I don't know about fiberglass, but both the recyled newspaper and the foam insulation, both blow in work great. The foam especially is amazing good.

cutting a hole in your roof to install a powered (turbine) exhaust fan is frightening, but well-within most home owners' skill sets. The only hard part is going to be sitting on your roof in july for an hour or two making sure everything is water-tight. ;)

We just had our home insulated (attics) and used blown-in cellulose (Cocoon). It's eco-friendly and fire resistant. We insulated for help in COLD weather more than hot, but it made a MAJOR difference in our comfort levels (and heating oil consumption)... and that's just from an upgrade in insulation depth. We did have insulation existing, it just wasn't enough.

Notably, if you use someone who is getting bulk discounts on their materials, it's often not any more expensive to have a pro do your install. We priced out all options, and ended up having a insulation contractor do our job. Much less headache for us, and nearly no difference in total cost.

Have used a radiant barrier in a small closet to insulate (as every other insulation option would take away much needed space). Works ok, but as with any insulation, all cracks & air leaks need to be caulked and/or plugged.

I wouldn't blow in recycled newspaper cuz of the fire hazard. Plus the fireproof treatment of it's carcinogenic.

- Frigid Canadian

Have you looked into recycled denim insulation? You can get them in rolls or blown in. It costs a little bit more but no skin irritants, formaldehyde, VOCs, and denim is denser than fiberglass. You also might be able to get an additional tax rebate for installing it.

The foam is expensive if DIY because the you can't really buy a massive 50-gallon drums that the contractor's can.

We caulked and plugged every single hole we could find and it has helped a lot. I have no idea how the previous owners afforded to heat and cool this place with all the darn holes left open!

Air seal all the holes first. Lot's of people skip that step. I used r38 fiberglass bats and it has worked great. I noticed a big difference on my heating bill. Sometimes you can get gift cards if you buy a bunch of it at Lowes. The plus is that you can easily move it out of the way if you need to do some wiring/repairs (important if you have an old home with "character").

We're in Kansas (and today it's going to be 105!) and we used the blow in cellulose from Lowe's (GreenFiber) and it works great. We also installed an attic fan, which is nice, but we want to eventually do a whole house fan. The attic fan just isn't quite enough for how hot it gets here...and we don't have central air upstairs, which is where the bedrooms are in our house.

Foam is the best, imho. However, it's not a good DIY project because cost. You'll spend about the same as having a contractor come do it. That said, my parents have built two homes with spray foam insulation and their energy bills in a Texas summer with AC are about $120. And that's in a 2000sqft+ home.

We went from having zero insulation in our Chicago house to "let's see how much insulation we can get in this sucker."

You can get the smaller spray foam tanks for single rooms/smaller projects. However - you must know the ridiculous that is (closed cell, rigid) spray foam. Here, too

You name the insulation, we've probably done it. We just did did denim , too.
(We are insulation crazy).

I had cellulose insulation blown into my Louisiana attic and it's made a world of difference, effectively halving my winter gas bill. My insulation guy told me that what little insulation was left in my attic before this project basically wasn't doing anything. Mine wasn't DIY, but it could definitely be done with the right machine.

I would say that the radiant barrier looks like a good product for the underside of your roof. I am going to assume that you have an unfinished attic and access to the floor joists. If that is the case, I would go with rolls of fiberglass insulation. First fill the space between the floor joists and then install another layer perpendicular to the joists (over all of the joists). This will give you the best and most consistent R-value (be careful around any light fixtures as recessed lights are not always rated for insulation). I also recommend using spray foam (in a can) around any plumbing vents and cracks to make sure that they are sealed.

Ventilation can also help, but the type depends on the configuration of your attic space. You need to be able to get ventilation at both the lower eaves/soffit and at the peak to make it worthwhile. The best situation is to install a continious or "puck" ventilators (in between each joist) along the soffit and a continous roof vent at the ridge (this is installed from the outside).

Foam and loose blown insulation aren't DIY's - They require extensive machinery to install.

Roll insulation is the only way to go for a DIY - but you need to know what you're doing, and have protective gear otherwise you'll have glass fibers stuck in your hands and arms - and without appropriate venting and vapor barriers, it won't do you any good.

IMO - Insulating is best done by a contractor who knows what they're doing.

I don't agree that newspaper is a fire hazard, and I don't think that boron, which is what it's treated with, is carcinogenic, frigid canadian. What makes for fire hazard is unimpeded air channels, so anything blown in to the proper density is WAY less of a fire hazard than fiberglass. Often people mistakenly compare the cost of fiberglass to the cost of one of the other types, when they should be comparing the cost of EFFECTIVE R-VALUE across types. It's surprisingly difficult to do fiberglass right. For the best final word on this, see the Energy and Environmental Building Association, whose annual national conference is coming up, or Taunton Press's book by Bruce Harley,
"Insulate and Weatherize," or anything out of the U.S. DOE's Building Technologies' group, or the newest (not the earlier ones) recommendations from EPA's Energy Star for Homes. They actually make recommendations based on what has worked and what is known to have led to building failure (i.e., leads to mold or bad indoor air quality) after decades of research.

