Marinette County, WI Insulation Payback
Marinette County attic insulation, by the numbers
Marinette 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 $2,419 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 $2,373 a year on the heating side, $46 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Marinette County lands in the 96th percentile nationally. Zone 6 alone covers 459 counties in this dataset, and Marinette County comes in 27th by savings. Wisconsin averages $2,200/year across the counties tracked here; Marinette County comes in 10% higher.
Marinette County's actual weather, not a national average
Marinette County's climate figures — 8,876 heating and 286 cooling degree days a year — are read from CRIVITZ HIGH FALLS, WI US, 9.8 miles away, NOAA's nearest 1991-2020 normals station. That combined heating-and-cooling load ranks Marinette County 127th nationally by total degree days — the 96th percentile. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Marinette 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.
Getting it done in Marinette 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 Marinette County job, not a quote. Expect at least a $600 minimum charge from most contractors.
Where these figures come from
Marinette 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.