Attic insulation, air sealing, crawl spaces and walls for homes in Edwardsville — starting with a free assessment that measures the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the mid-1980s, and 16% of its 10,609 homes went up before 1940.
Edwardsville runs to about 20 square miles and roughly 26,474 people. It sits about 18 miles northeast of downtown St. Louis. That is roughly 10,609 housing units. The community dates back to 1818. We cover ZIP codes 62025 and 62026.
Our job history shows nothing in Edwardsville so far. Plenty of sites will show you a number here anyway.
The typical home in Edwardsville dates to around the mid-1980s. Houses of this vintage usually got batts or blown fiber at whatever the standard of the day was, which is well short of what is recommended now. Most are one top-up away from being right.
Built out steadily through the 1970s-80s, with only modest growth (about 3%) since 2020.
That includes Leclaire. Housing age and construction shift across Edwardsville, sometimes by decades within a few streets, which is why we look in the attic before quoting rather than after.
Incorporated in 1818, Edwardsville's Leclaire Historic District was a planned 19th-century industrial cooperative village later annexed into the city (1934), and Historic Saint Louis Street carries more than 50 homes dating from the mid-19th to early-20th century.
The Census Bureau estimates 10,609 homes in Edwardsville. 1,665 of them (16%) went up before 1940 — 12th of 44 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1990s were the busiest decade, adding 1,945 of today's homes (18%); 43% predate 1980 and 27% were built in 2000 or later. For Madison County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 15%, so Edwardsville sits above it.
Of 9,828 occupied homes, 59% heat with utility gas and 39% with electricity. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (32%), and ranks 11th of 44 on this site. That is why the assessment asks how the house is heated: the fuel and the name on the utility bill decide which program, if any, can pay toward the work.
67% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 71% of all homes are single-family detached houses. On a housing mix like this, the likely starting points are an energy assessment before deciding what to fix first.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 1,665 | 16% | |
| 1940s | 551 | 5% | |
| 1950s | 886 | 8% | |
| 1960s | 662 | 6% | |
| 1970s | 757 | 7% | |
| 1980s | 1,308 | 12% | |
| 1990s | 1,945 | 18% | |
| 2000s | 1,327 | 13% | |
| 2010s | 1,142 | 11% | |
| 2020 or later | 366 | 3% |
10,609 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 9,828 occupied.
3,253 of Edwardsville's 10,609 homes (31%) were built in the 1980s and 1990s. The gaps in houses of that age are the parts nobody sealed: batts stuffed into the rim joist, bare spots over cathedral and tray ceilings, soffit vents buried with no baffles, can lights punched through the ceiling plane. A top-up plus a day of sealing usually covers it.
Edwardsville enforces the 2018 IECC named locally; Illinois Energy Conservation Code (2024 IECC with Illinois amendments) governs by state law. The city's remodel permit requirements handout lists the codes it enforces: 2020 National Electrical Code, 2021 International Residential Code, 2021 International Building Code, 2018 International Energy Conservation Code and the Illinois State Plumbing Code. The city adopted its updated International Codes on July 7, 2022, effective January 1, 2023. The locally named 2018 IECC is an older edition than the Illinois Energy Conservation Code now in force, and 20 ILCS 3125 does not let a municipality set residential energy standards less or more stringent than the state code.
Under that edition the required attic value for new work here is R-49, and walls R-20 + R-5 continuous, or R-13 + R-10 continuous. For comparison, the Department of Energy recommends R60 for an uninsulated attic in climate zone 4A, where Edwardsville sits, and R49 where there are already a few inches up there.
Table R402.1.3 of the 2024 IECC as amended for Illinois, climate zone 4. Madison County is in climate zone 4 per the NAIMA IECC compliance guide for Illinois homes.
There is no published answer for Edwardsville. Neither the permit-required list nor the exemption list mentions insulation or air sealing at all. The remodel permit requirements handout states minimum insulation levels that remodel work must meet, but the city does not publish insulation on its own as a listed permit type. The permit page describes permits as required for remodeling existing buildings and for additions, wall relocation, plumbing fixtures, electrical upgrades and lighting changes; insulation alone is not named. That silence is not permission and it is not a prohibition. We settle it with a phone call before the crew is scheduled.
The city publishes no contractor registration or licensing requirement for insulation work. The remodel handout requires an Illinois-licensed plumber for plumbing work if the applicant is not the owner-occupant.
The published number is 618-692-7535. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Ameren Illinois serves most Edwardsville addresses, and its 2026 discount table pays $1.10 per square foot for attic or wall insulation, $2.50 per linear foot for rim joist, $3.75 per linear foot for crawl space wall and $0.70 per cubic foot per minute (CFM) of air leakage reduced for air sealing, taken off the invoice. The discount comes off a registered Ameren Illinois Program Ally's price, once the program's home energy assessment confirms the house is eligible. Income-qualified households can apply to Madison County Community Development (618-692-8940) for free weatherization instead. The full program rules are on the Madison County page and in the rebate guide.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Elsewhere in Madison County we also cover:
Illinois sets the residential energy code from Springfield, so the attic figure is R-49 wherever it is published here; what changes is the permit desk, and none of the 5 publishes a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edwardsville | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-692-7535 |
| Alton | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-463-3500 |
| Collinsville | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-346-5200 |
| Glen Carbon | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-288-2615 |
| Granite City | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-452-6218 |
All 5 Madison County jurisdictions side by side →
Edwardsville enforces the Illinois state code, which sets R-49 for an attic in new work. That code also reaches work on existing houses, not only new ones.
Edwardsville has not published a rule for it; the building department at 618-692-7535 is called before the job starts.
Ameren Illinois publishes $1.10 per square foot for attic insulation and $0.70 per cubic foot per minute (CFM) of air leakage reduced for air sealing for 2026; only a registered Program Ally can apply it, once an assessment shows the house qualifies. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after December 31, 2025.
The typical home in Edwardsville dates to around the mid-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1986. Of its 10,609 homes, 16% went up before 1940 and 27% in 2000 or later. It is a median for the place, not a survey of individual houses.
Code and permit facts checked September 10, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: cityofedwardsville.com (2, 3) · library.municode.com · en.wikipedia.org · censusreporter.org · point2homes.com · ameren.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 618-692-7535 or your electric utility first.
Free assessment, a measured R-value, and photos you keep either way.
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