The coolers work awesome except some foams and caulks eat styrofoam so some testing needs to take place before you head into the attic. If you have to deal with codes and an inspector ask his opinion first. There are covers available that can be caulked in place and are treated so they won't burn and aren't quite as easy to find, are more of a pain to work with and to some are expensive if you have a dozen to do. One other option is a 'sealed' trim that goes on the inside. I think these are great if installed and caulked in place so they truly are sealed but then painting can be a challenge later. They come with a flakey stick on gasket which is still much better than a cheap trim but still is far from perfect without caulk. I have purchased the trims from Ebay much cheaper than home depot or lowes and I did use caulk and caulked the tiny slots in the top of the trim and at the ring to sheetrock contact area. Doing the rings inside the house still does not spare you from sealing the wires and pipes that enter into the attic which are huge leaks also. Most people blow off the recessed light sealing and they can be the largest hole into your attic and cause the most comfort/allergy issues. I have 14 and on an energy audit we tested the cfm or cubic feet per minute of air at each vent and register and also tested each recessed light on a day with light wind. I had an average leakage of 5 cfm from each light which doesn't seem like much until you do the math per hour and per day. 70cfm per minute for 14 lights 4,200 cfm per hour 100,800 cfm per day. I don't even remember the numbers when we fanned the doors but they went all over the place negative and positive which pulls nice clean air out of your attic and cellulose fibers or fiberglass fibers in for the owner to live in. I highly recommend paying someone to shoot your house inside and out with a thermal imaging camera before you jump in too far so you can develop a game plan. I also highly recommend a blower door test with the thermal camera and cfm testing ducts and such. I had less than 150cfm total of actual return air going through my registers on a 1200cfm system because I was sucking air out of the attic and basement for return air. I would have never known the severity of the issue without the test. Get the testing done and pay for it get photos of the results. I would pay for the testing and any other services I would wait on until you digest the information and figure the best way to attack the issues. I hope I get to read your findings and what approach you decide on. You are on track to keep money in your wallet and be more comfortable in the process.

I am in the process of replacing a window, in my 60 year old brick home. It too has 1x4's around the window openings. The brick comes within 3/4" of the 2x4 framing. The 1x4 adds another 3/4" - so there is 1 1/2" reveal for the brickmold. I'm using this 1 1/2" for the nailing flange on the window.

OK looks good I thought the kraft sided tabs flipped out and were stapled to the outside of the stud and not the inside. They haven't started insulating the house yet so as far as I am aware they do as pictured but I'm not sure of an additional vapor barrier. My thoughts were the plastic membrane or tyvek type material over the insulation. Is that extra layer necessary. If I can get away with kraft faced stapled to the studs and that is it I am ok with that I just didn't want to have sweating and moisture later on when I heat the garage and have problems.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that room feels colder to you and it needs help. If by laser thermometer, you mean an IR thermometer with a laser indicator, try something else or be sure that you are using it well. They are quite dependent on the type of surface that you point them at. If you are measuring on an identical surface in each room, your are OK. It can be as simple as a small stack of the same size envelopes, or identical pillows with identical pillow cases,use your imagination. Otherwise, a couple of quickly equilibrating spirit thermometers that have been compared to each other and a correction factor applied are better. The most simple way is to just use one thermometer, but that is time consuming and the temperatures might change during the process. I don’t think that anyone can say that the zoning is “incorrect”or not. We don’t have enough information. If there is a large temperature differential between two rooms on the same zone, the ratio between heat loss and heat provided is different with those rooms. Assuming that there is nothing wrong with the heating system, you need to cut the heat loss or add some heat in the problem area. Adding a little baseboard or higher output baseboard should not be terribly complicated or expensive. You need a hydronics person to check out your system and make sure it is working correctly. If it is, and you decide to add heat, that person likely, or his company, can propose that addition and give you a cost. If that is an oil-fired boiler, you need to have it cleaned, inspected and possibly adjusted, annually. If you don’t, you risk running inefficiently and a high probability of unexpected mechanical failure. The people that do that work are, likely, the same ones that install additional heat and may deliver your fuel oil. Lots of companies do all three. Perhaps that sticker on your boiler names an outfit that knows your boiler well. I Is natural gas available in your location?