Attic Insulation - keeping rafters exposed.

[Melinda Miller]

Hello everyone! We have a 100 y/o single family buy&hold in Missouri and would like to turn the attic into usable space. ideally we could keep the rafters exposed in keeping with the character of the home, so the standard 6 inch fiberglass would not work. 

Is there a DIY compact type of insulation that would work? 

[Tim Kaminski]

You could use a radiant barrier between the rafters.  Would imagine you would have to put up panels over them but they are fairly thin and work well.