Lilesville, NC
5 miles east
Median home built 1966 (Wadesboro: 1972); 398 people, under a tenth of Wadesboro's population
Attic insulation in LilesvilleAttic Insulation in Wadesboro, NC
Blown-in attic insulation for Wadesboro, NC, in Anson County, plus removal and air sealing.
About Wadesboro and Its Homes
Wadesboro has been the Anson County seat since 1783, when its center was platted as a grid of half-acre lots around what became the courthouse square. It grew fast after railroads came in 1874 and 1885 and three textile mills opened between 1888 and 1901.
Wadesboro, in Anson County, grew from 5,025 people in 2020 to 5,035 in 2025 (Census Bureau estimates), on 6.6 square miles. No town in Anson County has more people than Wadesboro.
Wadesboro has about 2,400 housing units, 24 percent of Anson County's; about 63 percent of the town's households own their home.
Wadesboro at a Glance
- County: Anson County
- Population: 5,035 (2025), 5,025 (2020), up 0.2%
- Land area: 6.6 square miles (763 people each)
- Housing units: about 2,400 (±263)
- Median year built: 1972 (±3); Anson County: 1974
- Owner-occupied: 63% (±10); Anson County: 69%
- Detached houses: 79% (±4); Anson County: 69%
- Attached houses: 2% (±2)
- Apartments: 12% (±5)
- Mobile homes: 7% (±6)
- Climate zone: 3 on both maps
- ENERGY STAR target for Wadesboro attics: R-49 from bare, R-38 over 3 to 4 inches (R-value guide)
Census Bureau estimates for Wadesboro, 2020 to 2024 (± margin of error).
Wadesboro Homes and Their Attics
Brick Chimneys Written Into the Town Charter
The town's first building rules were part of its charter, the downtown district's nomination records. Every house had to be at least sixteen feet wide and twenty feet deep, with a chimney of brick or stone. The oldest house in the district, built in the 1780s by founder Patrick Boggan for his daughter, is a plain one-story house with substantial chimneys. In an old house, find where each chimney runs. One built against an outside end wall never crosses the attic floor. One that rises inside the house does, and the opening around it is closed with sheet metal and heat-rated caulk, with insulation held back from the brick.
Queen Anne and Bungalow Streets Around the Square
The 1999 nomination drew the district tightly around the business blocks. It left out the tree-shaded residential streets to the east, south and west, which it describes as largely intact, with houses from the later 1800s through the Second World War. Inside the district it points to a Queen Anne house with shingled gables, a brick bungalow and a two-story hip-roofed house. There is also a one-story cottage of about 1890 with a gable-on-hip roof and bay windows. Roofs like these can hide several attic pockets of different heights over the bays and wings. Each one is reached and filled evenly, so no low spots are left.
Attic Insulation in Wadesboro
About 45 percent of Wadesboro's homes predate 1970; if your joists show above the insulation, ENERGY STAR says to add more insulation.
Built from 1970 to 1989, about 40 percent of Wadesboro homes may hold settled fiberglass; check its depth against the joists.
The Local Climate
Wadesboro's center sits about 510 feet above sea level, under a mile from NOAA's Wadesboro station, the best match for Wadesboro. The station's 1991 to 2020 normals average about 3,000 heating and 1,840 cooling degree days a year, so at Wadesboro's station, heating needs outweigh cooling.
Homes by Age: What It Means for the Attic
Some 79 percent of Wadesboro housing units are detached single-family houses.
Built from 1940 to 1969, about 35 percent of Wadesboro homes often have little insulation.
About 70 percent of Wadesboro's housing units predate 1980; nearly all predate the state's 1978 insulation rule too.
