Princeville, NC
2 miles southeast
Median home built 1998 (Tarboro: 1974); Power from Duke Energy Progress (Tarboro: a town system)
Attic insulation in PrincevilleAttic Insulation in Tarboro, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Tarboro, NC, in Edgecombe County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Tarboro and Its Homes
Tarboro, the Edgecombe County seat, was laid out in 1760 where boats could go no farther up the Tar River. Its houses run from boxy antebellum frame homes and 1920s bungalows in the old town to compact postwar houses and Ranches in the subdivisions beyond it.
Tarboro, in Edgecombe County, grew from 10,687 people in 2020 to 10,979 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 11.3 square miles. No town in Edgecombe County has more people than Tarboro.
Tarboro has about 5,500 housing units, 24 percent of Edgecombe County's; 57 percent of the town's households own their home.
Tarboro at a Glance
- County: Edgecombe County
- Population: 10,979 (2025), 10,687 (2020), up 2.7%
- Land area: 11.3 square miles (974 people each)
- Housing units: about 5,500 (±348)
- Median year built: 1974 (±3); Edgecombe County: 1978
- Owner-occupied: 57% (±5); Edgecombe County: 61%
- Detached houses: 69% (±6); Edgecombe County: 65%
- Attached houses: 1% (±1)
- Apartments: 26% (±7)
- Mobile homes: 3% (±2)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Tarboro attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Tarboro, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Tarboro Homes and Their Attics
Antebellum Houses With Interior Chimneys
The 1980 National Register nomination for the Tarboro Historic District describes the town's antebellum houses as boxy frame buildings with symmetrical three-bay fronts. In most of them, chimneys set inside the house took the place of the end chimneys of earlier houses, under shallower hip or gable roofs. A chimney inside the house climbs straight through the attic floor, and the gap beside the brick lets house air pour into the attic. ENERGY STAR's fix is a collar of light aluminum sheet bedded in high-temperature caulk, with no foam anywhere near the brick. A short metal fence around the chimney then keeps the new insulation the 2 inches away from masonry that codes usually ask for.
Bungalows on Saint David and Baker Streets
The same nomination dates Tarboro's bungalows to between about 1910 and 1930, most of them to the 1920s. They range from large houses to rows of small, uniform ones on Baker and Saint David streets, and some of the broad roofs carry a center gable or a shed dormer. Most of them went up before 1930. ENERGY STAR links that era to knob-and-tube circuits, which can catch fire when buried under insulation. So an electrician looks over any old runs in the attic before anything is blown in. If a dormer lights a finished room, the narrow side spaces behind its knee walls are sealed and insulated too.
Fairview Park, Forest Acres and Postwar Ranches
After World War II, Tarboro spread into new subdivisions. Fairview Park, platted in 1946 west of North Main Street, filled almost entirely with compact Minimal Traditional houses. Forest Acres followed in the 1950s with Ranches. The 2022 survey found most Tarboro Ranches rectangular under low side-gabled roofs, with shallow hip roofs next. Under a roof that low, the attic gets very shallow near the outside walls. By ENERGY STAR's account, the middle of an attic can be well covered while the eaves get very little. Rafter vents stapled to the roof deck between the rafters hold a channel open over each soffit vent, and then the thin edges get their share.
Attic Insulation in Tarboro
About 40 percent of Tarboro's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 35 percent of Tarboro homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Tarboro's center sits about 40 feet above sea level, under a mile from NOAA's Tarboro 1 S station, the best match for Tarboro. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,320 heating and 1,690 cooling degree days a year, so at Tarboro's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 69 percent of Tarboro housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built from 1940 to 1969, 29 percent of Tarboro homes often have little insulation.
