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Energy Savings Options :: Radiant Barrier Paint
Radiant Barrier Paint:
An Overview of Radiant Barrier Coatings and Paint
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Radiant barrier paint is a great way to keep your roof’s heat from making its way into your house. Using it can dramatically reduce your air conditioning bills every month. To learn more about radiant barrier coatings, keep reading.
Why Radiant Barrier Coatings are Needed
In the hot afternoon sun, a roof can easily reach temperatures of 150 degrees or more. Even with adequate attic floor insulation, the hot roof radiates heat straight down through it to your ceiling.
This not only increases your cooling costs, but it makes you feel warm long into the evening. Radiant barrier coatings stop that heat from penetrating through your roof and into your house.
Affordable Radiant Barrier Methods
There are two easy and inexpensive do-it-yourself radiant barrier methods to block the roof's heat from getting through to your ceiling. These are special low-emissivity silver radiant barrier paint or reflective reinforced foil.
Both methods are applied underneath the roof inside the attic. With foil installed, less than 5% of the radiant heat gets through.
However, radiant barrier paint, also known as reflective low-emissivity paint is sprayed on the underside of your roof inside your attic and is significantly cheaper. It reduces the emissivity (ability of a material to transfer radiant heat) from about 85% for normal roof sheathing, to less than 20%.
How Radiant Barrier Coatings Work
With the special radiant barrier paint applied, the heat from the hot roof is not able to be transmitted down to the insulation and the ceiling below.
Instead, the excess heat is exhausted naturally through attic vents and from the roof shingles themselves. The roof itself does not get significantly hotter with the paint underneath and its life or durability is not affected.
Another neat feature of barrier paints is that they will often act as a sound barrier and significantly reduce the transfer of sound. Of course, it’s not a full-proof solution for sound problems, but it can help.
Applying Radiant Barrier Paint
You can spray the paint under your roof with an ordinary paint sprayer. It is also very effective to spray the paint on top of your roof, but it looks silvery.
This reflects the sun's heat before it reaches your roof and also protects your shingles from deterioration. Always wear approved safety and breathing gear when painting in an enclosed area.
To get good results, make the area is completely sprayed and evenly covered. Applying the paint too thin or too thick can affect its efficacy.
Also, because radiant barrier paint fumes are often noxious, it’s typically not a good DIY project. Unless you have a professional grade VOC respirator and an airless spray rig, applying this type of paint by yourself can be dangerous.
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EnergySavingsOptions.com :: Radiant Barrier Paint