Homes by Year Built
- Before 1940: 11% (±5), about 255 units
- 1940s: 8% (±5), about 200 units
- 1950s: 15% (±5), about 350 units
- 1960s: 10% (±5), about 235 units
- 1970s: 29% (±9), about 680 units
- 1980s: 13% (±7), about 310 units
- 1990s: 12% (±6), about 285 units
- 2000s: under 3%, about 30 units
- 2010s: under 3%, about 30 units
- 2020 or later: under 1%
Air Sealing and Duct Sealing in Wadesboro
In Polkton, the nearest town to Wadesboro with solid figures, 82 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: 54% (±13), about 1,080 households; Anson County: 58%
- Piped gas: 21% (±8), about 430 households
- Bottled or tank gas: 15% (±6), about 290 households
- Oil or kerosene: 8% (±5), about 150 households
- Wood: under 3%, about 20 households
Power, Gas and Rebates
Duke Energy serves most of Wadesboro, Pee Dee Electric its edges; your bill says which. For gas, Wadesboro is in the Anson County franchise of Piedmont Natural Gas, and about 21 percent of the town's homes heat with piped gas. Bottled or tank gas, bought by the delivery, heats about 15 percent of homes in Wadesboro.
Rebate to check in Wadesboro: Smart $aver Insulate and Seal (Duke Energy; Insulation Pros is an approved trade ally). Before a job in Wadesboro, check its current terms; the Anson County page lists every program.
Attic Insulation Removal in Wadesboro
In a Wadesboro attic, only wet, moldy or animal-soiled insulation is vacuumed out (ENERGY STAR's test), once the cause is fixed, and after mice that Wadesboro attic is sanitized and deodorized; dry, clean insulation stays.
Also Serving Near Wadesboro
Nearest to Wadesboro first.
Polkton, NC
7 miles west
Median home built 1991 (Wadesboro: 1972); Center about 190 feet lower than Wadesboro's
Attic insulation in PolktonMorven, NC
8 miles southeast
Center about 150 feet lower than Wadesboro's; 331 people, under a tenth of Wadesboro's population
Attic insulation in MorvenAnsonville, NC
10 miles north
Center about 180 feet lower than Wadesboro's; 461 people, under a tenth of Wadesboro's population
Attic insulation in AnsonvillePeachland, NC
11 miles west
395 people, under a tenth of Wadesboro's population
Attic insulation in Peachland
Wadesboro Insulation FAQs
Is my house inside Wadesboro's downtown historic district?
Only if it sits right downtown. The Wadesboro Downtown Historic District, listed in 1999, takes in the business blocks plus a few houses on East Wade Street and at the south end of Rutherford Street. Its nomination left the surrounding residential streets out on purpose. Even inside it, a National Register listing does not restrict a private owner spending private money, and Anson County has no local commission on the state's 2023 list. Attic work is inside work either way.
When did older houses in town first get electric power, and why does it matter?
Because the oldest wiring needs a look before insulation goes in. The Blewett Falls hydroelectric plant on the Pee Dee River was finished in 1912, and by the mid-1920s it served some thirty communities, Wadesboro among them, the district nomination says. A house wired in those years may have knob-and-tube circuits. ENERGY STAR dates that system to before 1930 and warns that insulation touching it is a fire hazard. An electrician checks it, and live runs stay uncovered.
Could the old insulation in a Wadesboro attic be vermiculite?
It could: about 35 percent of Wadesboro's homes predate 1960. If a Wadesboro 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 Wadesboro need a permit?
Wadesboro Town Hall can say whether Anson County Building Inspections & Permitting, the town itself or another office handles permits in Wadesboro; ask before work starts.
Helpful Guides
- Power from Duke Energy: high summer electric bills and home energy audits
Sources
Census Bureau figures for Wadesboro, NOAA normals for the Wadesboro station, Duke Energy (October 2026). Compiled by Insulation Pros. How the town pages are made.
Sources for the Wadesboro notes and questions (read October 20, 2026):
- Wadesboro Downtown Historic District, National Register nomination (NC HPO)
- Wadesboro, in The North Carolina Gazetteer (William S. Powell, 2nd ed., UNC Press 2010), NCpedia
- Furnace Flues Require Special Sealing Techniques, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- Adding Attic Insulation, ENERGY STAR do-it-yourself guide
- What is 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
Wadesboro, NC
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Insulation Pros is an insulation contractor serving North Carolina, Wadesboro and the rest of Anson County included.
Reach us
Send the square footage of your Wadesboro attic, or call (336) 870-3893.