Contact your local utility company - they can give you some advise on options. Years ago, we did just that and they even found us a government program that helped pay for the blown-in insulation that we used. We also had a friend who was an energy efficiency specialists at a nearby University. He sent us all kinds of information, as well as did a complete assessment and suggestions. -Grainlady

Blowing in insulation while continuing to use the space for easily accessible storage--let alone heating it--are incompatible uses. Your choice is to consider the space either vented or unvented and proceed from there. Vented is much easier. In that case, you have to airseal the ceiling as much as possible from the attic, though no vapour barrier is necessary in your climate. At the same time, you have to provide proper ventilation--on a 1:300 ratio for the attic. Then you can blow in all the cellulose you want. But storing anything there will be the equivalent of putting it outside. Definitely not a good idea for books! For an unvented approach, you have to consider the attic part of the conditioned space of the home. In that case, the roof will have to be as sealed as much as possible from the exterior climate. Those 1"-2" gaps on the roof board won't do. Insulation will be at the top of the attic ceiling--usually a combination of foamboard and closed cell spray foam. In either case, if the chimney is in use, you will have to simultaneously protect the framing from heat and fire hazards and insulate the space around it. Here is a link that might be useful: Understanding attic ventilation

I dont blame you for not wanting him back. First of all, pull off whatever he put over your bathroom vents and reconnect the piping that goes to them. Then, pull all the insulation out of the soffit vents and the ridge vent. Looks like loose insulation, so shouldnt be a problem to pull out. Once the soffit vents are nice and clear, install the baffles so that no insulation can get back down into them. You can buy the baffles at places like Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, etc. They are very inexpensive. I am curious though, why did he say, he was covering all this? Makes no sense. You most certainly do not want your bathroom vents running into your attic. They need to be vented to the exterior. You also need the airflow from the soffits to the roof vent. I would do this quickly too, because, you are likely to end up with mold up there, when it is unvented. You might want anything else he did while he was there checked out by a very good inspector too.

Thanks everyone for all the great comments here. I ended up getting (most of) the job done. I will say, depending on the size and type of attic you have, it could be a bit of a challenging weekend job, and probably best to not do this alone (like I did). My attic is pretty small, and there isn't an easy way in, so this involved a lot of climbing up and down from, and crawling through, a fairly small space. I wouldn't call this a fun project by any means. And yes, there were lots of spiders, and even some old markings on the trusses from when the house was built in 1850. This was definitely hard work, super messy, and something that I really would have rather had someone else do for me. But... I saved a heap of money, so thats the upside. That said, in terms of the work itself, it is probably best to do this work with someone else, but this is definitely a job you can do yourself if you're up for a good challenge. I did have to run up and down the stairs and up into the attic many times to unclog and refill the machine. The way I controlled it was to set it to "on" and connect it to an extension cord that I was able to bring up into the attic with me, so I could easily turn on/off the system as needed (I found this tip on YouTube). I bought 30 bags of cellulose and ended up getting just over 3/4 of the attic done with about 18 bags. I still need to finish above the master bedroom. I ended up leaving the existing insulation in, and just sprayed right over it leaving about 12-14" throughput the entire space. I opted to not pull out the old insulation and look for gaps to seal, mainly because it would have been an incredible amount of work, and getting rid of the waste would have been difficult without a large garbage bin, and I figured the 12-14" layer of cellulose was in a way sealing the space up already. At very least, it will keep the rodents out, as apparently they don't like digging through cellulose (and I cant blame them, its dusty and kinda gross). I'm hoping to get the last area above the master bedroom done in the next month or so, and then we should see some real improvement in our heating and a reduction in propane costs. Next up - new storm windows!