Crawford County, OH Insulation Payback
Crawford County attic insulation, by the numbers
Crawford County, Ohio is zone 5 under DOE's climate map (Cold), which means a real winter that drives most of the annual energy bill here. An uninsulated attic there should be built up to R-60. For an attic around 1,000 square feet, closing the gap from R-2 to R-60 costs around $3,480 and saves an estimated $1,657 a year — payback in roughly 2.1 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
Where the savings come from
Split it out and it's roughly $1,495 a year on the heating side, $162 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Crawford County lands in the 63th percentile nationally. Zone 5 alone covers 745 counties in this dataset, and Crawford County comes in 560th by savings. Ohio averages $1,669/year across the counties tracked here; Crawford County comes in 1% lower.
Where these numbers come from
Crawford County's climate figures — 5,592 heating and 1,010 cooling degree days a year — are read from BUCYRUS, OH US, 3.4 miles away, NOAA's nearest 1991-2020 normals station. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Crawford County 1147th nationally by total degree days — the 64th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Crawford County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
Already have some insulation?
If Crawford County's attic already has 3-4 inches of old insulation (about R-11) rather than bare joists, the recommended target drops to R-49. That smaller top-up costs around $2,280 and saves an estimated $242/year — payback about 9.4 years. Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Next steps for a Crawford County attic
Actual quotes will vary by attic access, existing debris, and whether the job needs air sealing first. Treat the $3,480 figure above as a planning number for Crawford County, not a bid - contractors typically charge a $600 minimum regardless of job size.
Where these figures come from
Crawford County's R-60 target and its degree-day figures both come from named federal sources - see the methodology guide for exactly which ones. The guide to what R-value actually means explains why R-60 is the target here specifically.