LaMoure County, ND Insulation Payback
LaMoure County attic insulation, by the numbers
LaMoure County sits in IECC climate zone 6 (Cold) — cold enough that heating, not cooling, is what decides the bill. For a currently uninsulated attic, DOE and ENERGY STAR recommend building 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 $2,423 a year — payback in roughly 1.4 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
The breakdown behind the number
Split it out and it's roughly $2,339 a year on the heating side, $84 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, LaMoure County lands in the 96th percentile nationally. Zone 6 alone covers 459 counties in this dataset, and LaMoure County comes in 23rd by savings. North Dakota averages $2,496/year across the counties tracked here; LaMoure County comes in 3% lower.
Where these numbers come from
The heating and cooling degree days behind this estimate — 8,747 HDD and 525 CDD (base 65°F, 1991-2020 normals) — come from LA MOURE, ND US, the nearest NOAA station with published normals, 13.2 miles from LaMoure County's center. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks LaMoure County 110th nationally by total degree days — the 97th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: LaMoure County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
If the attic isn't bare
A shallower starting point changes the math: with R-11 already down, only the gap to R-49 needs filling, at roughly $2,280 for an estimated $353/year saved (~6.5-year payback). Worth doing on the numbers alone.
Next steps for a LaMoure County attic
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 LaMoure County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
LaMoure 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.