We ripped out the drywall of the exterior walls in the entire top level of our 4 level split. Then we hired a company to put in spray foam insulation, and it was only to be a few inches but they filled to the end of the studs. Then we had another company come in and blow insulation in our two attics. It made a huge difference in the efficiency of our home and no more getting pillows frozen to the wall in the winter. Spray foam is amazing as it will never mold, no air can get through from outside and no vapour barrier is needed. Originally we had an energy audit so perhaps you might have that done and the company who does the audit will suggest the best forms of insulation that will work with your home. After our improvements we had another energy audit done and used this information for tax rebates.

I second the recommendation for an energy audit. I had a certified contractor do an audit, and then he presented me with options, stating cost and estimated payback period. My state had a program which gave me a rebate of ~10% of any improvements I made from those options, and on top of that I got $400 back from my utility to cover the air sealing. I paid about $400 for the audit itself, and of course now NY state has a program running where you can get an audit for $50. If your state offers these programs, take advantage! I had my contractor do the blown in cellulose insulation into my attic and the second story walls (the walls were completely un-insulated), and it has made a huge difference. In the winter, the second story was just not liveable. Now, there is only ~5 deg difference between first and second floors.

That picture looks like the dormer attic with windows on each end in my renovation house.
I had spray installed to keep as much head space as possible. Then I had an unexpected requirement to sheet rock the space before I could get the occupancy permit. The crew that did the sheetrock went at it like they were in a marathon race and tore up the insulation quite a bit. It was supposed to already be trimmed and ready for sheetrock, but they hacked out big chunks. I plan to put some rolls down in the floor under the eaves to compensate.

We put a similar radiant barrier in our attic a few years ago. Honestly we never noticed a difference but our attic did look like we were afraid of the government's TV rays getting to our brains. The roof was just replaced courtesy of the insurance company with radiant barrier on the decking and additional ventilation. We are about to replace our much compressed blown-in fiberglass with blown-in cellulose. What I gleaned from talking to the insulation contractors is that blown-in insulates better than mats. The cellulose is treated with a flame retardant but it's boric acid. The cellulose also doesn't lose its insulating ability due to compression like the fiberglass does. Fiberglass sometimes also contains formaldehyde.
We looked into the spray foam and were almost sold on it until I started finding stories of people driven out of their homes by long-lingering fumes. In fact our roofer had friends living at his house temporarily for that very reason. Apparently a lot rides on the ability of the crew applying the product and the chemicals are dangerous. All living things have to be out of the house for 24 hours. I don't think that is a DIY project.
When we were initially convinced foam was the way to go, part of the job was going to be removal of all the old fiberglass in the attic. To save $1200 my husband and I did it ourselves - in the summer, in Houston. That was enough DIY for me for a while. It's time for the pros to come and make it snow up there. Good luck and stay safe.

We recently insulated our new house with foam and were disappointed at the amount of waste that was generated when the excess was shaved off. Since then I came across info on Roxul batt insulation which is made from lava rock (I believe). We would have seriously considered this option had We known about it sooner. Here is a list of its pros, from the Roxul website: http://www.roxul.com/residential/products/roxul+comfortbatt%E2%84%A2
Easily cut
Non-combustible
Excellent sound absorbency
Does not rot, or sustain vermin
Does not promote growth of fungi or mildew
Low moisture sorption
Chemically inert; non-corrosive
Water resistant
CFC - and - HCFC free, product and process
Made from natural & recycled materials
Earns LEED® points

Check with your power company to see if they are offering any rebates. Progress energy in Florida will occasionally offer free energy audits and rebates for additional insulation. I was able to get my attic insulated for about 300 bucks. This was about 10 ago though.
Also if you have gable vents consider adding a gable fan. The have a thermostat and kick on when temperature exceeds setting. No need to cut hole in roof it this is an option.

Go with blow in insulation if you don't need a lot of access to what is under the insulation after it's done. I've done both batts (fiberglass) and blown in (green fiber), both are easy to do.
However, batts have a bad rap amongst greenies because if you don't install it right, you can end up with gaps that leak air and compressed spots that don't insulate as well as they should due to conduction. Both problems are easy to accidentally do because you're cutting it, moving it, etc.
Blown-in, on the other hand, is simple. Shoot it in until it's the desired thickness. :)

I am renting a one bedroom house in North Texas that doesn't have insulation and my landlord is reluctant to instal any. My mother heard of a program designed for homes without insulation for people that are considered low income or people who are renting that helps with the cost or does it cost-free. Have anyone heard of this program?

You may want to contact Master Pack they are a local Southern California company that specializes in spray foam insulation. They offer a wide range of solutions and are friendly to the DIY crowd, www.masterpkg.com

AC takes much energy and obviously your AC will get high strain because it's running no stop, insulation is really a great thing for home, it can keep homes warm in winters and cool in summer, i hope you have get rid to extra heat and energy bills after insulating your home.

insulation machines