RadiantGUARD® is Superior to "Radiant Barrier Paint"

There are several suppliers of products misnamed "radiant barrier paint" that are designed to be sprayed on the underside of the roof decking in the attic.  These "radiant barrier spray" products are paint solutions that include aluminum metallic flake additives designed to reflect heat. 

So called "radiant barrier paint" products are NOT true radiant barriers per the US Department of Energy.  

Radiant Barrier Definition : Per the Department of Energy (DOE), a product classified as a "radiant barrier"  must have a low emittance of 10% or less and high reflectance of 90% or more.

Our RadiantGUARD® Ultima radiant barrier foil insulation products have an emittance of 5% and a reflectance of 95%;  far exceeding the DOE's radiant barrier minimum classification requirements.  For more information, visit the Department Of Energy website.

These spray paints do not come close to Department of Energy's definition for a radiant barrier. 

David W. Yarbrough, Phd, PE of the Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association (RIMA) tested the reflectivity and its converse (emissivity) of 16 leading radiant barrier paints and presented his results on June 20, 2006.  As you can see from the testing results below, the emittance of radiant barrier paints is varied across manufacturer and products.  ** NOTE: Only 4 of the products actually satisfy the ASTM requirements set forth for an interior coating intended to reduce radiant heat transfer to and from the coated surface.

Our RadiantGUARD® Ultima radiant barrier emits only 5% making them FAR SUPERIOR to radiant barrier paints.

Below are the results of the RIMA radiant barrier test.  The full test can be viewed here:

Emittance Definition: emittance is the amount of radiant heat that passes through the product (that is NOT blocked)

Product Manufacturer -
Distributor

Emittance
(heat that passes through)

Heat Blocked

Satisfy
ASTM
IRCCS
Radiance E025 Chemrex 23%

 77%

Yes
Formula A Barrier Coat #85 Hy-Tech 66%

 34%

 
Formula B Barrier Coat #85 70%

 30%

 
Barrier Coat #233 89%

 11%

 
HeatShield R-20 Kwik Co. 90%

 10%

 
Koolcoat Pawnee Specialties 86%

 14%

 
Radiosity 3000 Green Building Supply 89%

 11%

 
Heat Bloc 75 STS Coatings, Inc. 22% 78% Yes
Heat Bloc-Ultra 19.5%

80.5%

Yes
E-Barrier Sherwin Williams 36%

 64%

 
Lo/Mit-1 Solec-Solar Energy Corp 23%

 77%

Yes
Lo/Mit-2 23%

 77%

Yes
Insuladd-RBC Tech Traders 59%

 41%

 
Insuladd-White 90%

 10%

 
Insuladd-White on RBC 86%

 14%

 
Therma-Guard White United Community Services of America 86%

 14%

 
Therma-Guard Silver 57%

 43%

 
Therma-Guard White on Silver 85%

 15%

 

 

RadiantGUARD® Ultima radiant barrier

 5%

 95%

Professional installation costs of both radiant barriers and so-called "radiant barrier spray" products typically average the same.  Because RadiantGUARD® radiant barriers block substantially more heat than so-called "radiant barrier paints," your Return-On-Investment (ROI) can be achieved much sooner.

So-called "radiant barrier paints" require a high-end professional sprayer, paint suits, and masks making it difficult for the average do-it-yourself (DIY) individual.  However, our RadiantGUARD® radiant barriers are easy for the DIY individual to install with minimal effort and tools shortening your ROI cycle.

For more information on the misleading "radiant barrier paints," please see this recent article published in the RSI newsletter.