Attic insulation, air sealing, crawl spaces and walls for homes in Manchester — starting with a free assessment that measures the R-value you actually have. The typical home here dates to the late-1970s, and 1% of its 7,423 homes went up before 1940.
Manchester runs to about 5.0 square miles and roughly 18,333 people. It sits about 18 miles west of downtown St. Louis. That is roughly 7,423 housing units. The community dates back to 1950. We cover ZIP codes 63011, 63021 and 63088.
Our job history shows nothing in Manchester so far. Plenty of sites will show you a number here anyway.
The typical home in Manchester dates to around the late-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.
Manchester was incorporated as a village in 1950 and became a fourth-class city in 1959, so essentially its entire housing stock is postwar.
Manchester was named by an English settler after Manchester, England. Its USPS ZIP codes carry Ballwin (63011, 63021) and Valley Park (63088) place names, a common St. Louis County quirk where postal city names don't match municipal boundaries.
The Census Bureau estimates 7,423 homes in Manchester. 96 of them (1%) went up before 1940 — 35th of 44 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1970s were the busiest decade, adding 3,026 of today's homes (41%); 63% predate 1980 and 5% were built in 2000 or later. For St. Louis County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 10%, so Manchester sits below it.
Of 7,279 occupied homes, 73% heat with utility gas and 26% with electricity. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (23%), and ranks 33rd of 44 on this site. Whoever comes out will ask about the furnace or heat pump first, since the heating fuel and the utility named on the bill settle which program money is on the table.
75% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 73% of all homes are single-family detached houses. On a housing mix like this, the likely starting points are an attic top-up over postwar fiberglass and an energy assessment before deciding what to fix first.
| Built | Homes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1940 | 96 | 1% | |
| 1940s | 39 | 1% | |
| 1950s | 309 | 4% | |
| 1960s | 1,228 | 17% | |
| 1970s | 3,026 | 41% | |
| 1980s | 1,600 | 22% | |
| 1990s | 778 | 10% | |
| 2000s | 220 | 3% | |
| 2010s | 71 | 1% | |
| 2020 or later | 56 | 1% |
7,423 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 7,279 occupied.
2,378 of Manchester's 7,423 homes (32%) 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.
Manchester does not publish the energy code edition it enforces, so this page does not name one. Manchester does not issue building permits. The city's own Building Permits page states that St. Louis County handles building permits and that the city provides only a municipal zoning review before the county application is submitted, so the county's adopted codes govern. The Missouri state building code database at data.mo.gov lists Manchester with the 2015 IRC and 2015 IBC and shows no energy code entry for the city; the same database lists the 2015 IECC for the unincorporated county communities of Affton and Oakville. Across this metro the adopted editions run from the 2015 IECC to the 2024 IECC, and several jurisdictions have no energy code at all, which is a wide spread. Ask which one your contractor is building to.
There is no published answer for Manchester. Neither the permit-required list nor the exemption list mentions insulation or air sealing at all. The city's page says building permits are necessary for most residential and commercial improvements that are not cosmetic in nature, but does not name insulation, air sealing or weatherization. That silence is not permission and it is not a prohibition. We settle it with a phone call before the crew is scheduled.
Not published on the city's building permits page.
The published number is 314-615-5184. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Most Manchester addresses are Ameren Missouri electric customers, and Ameren Missouri pays toward insulation through Pay As You Save: $0.20 per square foot on the attic and $0.06 per square foot on air sealing in the 2026 program year, with the rest of the cost recovered through the electric bill. It counts only when the attic is at R-20 or below beforehand and R-38 or more afterward, when air sealing cuts measured leakage by 20 percent, and when the household has lived there for the past year; for income-eligible households, CommunitySavers can include attic insulation at no charge. Income-qualified households can apply to Community Action Agency of St. Louis County (CAASTLC) (314-863-0015) for free weatherization instead. The St. Louis County page and the rebate guide carry the full rules.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Elsewhere in St. Louis County we also cover:
Missouri sets none of this at state level. Across the 7 places in this table there are 3 different adopted editions (2015 IECC, 2021 IECC and 2024 IECC), and 1 of the 7 publishes a permit rule for insulation.
| City | Energy code | Attic R required | Permit to insulate | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | Not published | — | Not published | 314-615-5184 |
| Affton | 2015 IECC | R-49 | Not for an attic top-up | 314-615-5184 |
| Ballwin | Not published | — | Not published | 636-227-2129 |
| Brentwood | 2024 IECC | R-49 | Not published | 314-963-8602 |
| Chesterfield | Not published | — | Not published | 636-537-4000 |
| Clayton | 2021 IECC | R-60 | Not published | 314-290-8463 |
| Creve Coeur | 2015 IECC | R-49 | Not published | 314-872-2500 |
All 21 St. Louis County jurisdictions side by side →
Manchester does not publish the energy code edition it enforces, so we do not state a required figure here. The Department of Energy recommends R60 for an uninsulated attic in this climate zone and R49 where there are already a few inches.
Manchester has not published a rule for it; the building department at 314-615-5184 is called before the job starts.
For most Ameren Missouri customers, Pay As You Save: $0.20 per square foot on an attic starting at R-20 or lower and $0.06 per square foot on air sealing in 2026, the rest repaid on the bill. The federal 25C credit ended for work placed in service after December 31, 2025.
The typical home in Manchester dates to around the late-1970s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1977. Of its 7,423 homes, 1% went up before 1940 and 5% in 2000 or later. Half the homes here are older than that and half newer; yours may sit at either end.
Code and permit facts checked September 10, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: manchestermo.gov (2) · data.mo.gov · library.municode.com · stlouiscountymo.gov · ecode360.com · en.wikipedia.org · zipdatamaps.com · bestplaces.net · ameren.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 314-615-5184 or your electric utility first.
Free assessment, a measured R-value, and photos you keep either way.
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