Does Attic Radiant Barrier Work | Is It Worth It?
If you’re searching for “does attic radiant barrier work” or “is radiant barrier worth it” this article will help. Radiant barrier is a home insulation type that is focused on reducing summer heat gain. Unlike traditional thick layers of insulation radiant barrier is a thin reflective material. This thin reflective material is designed to bounce the sun’s heat away from your home instead of allowing your attic to absorb the heat and pass it into your home.
Does Attic Radiant Barrier Work?
With new types of technology and approaches to keep homes comfortable it’s natural to wonder if attic radiant barrier works. It isn’t the time tested fiberglass rolls of pink insulation. These thin highly reflective layers aren’t designed to slow heat transfer, they reflect it away before it radiates into your attic and home. Whether radiant barrier will work and keep your energy costs down depends on how its installed, if it’s allowed to get layers of dust, and what your current insulation situation is.
Is Radiant Barrier Worth It?
The sun is going to shine and in hot climates keeping homes cool is serious business. The sun’s energy hits your roof with 250 BTUs per square foot. That means that a roof that’s 48 square feet 12,000 BTU’s of heat are trying to find a way into your home. To keep your home cool with that kind of heat coming in your AC unit has to put out 1 ton of air conditioned air!
Laboratories at the Department of Energy have conducted studies on radiant barrier and have found that the biggest savings is found when your home has HVAC or duct work in the attic. Virtually all air handling equipment and ducts have some air leaks. As air passed through the ducts it can pull super heated air in with your cooled air making your system work harder. Keeping the attic cooler by blocking the radiant heat will reduce it’s temperature by 20 to 35 degrees! When your attic stays cooler the HVAC unit or ducts will be able to keep your home comfortable without using excessive amounts of electricity. This is all engineered to help reduce energy consumption and save you money!
Most Effective Radiant Barrier Installation
Where you put your radiant barrier will have an impact on how well it works over time. Many homeowners are tempted to try to save money and lay it directly on the attic floor. While this may take less time it also allows for excessive dust to collect which reduces the radiant barriers ability to reflect the light and heat.
Schedule Radiant Barrier Installation
Barrier Insulation offers Radiant Barrier installation anywhere in the Phoenix Valley. We are proud to offer a heat reflecting energy saving service to help our valued customers stay comfortable and save money during our hot summers. For more information about having radiant barrier installed in your home please call 602-499-2922.