Question for those who have spray-in radiant barrier
Im just curious how much money savings you have noticed after getting the spray-in barrier.. We're trying to decide if it is worth the initial cost. Thanks in advance for your responses.. I want to give you a heads up on the whole radiant barrier craze. Without going on a rant I'll only say you need to do a bit of research before spending money on this. Radiant barrier has a place but the you will save more by upgrading attic insulation, sealing your home and for air-conditioning improving attic ventilation instead of going with RB alone. The internet is swamped with companies selling this product and testimonials from people where you can not verify any actual dollar savings. It is difficult to find because of the high number of dealer hits but there is info out there on all the options of conserving heat and a/c. Radiant barriers are good if you live in areas where you have hotter than normal summers and falls (is falls a word?) I live in Texas and my neighbor had the osb with the radiant barrier that is put on at the mill put on his roof decking, 3/4 inch thick osb. His attic never gets above 93 degrees in the blazing Texas heat and my attic with no radiant barrier gets to around 120 degrees or so. During the summer my turbine vents are flyin! I looked into buying the radiant barrier paint and doing it myself but every website I checked said the same thing: it is silver paint with tiny specks of metal in suspension that act as the radiant barrier. The problem I saw was that the paint was only guaranteed for 90 days. I was not really impressed with that at all. That is not to say that some other paint could have a better warranty but I got tired of looking and have personally decided to go with the radiant foil that is identical to the stuff on the underside of my neighbors osb. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes this summer, I am hoping it will be worth the work I am putting into getting it attached to the rafters. Ya, radiant barrier does do its best with an overheated attic but with substantial insulation in an attic the heat transfer to the home is greatly reduced. Here in our cold climate our current attic insulation recommendation is R-50 which is about 14 inches of fiberglass. With this level of insulation the heat transfer from the attic into your home is very small. The problem with the radiant barrier industry is they do not tell you this. Radiant barrier could reduce the heating of an attic by reflecting the infrared but so what if very little of this heat is transferred to your living space. The same applies in reverse for heating. A few independent reviews of radiant I have come across all say that radiant barrier definitely has a place but will not save as much energy as insulation, window and sealing upgrades. Those of you considering RB, how much attic insulation and what type do you have? 120 degees...thats not blazin... Per my infared thermometer, mine gets to 160 or so on the roof underlayment. Even the interior tunnels for the skylights get to 110/120 or so..thats after I went with the Velux units. It was 140-150 before. I sooo need more insulation and venting. Well, house built in '90..what can you expect. Stuff was cheap then. I too live in Texas and yes it does get blazin hot.. Here they promote the company EAS quite a bit.. (Efficient Attic Systems). It has always made me curious but I would like to hear about the savings before pulling the trigger.. Also, I would love to hear about the foil type that get installed between the rafters.. Thanks for the good info so far.. Oh, I know it gets hot in TX, I was just saying that 120 in the attic is really not all that bad, esp if outside temps are 95-100. Some extra insulation and adequate venting would probably be more cost effective as a first step, as was stated prior. zr, What type and thickness is your attic insulation.
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