Hi GBA,

We are renovating our home which is a cape built in 1952. It has a reverse gable on the front which lends to a lot of interesting enclosed areas. At the moment we are working on finishing up insulation in prep for sheetrock. The challenge I have is this space that you can see in the pictures, which adjoins a bedroom. Basically it is a little area created by the start of the front gable, the stairs, and the rafters. Since it’s brick and block construction I was worried that cold air could creep in from many places. I had started by insulating the backs of all interior walls exposed to this space. The crew who insulated the attic (R38) also closed up the upper joists and rafters of this space, and laid some batts along the front. I foamed any exposed blocks I could find and plan to lay a batt over that area as I can still feel cooler air coming in to the space. I also plan to close off the open end (the little triangle) as the open area behind the kneewall extends to the end of the house for 20+ more feet and is only insulated at the kneewall itself.

While the room seems well insulated, and has heated space directly below, the house itself always tends to be very drafty in unheated spaces. I am debating the need to insulate the remaining open kneewall and sidewall areas (in which case I would leave that open triangle uninsulated). The insulator has warned me that doing this may be inviting moisture issues. I have a range of batts of all sizes as well as a lot of left over certainteed membrain at my disposal, so I have some options of materials. If there is an ideal way to go here I can buy/do what is needed, just want to have the best possible result. Thanks for any advice!