You can go either way. The air supply should be with a device designed for the task and interlocked with the furnace so if there is no air supply, the furnace will not start. I would do both if it is possible. Give the furnace its own space sealed off from the living space. Install an interlocked air supply. http://www.hoyme.com/

I'm unclear on the flooring myself - I guess there are beams going the opposite direction of the joists. Ok - I can picture it. What about your r-19 grouped with some foam? I am imaging 1 inch of foam on the plaster/drywall sprayed in to seal it. It also adds some R-value and thickness. Then if you wanted some more r-value, you could do 1 inch rigid foam (or 2 inches) on top of the joists. This would help with thermal coupling of the joists. Getting to a magical R-value is not the only concern. Sealing properly is worth a lot. That being said, you would be at r-27. Spray foam is about a dollar per sq foot at an inch thickness. So you are looking at $1500 - but you might use less because of the joists. The rigid foam is about 1/3 of that so you would need $500 for that. Not cheap but 30% tax credit would count. I think you would be fine from a vapor barrier standpoint. 1 inch of rigid foam does not count as a barrier but 3 inches would. I would want some independent confirmation on the vapor barrier question.

the blown insulation will go under flooring & not back in rafters?? and thanks for the IR pics. were they blower door testing when IR pics were taken? (house depressurized) or just scanning? good that you did the testing in cooling season. works better for me, due to hot climate experience. 1) pic 1 I am not sure if the paneling is individual boards or deep groove paneling. hopefully the additional pics can help you determine that. looks like there are air leaks between each panel, that makes me believe its individual boards...not sure..sorry..forgive my ignorance I think they ar individual boards. pic 10 shows the heat comming thru cracks. and it isn't ignorance...just different things we specialize in! 2) pic2 : OK, will attach foam sheathing to the attic access door.. construction adhesive to hold foam board to door & button cap nails. I like Loctite Power Grab. 3) Pic 3. Yes, I am willing to still pull up boards in the knee wall space to allow access to foam seal between the floors. However, I am not willing to remove the pretty hardwood flooring to air seal the gaps underneath. what are my options. I'd never suggest you disturb the pretty hardwood floors! what I propose is to cut access to install the foam seal between floors. as I explained before there are two options. one would be to bag insulation (maybe some of the rafter insulation) and stuff the bag tightly between floor joists. then foam would be sprayed to seal the bag in place. you'd want to make sure that the foam seals well..top, sides & bottom. once it is foamed, you won't see the bag..its just an insulated space filler. second option would be to remove more boards & use the foam sheathing. more labor intensive...cut foam board to fit tightly..nail securely & caulk to air seal. investment in time labor & materials. and btw...they do sell foam diy kits like Tiger Foam. my SO used this to do some work at his son's home in Indianna. little learning curve, but not too bad if you watch videos & wear tyvek suit..goggles & gloves. foam is a pita to get off your skin. and off clothes..time to throw them out. this way you are stopping the air flow in the sub-floor under the new flooring. Pic 4: I haven't gotten any inspection of my roof, but I believe it is in good condition. I don't have stainless steel chimney lining or for that matter any kind of lining. I have to get this done. batts in rafter bays. I think the auditor said the R-value of those batts are either R9 or R11..can't remember..but its very poor. I'd have an experienced roofer with good refrences take a look at flashings & the 2 plumbing vents, 4 attic vents, masonry chimney prior to insulating.. I'd put the batts at R-11-13. not much is it! 5) Pic 5: Hardcast tape..stellar recommendation. I think a caveman could do it reading your instructions. will do for sure good! it is hard to describe, but a pic is worth a lot of words. let me know if you have problems getting the HC1402. 6) Pic 6: The plumbing work is from the bathroom in the attic. It is a 5 ft dormer. The pipes from the attic bathroom go through the first floor into the basement. So there is a bathroom in the first floor right below the attic bathroom. first level bath doesn't have a vent fan but the attic bath does. does bath fan for attic bath vent out of the attic? you'd have to seal around the plumbing pipes. caulk & backer rods. 7) Pic 7: The boards you see are probably from built in storage chest and reading desk/TV chest. Otherwise, the space between the stud bays in the knee wall look exactly like in pic 5. The storage chests are on the east side of the attic. My attic has 2 bed rooms and 1 bath in between the 2 bed rooms. the 2 bed rooms are identical in shape and size; on either side of the bathroom and I was thinking your upstairs was just the bedroom this description & the pic of your house helps me to visualize. so same window in second bedroom ? so lets talk about the IR pics. all the leakage sites show well. even though you'll use batts in the walls & foam sheathing to attic side of walls, you'll want to back up that air barrier from inside the room. best to have primary & secondary barriers. at ceilings (see pic 10) caulk top paneling to sheetrock ceiling. can't tell if there is molding..if so caulk top of molding to celing, bottom of molding to wall. caulk corners & any gaps. Use the Alex brand Dap crystal clear 25+ year life. goes on white..so you can see where you are & dries clear in about 24 hours. you'll have to make the call about caulking each gap in each board. this could be done from attic side if caulking skills need honing. installing the foam board will stop a lot of this..but secondary air barrier & all that. from the attic side you'll need to caulk the sole plate to subfloor to seal gaps between subfloor boards & to seal subfloor to floor. it will be time consuming, but the foam board doesn't always seal this as well as other areas. caulk window frames to walls. while you are at the windows look for gaps where trim pieces come together. if you have an unbroken paint seal..youre good. if not you'll need to caulk trim. btw...spiderwebs are an indication of air leaks. so anywhere you see spiderwebs...look for the crack/gap. and caulk it. where the sloped wall meets the kneewall...caulk. tip: I caulk with a damp cloth in my hand. run the bead of caulk, use the pad of your finger to push the caulk into the gap, wipe of the excess with the damp cloth. rinse the cloth often or you'll have shinny streaks where you use the cloth. make sure that the gap is well filled. if the gap is large use a backer rod, or make another pass with the caulk once first install has dried. this applies to all areas to be caulked. you'll also need to caulk the bookcase. similar to the other areas you've caulked. link to show you what backer rod looks like..you find it in the weatherstripping section. http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?product_id=356 8) The drywall is from the wall attached to bathroom. When I had the bathroom remodeled last year, my contractor put drywall. got it. Pic 14: I watched several YouTube videos the other day and came across "Silverglo foam board insulation" recommended by Dr.Energy Saver. Will this work for me? whats your take on this? I see that 4" foam sheathing! bet that costs about $15 per inch. It looks like the lower R-value foam to me. see how the end looks like bean bag foam pieces molded together. that's my guess.If I'm right then the R-value of this product is about R-3 per inch. compared to R-7 per inch of polysi product. I'd check on costs. what do you think of what they are doing in the pic? I've done similar installs (different foam board) to make upstairs attic small storage areas unvented, similar to pic in southface pdf. for the kneewalls. sloped ceiling areas I'd use R-13 or high density R-15 if cost isn't out of the box. sometimes it just isn't worth the upcharge for a big ol R-2. batts are easy to install.. sharp razor knife, straight edge to cut batts, staple gun. do your caulking first, then install batts, stapling flaps of paper backing of batts to faces of 2x's. then the foam sheathing over the batts, caulked, taped & nailed. I don't know if it is just the way the camera caught the wood of the walls from the attic..but that is some pretty wood. shame to cover it up! remember what I posted previously about the recessed lights. don't just foam them. instead either use ICAT inserts or cover them from inside attic & seal in place. see other post. then drop the trim from inside and use hardcast to seal between housing & cut in ceiling. do same at bath fan openings...drop cover hardcast cut. things to know about hardcast 1402 is that it sticks to many surfaces..and comes in a 3" width. lots of times I cut it lenghtwise into 1 1/2 wide strips, saves tape when gaps you are covering are not large. if it starts sticking to your fingers after working with if for a while, dampen your fingers...and it won't stick as badly. otherwise sometimes it feels as if it will pull your finger prints off. another hard learned lesson is the basis for this tip: also take a pencil before you remove bath fan cover, recessed light trim, supply air/return grill. trace lightly on the ceiling/wall area around grill/trim/cover. keep the tape within the area covered. if you put the tape & try to move it..it ain't happening! you can pull the paper off sheetrock with mastic tape. thats all for now. let me know what I need to explain better. this is a LONG post! best of luck.

