Insulation in Meggett, South Carolina

Insulation and air sealing in Meggett

Meggett runs to about 18 square miles and roughly 1,307 people. It sits about 20 miles west of downtown Charleston. There are around 739 housing units here. The community dates back to 1905. We cover ZIP code 29449.

We have not logged a completed job in Meggett yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.

The housing stock in Meggett

The typical home in Meggett dates to around the early-1990s. 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.

That includes Yonges Island. Housing age and construction shift across Meggett, sometimes by decades within a few streets, which is why we look in the attic before quoting rather than after.

Meggett is a rural town in southwestern Charleston County that stretches from Hollywood south to Yonges Island on the Wadmalaw River and east to the Stono River. Chartered in 1905, it was a busy Lowcountry freight hub for truck farmers in the 1920s, linking farm produce with the waterway freight system.

Meggett homes in the Census numbers

The Census Bureau estimates 739 homes in Meggett. 65 of them (9%) went up before 1940 — 6th of 28 places on this site for pre-1940 housing. The 2000s were the busiest decade, adding 157 of today's homes (21%); 35% predate 1980 and 33% were built in 2000 or later. For Charleston County as a whole the pre-1940 share is 5%, so Meggett sits above it.

Of 615 occupied homes, 1% heat with utility gas and 86% with electricity; another 9% burn propane or other tank gas. Electric heat here is more common than across the county (76%), and ranks 10th of 28 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.

93% of occupied homes are owner-occupied and 86% of all homes are single-family detached houses, with 103 mobile homes in the count. On a housing mix like this, the likely starting points are air sealing on newer houses that already have depth and an energy assessment before deciding what to fix first.

739 homes, Census ACS 2020–2024 (B25034, B25040, B25003); 615 occupied.

Sealing comes first in Meggett

236 of Meggett's 739 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.

What the energy code requires in Meggett

Meggett enforces the South Carolina Energy Standard (the 2009 IECC), by state law. Charleston County issues Meggett's building permits, so the county's code list applies here, the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code included.

That edition sets R-30 for the attic in new work, and R-13 for walls. The Department of Energy's recommendation for this climate zone runs higher: R49 for an attic with nothing in it, R38 where a few inches are already down.

Table 402.1.1 of the 2009 IECC, climate zone 3, which South Carolina's Energy Standard Act adopts for the whole state (section 6-10-30 of the South Carolina Code).

Do you need a permit to insulate here?

Meggett requires a permit for this work. Meggett sends all building permits to Charleston County, whose building code lists insulation as work that needs a permit, with the county's exception for no-inspection jobs under $1,000. The town adds that a Meggett business license is required for permit approval and a town zoning permit may also be needed depending on the project. We pull it as part of the job.

Permits and inspections in Meggett

The published number is 843-202-6930. The department page is here.

Permitting is on us, not on you.

Rebates a Meggett homeowner can actually use

Berkeley Electric Cooperative's own territory map shows none of its service inside Meggett; the other electric utility on record for Charleston County is Dominion Energy South Carolina. For Dominion Energy South Carolina customers with electric heat, Home Energy Check-up Plus covers 90% of the cost of attic insulation, air sealing and duct sealing, with a ceiling of $2,880, on jobs completed by March 31, 2027 after the free Home Energy Check-up; the program's own contractor does that work, not us.

Income-qualified households can apply to Palmetto Community Action Partnership (843-720-5336) for free weatherization instead. The full program rules are in the rebate guide.

Nearby

Meggett borders Hollywood, Stono River and Wadmalaw River. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own energy code and permit rule:

Elsewhere in Charleston County we also cover:

How Meggett compares with its neighbors

South Carolina sets the residential energy code statewide, so the attic figure is R-30 wherever it is published here; what changes is the permit desk, and 7 of the 7 publish a permit rule for insulation.

All 22 Charleston County jurisdictions side by side →

Common questions about insulation in Meggett

Code and permit facts checked October 24, 2026, rebates October 24, 2026; housing: Census ACS 2020–2024. Sources: townofmeggettsc.org (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) · charlestoncounty.gov (2, 3, 4, 5) · scstatehouse.gov (2) · llr.sc.gov · en.wikipedia.org (2) · www2.census.gov · dominionenergy.com · berkeleyelectric.coop · santeecooper.com · coastal.coop · energystar.gov · data.census.gov. These change; confirm with the building department at 843-202-6930 or the utility named on your electric bill first.