regardless of what is there, a ceiling fan or two will make a big
difference. this is not a 'substitute' for insulation...

randy

"Nate C." wrote in message
...
Right before the winter I moved into a 100 year old house and my heating
bills have put me into a state of shock. I'm thinking that insulating may
be a good option. Due to a baby and the possibility of lead paint, I
hesitate to poke holes in the walls, so for now am just thinking about
doing
the attic. First of all, would that be a complete waste to just do the
attic without doing the walls too?

Secondly, our attic is set up so that half of it is a bedroom with
wall-to-wall carpet, then you walk through a door to the other half which
is
storage and looks like a typical attic. I think insulating the storage
half
won't be so hard (except for some knob-and-tube wiring), but not sure
about
doing around the bedroom. I have access above some of the bedroom ceiling
via the storage area, but then about 1/2 of the bedroom ceiling slopes
down
as the roof is directly above it. Making things even more difficult,
there
are two chambers on the sloping side of the bedroom, to make vertical
walls
instead of just following the slope of the roof. I could have access to
one
of these chambers if I move the fuse box out of the way and crawl through
a
cubby hole, but the other chamber is completely sealed off. I'm not sure
how to tackle this. I guess my only options are to poke through the
ceiling
& chamber to insulate them? Is it even worthwhile to do this if these
areas
are air-tight to begin with?

Also thinking about replacing our relic oil burner, but that's a
discussion
for another day...

Thanks,
Nate