no foam mike_home, contractor is proposing blown insulation either fg or cellulose, only OP knows. just google baffles for attic ventilation OP. lots of pics there.baffles are installed on roof at eaves to do two things. one is to keep insulation at low point of eaves/soffits from clogging up air flow. the other is to establish a pathway for air to enter attic at soffit/eaves. attic ventilation that works is one of these three methods. all are stand alone, not strategies to be mixed. gable end vents. soffit/eaves may or may not have vents cut into them. soffit/eaves vents with ridge vent at peak of roof. or lastly soffit/eaves vents with passive vents installed on roof. the idea is to take air from soffits & vent from gable end, ridge vent or passive vents. google attic ventilation for more detailed info. prior to adding insulation minimal air sealing of air barrier (ceiling of living space) from living space to attic is done. for example recessed lights (Insulation contact not IC air tight recessed lights) would be addressed prior to insulation. much harder to dig out each area to be air sealed with newly installed insulation. fortunately, you can do a lot of air sealing from inside the living space. making as tight of an air barrier between living & attic spaces is one of the first steps to efficiency (and better air quality that goes along with it). it is easier to heat/cool a house with minimal air leakage. first area to air seal is house to attic. then floor to crawlspace (now that we have that info) once the air sealing is completed...then insulate. (3" closed cell foam installed on underside of floor, installed from under the house) if you have 8, 12 or 20+ inches of insulation & there is air moving through it...then it isn't performing. keep in mind that there is a diminishing return for more inches of insulation. the first 6" of insulation does most of the thermal barrier work, added insulation above this 6" saves you less & less $$ in utility costs. meeting code minimums is the least you can do. here in La. R0-30 is code, but people often have R-38. not a big jump in price, and not a big savings in utility costs. you make your own call on what to be installed. are you willing to do any work? (ie caulking etc) whats your location? best of luck