About 65 percent of Tarboro's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too. About 26 percent of Tarboro units sit in buildings of two or more homes, where the attic is often shared.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 11% (±3), about 620 units
- 1940s: 11% (±4), about 600 units
- 1950s: 9% (±3), about 480 units
- 1960s: 9% (±3), about 510 units
- 1970s: 22% (±7), about 1,240 units
- 1980s: 13% (±5), about 740 units
- 1990s: 9% (±3), about 470 units
- 2000s: 11% (±4), about 620 units
- 2010s: 4% (±2), about 240 units
- 2020 or later: under 1%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Tarboro
In Tarboro, 38 percent of homes heat with electricity and about 58 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: 38% (±5), about 1,820 households; Edgecombe County: 60%
- Piped gas: 58% (±6), about 2,800 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 3% (±2), about 155 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Tarboro, an ElectriCities public power town, runs its own electric system. For gas, Tarboro is in the Edgecombe County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and about 58 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas.
Program to ask about in Tarboro: ElectriCities energy audits (the town's electric system), home energy audits for member-town customers; ask the town's utility office. Before a job in Tarboro, check its current terms; the Edgecombe County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Tarboro
In a Tarboro attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Tarboro attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Tarboro
Nearest to Tarboro first.
Leggett, NC
6 miles north
37 people, under a tenth of Tarboro's population
Attic insulation in LeggettSpeed, NC
8 miles northeast
66 people, under a tenth of Tarboro's population
Attic insulation in SpeedConetoe, NC
8 miles southeast
201 people, under a tenth of Tarboro's population
Attic insulation in ConetoePinetops, NC
9 miles southwest
Power from its own town system (Tarboro: a town system); 1,198 people, about a ninth of Tarboro's population
Attic insulation in Pinetops
Tarboro Insulation FAQs
Do I need the Tarboro Historic District Commission's approval to insulate my attic?
Not for anything done inside the attic. The state's list of preservation commissions names a Tarboro Historic District Commission. State law limits such a body to the exterior of buildings in a designated district, with no say over interior arrangement. The National Register listing of the Tarboro Historic District, from 1980, is a separate matter and binds no private owner spending private money. Adding roof, ridge or soffit vents changes the outside, though. For that step, a certificate of appropriateness from the commission may be needed, so call the town hall first.
Do the old Fairview Park or Forest Acres covenants matter for attic work in Tarboro?
They are worth reading, but they live in your deed, and we cannot tell you whether they still bind your lot. The 2022 survey records that the developers put covenants on both plats, including review of how the buildings were designed. Insulating and air sealing happen out of sight, inside the attic. Anything that changes the outside of the house, such as added roof vents, is the part to check against your deed first.
Could the old insulation in a Tarboro attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 31 percent of Tarboro's homes predate 1960. If a Tarboro 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 Tarboro need a permit?
Tarboro Town Hall can say whether Edgecombe County Planning & Inspections, the town itself or another office handles permits in Tarboro; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- An energy audit program from the town's own utility: home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Tarboro, NOAA normals for the Tarboro 1 S station, Tarboro's municipal electric system (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Tarboro notes and questions (read October 2026):
- Tarboro, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Tarboro Historic District, National Register nomination, 1980 (NC HPO)
- Tarboro Architectural Survey Update, MdM Historical Consultants, October 2022 (NC HPO)
- Furnace Flues Require Special Sealing Techniques, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Attic Air Sealing Project, ENERGY STAR
- Attic Insulation Project, ENERGY STAR
- Post-World War II and Modern Architecture in Raleigh, 1945-1965, Multiple Property Documentation Form (NC HPO)
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- About Attic Ventilation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Historic Preservation Commission Staff in North Carolina, listed by county, as of 2/20/2023 (NC HPO)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. 160D-947, Certificate of appropriateness required
- What is the National Register of Historic Places?, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- NC Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, NC State Historic Preservation Office
- Town Common (E-18), North Carolina Highway Historical Marker essay (NC DNCR)
Tarboro, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Tarboro and the rest of Edgecombe County included.
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Send the square footage of your Tarboro attic, or call (336) 870-3893.