Options for insulating the walls of an existing home?

[Kolesar]

7. Our contractor blew in cellulose "at pressure" as a deliberate means of packing the cellulose

...or so he claimed. YMMV!

The plaster walls were stripped last month for "the kitchen project". The cellulose looked dense and had not settled. However, that was after only six years, so it is possible that the cellulose may settle more.

Fiberglass has air pockets in it. If you have a pressure differential due to the vacuum drawn by a forced hot air furnace or wind, your heated air may be pulled out of the wall cavity and replaced by cold air through "infiltration".

I installed Johns-Manville fiberglass insulation into those wall cavities last month and I noted with delight that the insulation is denser than fiberglass from years ago. The density, and the neat plastic wrap around it makes it better. It was less itchy, too.

My fix for infiltration is that I caulk every opening, even the wire holes between adjacent wall cavities.

Owens Corning was sued by Minnesota government because their loose fill fiberglass was so airy that it did not give the R value that they claimed.

Glad your house is working out nicely! sounds dreamy