Thanks bungeeii. I actually made contact with a spray company that had a certified Energystar auditor working with them. They did an energy audit today and took measurements to estimate the job. They estimated the following rebates, and will put these terms in the contract as stipulations before any work is done: 1. audit costs $400 with $125 rebated if the work is done. 2. $1000 govt rebate off the top for a thin barrier spray in the attic floor. I don't have the exact terminology in front of me, but it is basically a skim coat of foam onto which is blown cellulose or other for attic insulation. 3. up to 50% rebate ($5000 max) depending on the results of the energy audit. Because I have high efficiency furnaces and on-demand hot water, she says that I will rate at a 25%+ energy savings, which will put me at the 50% rebate from the govt. The rebate takes about 10 weeks. So, in their example, if the job costs $11,000, I pay $10,000 plus the $400 for the audit ($1000 "instant" rebate for the attic thing), then get $5000 + $125 back in 10 weeks. After my contractor subtracts out what he was charging me for fiberglass, I should net out at a very reasonable number. The people today were my third estimate, and I believe they were the most knowledgeable about the right thing to do. I'm just waiting till next week for their estimate. Thanks again, I think I'm finally getting the right game plan together!

I've found that rooms over garages are very hard to condition. there are a couple of ways to address this, walls shared with attic space are called kneewalls. on one side is living space (conditioned) on the other side attic space (extreme heat/cold). Southface has great info, check page 5 for visual of air sealing these walls. http://www.southface.org/default-interior/Documents/airsealingkeypoints.pdf with these attic rooms surrounded on 6 sides by extreme attic temps there are two ways to address them. one is pictured in link. convnetional insulation in stud bays, foam sheathing, caulked nailed & taped in place from top plate to bottom plate of kneewall. the detail on link also shows how to seal for air movement under floors of these rooms by using foam board, and placing it between floor joists & sealing air tight. I personally like to cut the foam board to fit tightly & air seal with caulk. I see people using great stuff..but am not a fan of the stuff myself. too much expansion to get a good seal, and over time, it shrinks. this is a process that is time consuming & detail oriented. easiest in new construction prior to any insulation being added to attic floor. more cost effective than spray foaming the walls and between floor area. but labor intensive. so its a easy fast process (spray foam) or a longer lower cost higher labor install with foam board. the benefit of creating an unvented semi conditioned attic space works great in my hot humid climate where in the summer attic temps reach 130+ degrees in attics. as we often put our ducts in the attic, the foam creates a less extreme temp for less heat gain. install of foam is crucial. temp mix has to be correct chemical mix has to be correct, temp of area sprayed is a factor. foam has to meet code requirements for your area. if code says R-30 in attic, enough inches of foam to reach that R-value has to be installed. seal has to be complete in an unvented attic. roof connection to attic floor has to be sealed. install should be level, no belly in or out between rafters. faces of rafters should be covered. none of that average fill stuff which means the spray can be less in some areas & more in others so that it 'averages' out to xx inches. low spots & voids will cause problems. testing for leakage, marking leakage sites with spray paint and having foam company spray to seal is the way I do my unvented attics. this all has to be established, in writing prior to any work being done. shop companies carefully. avoid 'average' fills, Kvalues Qvalues. R-values that is what code looks for. there is No exception for spray foam. I'm with Manhatten all the way on spray foam in walls. long payback when a better option is to put foam sheathing on exterior of walls & pay close attention to air sealing details. search southface site for air sealing pdfs..great stuff there! I've never recommended spray foam in walls after running the numbers for my climate & seeing 25+ year paybacks. and I've done these numbers lots of times, not just for one house. (btw hey Manhatten..long time no see) if you chose to use these details of air sealing for the tradeoff for this better insulation is SMALLER hvac system. it only makes sense people if you weight the benefits of upgrades against each other. get a load calc for the house including all types of insulation, window info, air tightness tight not leaky or average & the size needed lessens. bigger is not better, it is just lack of correct education in the trades & misinformatin to the homeowner to sell them more equipment than needed. you don't size the system for the 10 days a year of 50 people in the house & then pay for that the other 355 days. two stage units, variable speed air handlers are great things that vary with the needs of the house as they change. these are good investments. if you are truly interested in making your house efficient, hire an energy rater. specific to you information with inspections, testing & verification. unbiased working for you. resnet.us is a good place to start. new construction, existing homes we do it all. best of uck.

contractor's first job that used spray foam insulation. always, always,always a red flag. new spray foam installers hardly ever get an even application of foam, so depth of foam varies. they also (if your foam install is on the roofline of the gargae...which isn't clear at all in your post) never get the install air tight. most leakage is at the roof to attic floor (eaves/soffit) area. garage ceiling?? where is foam...roofline? open cell foam should have been 7" thick to meet code in La. R-11 isn't even code for walls anymore. 7" @ R-4 per inch will be R-28. foam has to meet code just like any other insulation product. is this attic shared with the attic of the house? does the rest of the house have foam? did newbie seperate garage from the rest of the house? how will you heat the space in the winter? water heater is electric...and inside the frog? the added cost of $150-200 monthly quickly adds up to what you would have paid an experienced foam installer. take a couple of pics & post if you get a chance. best of luck.

What's between the pine boards on the ceiling and the shingles? Another roof sheathing like OSB which the shingles are nailed two? Is there and air gap with soffit and ridge vents? Putting insulation where you want depends on what's above so these questions need to be answered first.