Insulation and air sealing for Town and Country homes: attics, crawl spaces, rim joists and walls, starting with a free assessment of the R-value you actually have. Town and Country enforces the 2018 IRC ch. 11, which sets R-49 for a new attic.
Town and Country runs to about 11 square miles and roughly 11,640 people. It sits about 15 miles west of downtown St. Louis. Around 4,163 housing units sit inside those boundaries. The community dates back to 1950. We cover ZIP codes 63131 and 63017.
No completed job in Town and Country is logged in our records yet, and this page will say so until one is.
The typical home in Town and Country dates to around the early-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.
The city's 'Estate' and 'Suburban Estate' residential zoning categories favor large-lot single-family construction, exemplified by the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Theodore A.
Originally a farming settlement called Altheim (1886); incorporated as a village in 1950 and re-incorporated as a fourth-class city in 1975. It is also home to Bellerive Country Club, which hosted the 1965 U.S. Open and the 1992 and 2018 PGA Championships.
The Census Bureau estimates 4,163 homes in Town and Country. 109 of them (3%) went up before 1940 — 26th of 44 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 1980s were the busiest decade, adding 1,214 of today's homes (29%); 41% predate 1980 and 17% were built in 2000 or later. For St. Louis County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 10%, so Town and Country sits below it.
Of 4,035 occupied homes, 72% heat with utility gas and 27% with electricity. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (23%), and ranks 31st 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.
86% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 83% 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 | 109 | 3% | |
| 1940s | 50 | 1% | |
| 1950s | 274 | 7% | |
| 1960s | 507 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 781 | 19% | |
| 1980s | 1,214 | 29% | |
| 1990s | 537 | 13% | |
| 2000s | 230 | 6% | |
| 2010s | 306 | 7% | |
| 2020 or later | 155 | 4% |
4,163 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 4,035 occupied.
1,751 of Town and Country's 4,163 homes (42%) 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.
Town and Country enforces the 2018 IRC Chapter 11 (Energy Efficiency). Chapter 500 of the city code has no Energy Conservation Code article; its nine articles are Building Code, Mechanical Code, Adoption of County Codes, Code Official, Architectural Review, Miscellaneous Building Regulations, Residential Code, Existing Building Code and Property Maintenance Code. Article VII adopts the International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings, 2018 Edition, most recently by Ordinance No. 4386 dated 9-28-2020. The amendment table in Section 500.160 amends Chapters 1, 3, 7 and 13 of that code and does not delete or amend Chapter 11, Energy Efficiency, so the 2018 IRC energy provisions stand as written. Article I adopts the 2018 International Building Code for other buildings.
That edition sets R-49 for the attic in new work, and R-20, or R-13 plus R-5 continuous for walls. The Department of Energy's recommendation for this climate zone runs higher: R60 for an attic with nothing in it, R49 where a few inches are already down.
Chapter 11 of the 2018 IRC carries the same envelope requirements as Table R402.1.2 of the 2018 IECC. For climate zone 4 except marine that is ceiling R-49 and wood frame wall R-20 or R-13+5, per the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Building America Solution Center table of IECC and IRC minimum insulation requirements and NAIMA's 2018 IECC climate zone 4 summary.
Nothing Town and Country publishes settles this. Its permit lists name the work types it cares about, and insulation is not among them in either direction. Insulation, air sealing and weatherization are not on the list. The Building Code Quick Reference Sheet states no permit is needed to replace siding without removing sheathing or to replace windows of the same size and type, but says nothing about insulation. So we ask the department directly before the first day on site, and whatever comes back, pulling it is our job rather than yours.
The city publishes no contractor registration or trade licensing requirement for insulation work. Its Business Licenses page states that each business, occupation, trade, merchant and manufacturer within the city must secure a business license unless expressly exempted, with fees of $200 per year for occupied space up to 1,000 square feet plus $0.50 per square foot above that; the page does not say whether a contractor working at a customer's house counts as a business within the city. The contact given for that question is 314-587-2810.
The published number is 314-587-2820. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Town and Country is on the Missouri side, where most addresses buy their electricity from Ameren Missouri. Its Pay As You Save program publishes $0.20 per square foot on ceiling and attic insulation and $0.06 per square foot on air sealing for the 2026 program year; the incentive comes off the cost and the rest is repaid through a monthly charge on the 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 full program rules are on the St. Louis County page and in the rebate guide.
Every layer of an insulated attic, explained
Town and Country borders Country Life Acres.
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 4 different adopted editions (2015 IECC, 2018 IRC ch. 11, 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Town and Country | 2018 IRC ch. 11 | R-49 | Not published | 314-587-2820 |
| 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 →
Town and Country enforces the 2018 IRC ch. 11, which sets R-49 for an attic in new work. Whether it reaches a retrofit of an existing house is not published.
Not on paper: Town and Country names neither a permit nor an exemption for insulation, so one call to the department at 314-587-2820 settles it first.
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 Town and Country dates to around the early-1980s; the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 median year built is 1983. Of its 4,163 homes, 3% went up before 1940 and 17% in 2000 or later. That is a median across the whole place, so your own house may be older or newer.
Code and permit facts checked September 10, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: ecode360.com (2, 3) · town-and-country.org (2, 3) · basc.pnnl.gov · insulationinstitute.org · en.wikipedia.org · city-data.com · ameren.com (2, 3, 4) · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 314-587-2820 or your electric utility first.
Free assessment, a measured R-value, and photos you keep either way.
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