"I'll be doing all the work myself. Most contractors up here are not well trained or trust worthy and the ones who are have more work then they know what to do with and cost a fortune."
This is how I felt too when it came to sealing up the place and adding insulation. I just didn't feel that a contractor would take the time to do it right. There's a program here from one of my utilities that offers to pay 50% with a small total limit $1k I think. I asked about how I'd get reimbursed and their response started with 'your contractors invoice will need to...'. Turns out my utility wasn't going to pay for about two dozen cans of spray foam, about 1000 pounds of cellulose, blower rental, and 2 sheets of 2" R10 XPS that I bought so far but that sure didn't stop me from buying it all anyway. I'm still surprised that the total for all of it so far has only been about $600.
Work isn't complete for me yet and I'm looking to eventually retrofit on an additional 4" of polyiso on top of what I already have(R40ish walls in the end) but that will be a spendy project. I'm not even sure if there are even 10 homes in climates in the upper half of Alaska that have that much, so I'm going a bit over the standard but if I was paying that price for propane I'd be motivated to get at least 2" of polyiso or XPS as a minimum(my personal minimum) added.
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