Insulation and air sealing for Fairview Heights homes: attics, crawl spaces, rim joists and walls, starting with a free assessment of the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the early-1970s, and 4% of its 8,179 homes went up before 1940.
Fairview Heights runs to about 12 square miles and roughly 16,706 people. It sits about 11 miles east of downtown St. Louis. Around 8,179 housing units sit inside those boundaries. The community dates back to 1969. We cover ZIP code 62208.
No completed job in Fairview Heights is logged in our records yet, and this page will say so until one is.
The typical home in Fairview Heights dates to around the early-1970s. Postwar building here often meant three or four inches of fiberglass and no attempt at air sealing. If nobody has touched it since, that is what is still up there.
The city incorporated in 1969 on what had been farmland, so its housing stock is almost entirely post-1969 suburban construction.
Fairview Heights incorporated in October 1969 after developing out of farmland, per the city's own history page; French Village, an unincorporated community, sits immediately to its west.
The Census Bureau estimates 8,179 homes in Fairview Heights. 362 of them (4%) went up before 1940 — 25th of 44 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1950s were the busiest decade, adding 1,621 of today's homes (20%); 66% predate 1980 and 19% were built in 2000 or later. For St. Clair County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 13%, so Fairview Heights sits below it.
Of 7,221 occupied homes, 58% heat with utility gas and 39% with electricity; another 3% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (33%), and ranks 12th of 44 on this site. Which utility program can contribute depends on the heating fuel and on who sends the bill, so that is the first thing an assessment pins down.
70% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 74% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 181 mobile homes in the count. With houses like these, the conversations we expect most are about an attic top-up over postwar fiberglass and an energy assessment before deciding what to fix first.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 362 | 4% | |
| 1940s | 449 | 5% | |
| 1950s | 1,621 | 20% | |
| 1960s | 1,390 | 17% | |
| 1970s | 1,536 | 19% | |
| 1980s | 640 | 8% | |
| 1990s | 607 | 7% | |
| 2000s | 1,263 | 15% | |
| 2010s | 281 | 3% | |
| 2020 or later | 30 | 0% |
8,179 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 7,221 occupied.
4,547 of Fairview Heights' 8,179 homes (56%) date from 1950 through 1979. The leaks in houses of that era repeat: nothing over the top plates, wire and pipe holes left open, an unsealed hatch, a bath fan venting into the attic, and in ranches and split-levels, heat lost at the garage ceiling and over cantilevered floors. Sealing the plates, holes and fans comes before any more fiber, and it is usually a day's work, not a renovation.
Fairview Heights enforces the Illinois Energy Conservation Code (2024 IECC with Illinois amendments), by state law. The Illinois Energy Conservation Code governs residential energy work by statute.
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 Fairview Heights 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. St. Clair County is in climate zone 4 per the NAIMA IECC compliance guide for Illinois homes.
Nothing Fairview Heights publishes settles this. Its permit lists name the work types it cares about, and insulation is not among them in either direction. The city states that building permits must be obtained prior to making improvements or alterations to a property, and gives storage buildings of 200 square feet or more, swimming pools deeper than 24 inches and detached garages as examples. Its published permit types are building, occupancy, sign and yard sale. So we ask the department directly before the first day on site, and whatever comes back, pulling it is our job rather than yours.
No municipal contractor registration or licensing requirement is published. The city does require that construction documents be prepared by a design professional registered with the State of Illinois, which is a design requirement, not a contractor registry.
The published number is 618-489-2060. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Fairview Heights is on the Illinois side, where Ameren Illinois publishes discounts the contractor applies on the invoice: $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 on Ameren Illinois' 2026 discount table. 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 St. Clair County Community Action Agency (618-277-6790) for free weatherization instead. For every condition attached, see the St. Clair County page or the rebate guide.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Fairview Heights borders French Village.
Elsewhere in St. Clair 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 4 publishes a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview Heights | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-489-2060 |
| Belleville | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-233-6817 |
| O'Fallon | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-624-4500 |
| Swansea | Illinois state code | R-49 | Not published | 618-234-0044 |
All 4 St. Clair County jurisdictions side by side →
Fairview Heights 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.
Not on paper: Fairview Heights names neither a permit nor an exemption for insulation, so one call to the department at 618-489-2060 settles it first.
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 Fairview Heights dates to around the early-1970s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1972. Of its 8,179 homes, 4% went up before 1940 and 19% 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: cofh.org (2, 3) · fairviewheightsil.com (2) · en.wikipedia.org · fairviewheights.com · bestplaces.net · ameren.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 618-489-2060 or your electric utility first.
Free assessment, measured at the hatch, with the photographs and the number in writing.
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