Lamoille County, VT Insulation Payback
Lamoille County attic insulation, by the numbers
DOE classifies Lamoille County as climate zone 6, cold — winters that dominate the energy bill, with cooling a minor factor. Its recommended attic R-value for bare joists is 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 $2,351 a year — payback in roughly 1.5 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
The breakdown behind the number
Split it out and it's roughly $2,322 a year on the heating side, $29 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Lamoille County lands in the 95th percentile nationally. Zone 6 alone covers 459 counties in this dataset, and Lamoille County comes in 60th by savings. Vermont averages $2,179/year across the counties tracked here; Lamoille County comes in 8% higher.
Lamoille County's actual weather, not a national average
Lamoille County's climate figures — 8,684 heating and 183 cooling degree days a year — are read from JOHNSON 2 N, VT US, 4 miles away, NOAA's nearest 1991-2020 normals station. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Lamoille County 197th nationally by total degree days — the 94th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Lamoille County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
If the attic isn't bare
If Lamoille 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 $343/year — payback about 6.6 years. Worth doing on the numbers alone.
Getting it done in Lamoille County
Real bids depend on how easy the attic is to reach and whether old insulation needs removing first, so treat $3,480 as a starting estimate for a Lamoille County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
Lamoille 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.