Want to save money? Help the environment? Stay more comfortable in your home?
We were confused. There’s been a good amount of discussion lately about alternative insulation methods and conserving energy. After all the hype and conflicting stories, I think we finally figured things out.
Radiant barrier is another name for attic insulation, a product that should be installed in your attic. The purpose of the product is to block the flow of radiant heat from one place to another. Namely, from your cozy warm home up through your attic into the big open outdoors. Paying attention now?
Every day, each minute of the winter months, you’re losing expensive air up through your attic. Do you know how easy it is to stop? Do
you know how easy it is to save some money for as long as you own your home by simply investing now in a little radiant barrier attic insulation?
When the heated air from your living room (for example) rises, it meets your regular mass insulation. That stuff slows it down a little, until the insulation absorbs all it can hold. Then the heated air just keeps rising and heads on out of your attic. Have you ever noticed how, after a hard snow, some homeowners roofs are pretty clean of snow? That’s because the roof is so warm from all that escaping heated air that the snow melts quickly. That’s bad.
When you lay the radiant barrier type of attic insulation – made from 99% aluminum sandwiched over a thin, flexible, polyester woven scrim – down over the rafters in your roof, it effectively acts like a barrier to rising radiant heat, forcing it back into the living space below. It’s lightweight, flexible, and easy to install. All you need is a box cutter knife.
The result of using radiant barrier is a warm home, more consistent thermostat setting, and money saved.
