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.
The EPA does not label paints and coating for the inside
of roof decks (or attic) in the insulation program because paints and coatings
do not meet the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) definition of “home insulation.”
The EPA qualifies paint only as a roof coating in our Roofs program (generally
used for the top of a commercial building roof). Roof coatings are NOT insulation.
They reflect solar heat off a roof rather than absorbing it keeping the building
cooler.
The EPA DOES qualify radiant barrier insulation as ENERGY
STAR because it meets the FTC definition of home insulation. (read
more about what the EPA says about these spray paints):
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®
Standard, Premium, and Ultima radiant barrier foil insulation products have
an emittance of 3% and a reflectance of 97%;
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®
radiant barrier products emit only 3% 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 |
| 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%
|
|
| All our RadiantGUARD®
foil insulation radiant barrier products |
3%
|
97%
|
Professional installation costs of both radiant barriers
and so-called "radiant barrier spray" prdoucts 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.