Home Insulation advice please.

OK needing some advice....If i had the funds I'd foam the whole thing but can't do that. This is my first house and I'm in my early 20's and just can't do it...looking for good advice on whats best to do with probably my best 2 options. House is 2x6 wall so i have priced everything out with R19...then doing my gragae walls and R19 maybe R30 on my garage ceiling (my office will be above that) then R19 under the floor joist) would R30 in the ceiling be worth it? Then blow R30 or 38 in the attic.

What I'm trying to decide is they have the option to do a mix I could close cell about 1/2"-1" of the exterior walls then do bat insulation (R13) over that. The closed cell would seal it off well. Seems to run about $1500 or so more...is it worth doing that or just do a good job caulking and sealing all holes to the outside and make sure my tyvek is sealed good, and do all bat R19 insulation?

If your garage door is insulated you would be fine with r19.Tyvec needs to be taped and blow 60 in the attic.Some electric suppliers will offer discounts or split the diff in upgrades! Check into that!Keep in mind you only get one shot at the walls.

r-19 is all you need with the foam. i have a friend that owns a top notch company his cell number is 478-955-2369. give him a call tomorrow and he will come out and look and make some valuble suggestions for you at no cost!! he did my house and my bill was $89.54 last month. total electric!!!!!

you can't over insulate in my opinion.

foam if you can. but only if you're gonna be in the house at least 3 to 4 years or longer. foam will pay you back in reduced energy costs in just a few years. dont worry about the garage except any wall in the garage that is also an interior wall. the ceiling of the garage can be foamed too but pricey.

the foam encapsulates the house and will usually drop air leakage to almost zero if done well. 1" of closed cell foam (to encapsulate) is good and then batte or cellulose the balance of the stud cavity to boost r-value.

if you cannot afford foam for the whole house, at least get closed cell foam on the roof decking. this will block the majority of heat from ever entering the house. will keep your attic MUCH cooler. this is good to do especially if your a/c unit is in your attic. your a/c unit leak anywhere from 10-20% of its cooling thru the system, depending on who installed and how good a job they did. if it is in your attic, and you foam the roof decking, your attic will stay about 5-10 degrees hotter than your living space. that will do wonders for your energy bills.

an a/c unit in an attic will normally have to 'overwork' just because its so dang hot up there in the summer. raising your bills. if you foam the attic, you minimize that issue.

foam the attic before you would the walls. you can always put cellulose or battes in the walls. the problem is the attic, normally and not the walls. the walls leak but do not get hammered by thermal heat from the sun like the roof does.

another thing to consider is health. blown in fiberglass is very bad. if it werent for the millions paid by the lobbyists for companys like johns manville they would have probably passed some laws years ago against using fiberglass. many folks have breathing issues and dont realize that it could be from their attic insulation. especially when the a/c unit is in the attic, which helps to circulate the small fiberglass particles thu out the home almost constantly... many people blame breathing issues on pollen and asthma and dont realize that that nasty fiberglass in their attic is the culprit.

other benefits to foaming the roof is you can get rid of the blown fiberglass in the attic. you wont need it and trust me you dont want it up there... go to lowes and pick up a bag of fiberglass and read all the 'warnings' on the bag...

depending on the heighth of your attic, it may allow you to put some plywood or osb down on the floor of the attic giving you lots more storage space. also it reduces the chance of critters making your attic their warm and comfy home. rats and squirrles are notorius at raising families in attics... makes for a not so clean attic.

i am not sure but i think foam is around $2.50-$3.00 / sqft. +/-, with 2"-3" being std thickness. be careful with that IF you get any foam. some installers may spray less (thickness) than what you are really paying for.... their labor is what it is so they may try to cut back on the foam itslef to save them a few pennies...

if you have a 1000 sqft home and a low pitch roof, you can estimate about 1100 - 1200 total sqft on the roof x $3 to be safe or $3600. if you have a high pitch roof, you can multiply 1000 sqft x 1.3 to 1.4 giving you about 1300-1400 sqft on the roof. the walls you can just multiply l x h... i am not too sure about the costs per sq ft... i'm going by memory and i havent worked in that business in years...
i have a couple of friends in the insulation business in the atlanta area. used to work for them. they do good work. if you want, shoot me a pm and i can give you their #'s...

hope this helps.

That would be nice but Its a 2800 sq ranch with a 8/12 and 12/12 so the attic is really big I have some of it plywooded off that will be batted. Also looking to do the formaldehyde free insulation but it would be really big $$ to foam the roof. I plan on living here a long time...it seems like it would be easy to come back and do later but taking out the blown would be the tough part, I guess

yep, thats a big roof. a 2800 sqft home with that high a pitch would probably be around 4000 sqft on the roof x $3 / sqft... $12,000.

how about a radiant barrier? you could prob do it yourself...
heres a couple of kinds.

http://www.atticfoil.com/radiant-barrier-spray.htm

http://www.radiantguard.com/

http://www.ecofoil.com/?gclid=CPjJ6r-pnqICFQqbnAodXCFQzA

i would just do anything possible to stay away from blown fiberglass. it aint that good.

my buddy that owns the local insulation company said that he has a new product that is better than fiberglass... you may want to call him and see what its about. he could give you a price over the phone if you describe your attic to him.
he's out of woodstock.