What is a Radiant Barrier Roof?
Most commonly, what is called a Radiant Barrier Roof is a roof which has had modifications to its underside to control the flow of heat. During the summer, the radiant barrier roof keeps the heat from the sun from heating the attic and thus the house or structure under the attic. And, during the winter the heat from your furnace is partially controlled from loss to the outside.
Heat always moves to cold. By placing the radiant barrier roof in the path of the flow of heat, the heat flow can be reduced, by a variable amount depending on the type of radiant barrier product used.
There are numerous products that can be used to produce a radiant barrier roof. One example is aluminum foil types of sheeting that can be applied to the rafter bottoms. Care must be used to place this foil in the correct position. If the foil is sandwiched between two other solids (decking, foil, rafter) or (decking, foil, shingles) the radiant barrier roofing will fail. It will act as a conductor! Other products that can be described as a radiant barrier roof modifier include solid ceramic particles, aluminum powders and flakes and hollow glass bubbles that can all be mixed with paint and applied to the underside of the roofing deck and rafters.
Typically, a radiant barrier roof is thought to protect a structure during the summer by preventing the full radiant heat of the sun from entering. But it can also help during the winter by keeping some of the radiant heat from your furnace from leaving through the attic. For people who live in colder climes, an application of a paintable radiant barrier placed on the ceilings and interior perimeter walls will control furnace heat loss much better than the radiant barrier roof.
With a combination of applications; radiant barrier roof, radiant barrier coatings on interior and exterior walls and on interior ceilings, you can provide your structure with an excellent way to prevent unwanted heat loss, lower your energy bills and keep your structure much more comfortable.
Can Reflective Insulation Save You Money?
Many homeowners are searching for ways to save money and lower their energy costs. If there was a way for you to be more comfortable in your own home while saving money, chances are you would consider it a no-brainer!
A significant amount of heated or cooled air is lost through the attic in your home. This translates to heat loss in the winter and higher cooling costs during the summer. Because so much loss takes place in the attic. it’s a good place to start.
There are various products and applications that can reduce the loss of warm or cold air through your attic. The most common are called Radiant Barriers. Reflective Insulation is a type of Radiant Barrier commonly known as aluminum foil. There are many different types of reflective insulation to choose from. Some are nothing more than a single sheet of foil, others are foil bonded to plastic either with or without air bubbles, like bubble-wrap. Some have aluminum foil on both sides of the plastic sheet or bubble wrap, others only have foil on one side. Reflective Insulation and radiant barriers like KoolCoat can and do stop the majority of unwanted heat transfer and loss in your home.
Reflective insulation is much more effective at reducing heat transfer than typical insulations. As a matter of fact, reflective insulation and some radiant barriers can block as much as 97% of radiant heat flow. Most typical insulations only slow the heat flow down, but do not block it.
Products like reflective insulations and KoolCoat radiant barrier paint additive can provide the user resistance against three different types of heat flow:
- Radiation
- Convection
- Conduction
Reflective insulation is easy to install. It is compact, light and pliable. Yet, it is also strong enough to resist punctures and tears. It is flexible enough that it can be easily formed around shapes, angles and corners. Reflective Insulation is a great do-it-yourself project and installing the insulation yourself makes it somewhat more cost effective. But the initial cost can be very expensive compared to other radiant barriers that will provide the same results.
With the same results as reflective insulation and at an installation cost of about fifty times cheaper per square foot than reflective insulation, the pay-back is fast with KoolCoat. With both products, reflective insulation or Koolcoat, you will see a reduction in fuel costs or utility bills, your furnace and air conditioner will work with less wear and tear, and your home will feel more comfortable at a lower cost.
If you are looking for a way to reduce your energy costs (and who isn’t!) consider the benefits of applying Koolcoat. Your home will be more comfortable with less cost to you!
Radiant Barrier Spray Keeps You Cool
Summer can be brutal. The heat, the humidity, temperatures rising into the nineties can take a toll. Keeping your home cool seems to cost more and more each summer. Homeowners like you continue to look for new ways to reduce energy costs. However, there is an option that has been around for years. The often overlooked, yet effective, option is called a radiant barrier spray. Using a radiant barrier spray in your attic is a smart, cost-effective way to protect your home from soaring summer temperatures.
A radiant barrier spray can literally keep your cooling costs from going through the roof. It will even help in the winter! Radiant barrier spray will help reduce your air conditioning costs in the summer and help reduce your heating costs in the winter by preventing heat loss.
During the hot summer months, as the temperature increases, heat will actually radiate from the surface of your roof. A significant amount of this heat is transferred into your attic through conduction. This heats the air in your attic, making it uncomfortable and miserable for you when you need to go into your attic in the summer. Further, air conditioning ducts as well as the air conditioning machinery are often in the attic, forcing your air conditioner to work harder. Radiant barrier spray can help to reduce your air conditioning costs by 30 percent! It will also significantly reduce the temperature in your attic, increase the efficiency of your air conditioning ducts, and can help to reduce the temperature in other areas of your home that are not air conditioned (such as basements, laundry rooms, and garages). One recommendation is to apply the radiant barrier spray on every surface of the roof deck including rafters and any other wooden support members and all the duck work and the air conditioning machinery cabinets and plenums. If your attic is well ventilated and you apply an adequate coating of the radiant barrier spray, the air temperature in your attic can be the same as the outdoor air temperature.
A radiant barrier spray will work with the insulation in your home to keep the radiant heat from moving into your home. A radiant barrier spray goes even further by reflecting the warm air away from the interior of your home. Using a radiant barrier spray will provide an even greater energy savings than insulation alone.
Going Green with Radiant Barriers
Radiant barriers are an innovative way to save energy and money. Some homeowners are looking to go green. Most are very concerned about balancing their monthly income to the monthly cost of living. The cost of fuel is skyrocketing and it is completely understandable that homeowners are concerned with the expense of cooling and heating their home.
If you are concerned about saving money spent on energy bills, there are many things that you can do. Check your home or office for air leaks, caulk up cracks and install weatherstripping, buy energy saving appliances, make sure that your house is properly insulated, turn the air up or the heat down during the day when you are not at home, and use radiant barriers under your roof, on your roof, on your ceilings and on both interior and exterior walls in order to reflect outside heat and keep your home more comfortable.
Radiant barriers will control the flow of heat. One option is a radiant barrier paint. A radiant barrier paint is basically a type of liquid foil. Properly used, radiant barrier paint can reflect up to 75% of the heat. In order to use radiant barrier paint effectively, it is important to completely cover the rafters in your attic. It is also important to make sure that you use a thick enough layer of the paint. In order for your radiant barrier paint to be as effective as possible, be sure that you do not dilute the paint with water. It may be tempting to do so in order to increase coverage but you will be seriously undermining the product effectiveness.
Another option is a radiant barrier paint additive. A paint additive is cost effective and simple to use. You can mix the radiant barrier additive with any paint and can be used on the interior or exterior of your home. The added protection of using a radiant barrier paint additive will provide you with lower energy costs. You will also save on labor costs because the additive is simple to use and install on your own.
