Hi,
I have a 1910 dutch colonial with an unfinished attic. The previous owner thought he might finish the attic. He took out all the insulation between the second floor ceiling and the attic, and started to install fiberglass bats with proper vents between many of the roof rafters. However, he never finished the job, so about 60% of the roof is insulated, neither of the gable end walls is insulated, and the attic floor / 2nd floor ceiling is uninsulated. In the rafter bays that are insulated, the bats only go from the ridge down to the knee wall, there is nothing between the kneewall and the eave.

Needless to say, I am losing a lot of heat through the attic!

I don’t have any plans to finish the attic. The ridge of the roof is only about max 6′ AUF (above unfinished floor). So unless the attic is relegated to munchkins or children under age 12, there’s not much to do without raising the roof somehow. At some point I’d like to put in a power exhaust fan and perhaps a hydro-air air handler.

The question is: Where do I insulate? Continue the project that was left unfinished and finish insulating the roof and gable-end walls? Get cellulose and a blow-in rig and reinsulate the floor/celing? Both? Something with foam like icynene?

One other caveat, at some point, I will need to do some electrical work to upgrade the service to the second floor, the attic seems to be the easiest way to access the 2nd floor. Having done this on my previous house with a mix of blown in cellulose and fiberglass, I want a solution that would allow the retrofit of wiring without too much mess/itching/hassle, in the likely scenario where I insulate before doing the wiring work. (Ideally it would be the other way ’round)

Thanks
Alec