Radiant Barrier Insulation

Radiant barrier insulation, installed on building rooftops, help bring down heat during summer and prevent heat loss in winter. It is also known as attic radiant barrier. There are many types of roof insulation. Use of radiant barrier insulation is promoted by the energy ministry, as it helps in bringing down the power usage for heating and cooling homes. In short, it saves energy. This article will explain how a radiant barrier works? It will also explain radiant barrier installation process. Saving energy and using it smartly is always beneficial. Using radiant barrier insulation is an excellent way of getting those power bills down, as well as enjoying a cooler summer at home.

What are Radiant Barriers Made of?
Radiant barriers are generally made up of thin reflective sheets. The sheets could be made up of diverse substrate materials, which are coated with a thin reflective coating of aluminum, applied on single or both sides. These base substrate sheets could be plywood, plastic, air infiltration barrier materials or even craft paper. Some kinds of radiant barriers are reinforced with fiber material to make them more robust and easy to handle. Some people prefer an aluminum roof coating, which is different from radiant barrier insulation, but serves the same purpose.

Radiant Barrier Applications
Radiant barrier insulation has applications in diverse fields like space technology. As mentioned above, aluminum coated plastic sheets were used by NASA as space blankets. They protected the space probes from radiant heat of the Sun. Specialized radiant barrier insulation fabrics are developed to create fire proximity suits for firefighters.

Working of Radiant Barrier Insulation
Let us see, how the radiant barrier installation used for the roofing of residential buildings reduces the heat exchange with the surroundings? All materials that have a temperature, radiate energy.

The quantity of energy radiated depends on the temperature and the 'emissivity' or 'emittance' of a material. Emissivity is a number between 0 and 1. Emissivity measures the amount of energy radiated by a material. There is another property which is called reflectivity, which measures the amount of radiation it reflects. The sum of emissivity and reflectivity is always 1. So, higher the emissivity, lower is the reflectivity and vice versa.

Radiant barrier materials have high reflectivity and very low emissivity. Generally, reflectivity of these materials is 0.9 and emissivity is 0.1 or less. Now, radiant barrier insulation is placed under the roof and over the attic floor.

Normally, Sun heats up the roof and this heat is radiated to the attic floor. Subsequently, the rooms under that roof get heated too. Now, with the radiant barrier installation in between, most of the heat radiated by roof gets reflected back to the roof. The insulation material underneath the reflective material is relatively cooler. Hence, heat dissipated to underneath rooms is significantly lower! So having a radiant barrier insulation for your roof will definitely make your summer days cooler.

Radiant Barrier Installation
Radiant barrier installation is quite simple in principle. One can simply spread insulation sheets with the reflective side up, over existing ordinary insulation on the attic floor and staple it. Leave a small gap between the floor and the insulation sheets. Another way of installing it is, fixing it near the roof of the attic. There should be considerable space between the attic roof and the insulation sheets. This can be done by attaching the barrier sheets to rafters under the roof deck. A roof installation will cost more as it will require covering of more surface area.

Cost of Radiant Barrier Installation
The cost of radiant barrier insulation products is comparatively lesser than conventional roof insulation products. Currently, the cost of radiant barrier insulation ranges from $0.12 to $0.35 per square foot. The cost varies depending on what kind of radiant barrier insulation product, you go for. The cost also varies according to the type of installation. The roof installation costs more as compared to attic floor installation. You could get some discount on radiant barrier insulation, if you purchase it in bulk of course.

Do-it-Yourself Radiant Barrier Tips
If you are doing a radiant barrier insulation, here are some things to remember!

• While installing the radiant barrier insulation, near the roof, remember that you need a sufficient amount of air gap in between the barrier and roof!
• Ensure that after the installation, your attic can breathe! That is, the water vapor rising from the house should find a vent through the barrier insulation. This can be done by using perforated barrier insulation sheets and fixing exhaust fans in the attic.

With this kind of radiant barrier insulation in place, you will certainly see a lowering in your air conditioning and house heating bills. So, go for radiant barrier installation as it will not only cut your bills, but save some valuable energy!