Wirt County, WV Insulation Payback
Wirt County attic insulation, by the numbers
Wirt County, West Virginia is zone 4 under DOE's climate map (Mixed-Humid), which means heating load in winter and cooling load in summer, both worth taking seriously 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 $1,544 a year — payback in roughly 2.3 years. Topping up the attic pays for itself fast here.
Heating vs. cooling in Wirt County
Split it out and it's roughly $1,408 a year on the heating side, $136 on cooling. By estimated insulation savings, Wirt County lands in the 56th percentile nationally. Zone 4 alone covers 825 counties in this dataset, and Wirt County comes in 109th by savings. West Virginia averages $1,526/year across the counties tracked here; Wirt County comes in 1% higher.
Where these numbers come from
NOAA's CRESTON, WV US station, 7.1 miles from Wirt County, supplies the 5,264 HDD and 848 CDD this estimate runs on. Combined heating and cooling load puts Wirt County in the 54th percentile of this 3,162-county dataset. One local detail the R-value alone won't tell you: Wirt County sits in moisture regime A (humid), which can affect the vapor-barrier choice.
If the attic isn't bare
If Wirt 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 $225/year — payback about 10.1 years. Call this borderline rather than a clear win.
Next steps for a Wirt 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 Wirt County, not a bid - contractors typically charge a $600 minimum regardless of job size.
Where these figures come from
Wirt 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.