My old house needs some insulating, and I've been looking at the companies that do spray foam. I'm in the Midwest, in Chicago, where winters can get very cold. I have an unfinished attic space over one half of the house, and then a room with knee walls and a much steeper pitched roof on the other side.
One company proposed removing the existing blown cellulose in the unfinished attic, and then spraying the roof joists to insulate that space. I'm not keen on the idea of the roof not being able to "breathe", and also, I have roof vents, so the roof will be insulated, but there are still big holes in the roof! This seems dumb to me. Am I missing something here? I do have some of the HVAC duct work in that attic, so my impression is that it might be most helpful to find a way to insulate the floor of that attic AND create some sort of insulated capsule over the main metal trunk up there. The ducts to the ceiling vents are flexible foil-like ones.
Another company proposed simply blowing loose FIBERGLASS over the cellulose. I suppose that would be okay, but what a mess.
opinions? ideas?
(I'll probably post separately for the other room, and I also have a basement that needs insulation!)
thanks,