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ASI's Green HVAC News - Radiant Barriers

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Green Technologies Radiant Barriers

One of the latest green concepts is very controversial and many people have different opinions about the advantages and disadvantages. While the energy savings it can provide are very good the down side is that it could lead to problems.

Radiant barriers are quickly becoming the next wave in the green revolution; the barriers are installed on the underside of your roof and prevent the heat from the sun from radiating into your attic. Most attics can reach well above 120 Deg in the summer and some with black shingles can get much hotter.

The concept is to install some sort of materials to block the radiant heat from getting into the attic, it also blocks heat losses in the winter. There are several different methods circulating around and each has it’s own pros and cons.

The most popular and easy to install is to have expanding foam sprayed on the under side of the roof, you can use closed cell or open cell foam but both have issues if your roof was to spring a leak. The closed cell foam will not allow water to penetrate and the water will travel preventing anyone from determining where the leak is and this also leads to wood rot on your roof. The open cell foam will soak up the water like a sponge which can create a whole host of problems.

There are also concerns for fire retardant nature of the foam as it applies to local codes and many roof contractors and shingle manufacturers discourage this method as they think it will damage the roof. The accepted practice is to ventilate the attic and subsequently the underside of the roof is maintained close to the same temperature as the top side preventing problems with expansion, ice build up and moisture.

There are several other methods out there, some are fairly new and some are old concepts. Some use a fabric or solid foam aluminum backed boards as the barrier and obviously these are difficult to install in an attic. Some use other spray on forms of insulation which carry the same issues as the expanding foam.

One thing is for sure, if your heating and air conditioning system is in or runs through the attic the savings can be extensive and appear to be well worth the risks as well as the costs. But it appears the jury is still out on this concept, these barriers are fairly new to the industry and not enough have been around for enough years to determine any real issues with the concept.

It appears to this author that the best option would be to install an insulating radiant barrier that still allows for the air to circulate under the roof, of course this is the hardest to install. A combination of a fabric and expanding foam or the solid insulating foam boards look like the all around best option when you consider the problems the concept could lead to.

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