terms; the Alamance County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Swepsonville
In a Swepsonville attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Swepsonville attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Swepsonville
Nearest to Swepsonville first.
Mebane, NC
6 miles northeast
21,952 people, about 8 times Swepsonville's population
Attic insulation in MebaneBurlington, NC
7 miles northwest
Its NOAA station logs about 260 fewer heating degree days than Swepsonville's; 61,496 people, about 23 times Swepsonville's population
Attic insulation in Burlington
Swepsonville Insulation FAQs
When were the Swepsonville mill houses sold off by the company?
In the early 1950s, by one account. A mill worker interviewed in 1977 for the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina recalled the company selling the houses in 1952. Renters had to buy or move out, and she said the houses had been let run down. So each house has had about seventy years of its own repairs and changes since. That is why what is actually in each attic matters more than the mill's history.
Is the old mill village in Swepsonville a protected historic district?
No. Nothing in Swepsonville appears among the state's National Register listings. Alamance County's 2014 inventory records the mill village as a surveyed site, and it names the Saxapahaw Spinning Mill as the only local landmark in the township. The state's 2023 commission list shows no commission for the town. So no historic approval stands between you and attic work here.
Could the old insulation in a Swepsonville attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 20 percent of Swepsonville's homes predate 1960. If a Swepsonville attic holds a pebble-like gray-brown or silver-gold fill, leave it undisturbed: the EPA says vermiculite may contain asbestos.
Does attic insulation in Swepsonville need a permit?
Swepsonville Town Hall can say whether Alamance County Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Swepsonville; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Swepsonville, NOAA normals for the Haw River 1 E station, Duke Energy (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Swepsonville notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Swepsonville, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Alamance County Survey Update (Historic Contexts), 2002 (NC HPO)
- Session Law 1997-448, An Act to Incorporate the Town of Swepsonville, North Carolina General Assembly
- Alamance County Architectural Inventory, Alamance County Historic Properties Commission, April 2014
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
- Oral History Interview, June 27, 1977, Interview H-0022, Southern Oral History Program Collection, UNC Chapel Hill (Documenting the American South excerpt on the sale of the mill houses)
- 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)
Swepsonville, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Swepsonville and the rest of Alamance County included.
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Send the square footage of your Swepsonville attic, or call (336) 870-3893.