I recently purchased a house that turned out to be not so energy efficient. One of the areas I have been looking into beefing up is the insulation, with a specific interest in incorporating a radiant barrier insulation. In my research, I ran across a site that offers both an insulated paint additive and a radiant barrier paint, www.insuladd.com. It appears to be a respectable product backed by Energy Star, our Dept. of Defense, and other large corporations.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this product and what their thoughts were on it?
Thanks for your help.
Replies
Is this the same company that sells magnets for softening your water?
Just remember for any radiant barrier to work there must be an air gap between it and the heat source or the heat energy will conduct right thru it.
Thanks to all for the input, especially the in-depth knowledge of Brucet9. That is something to look into.
One question regarding the paint being subject to conduction. Wouldn't the air pocket that you refer to be the actual room itself as the wall paint is the radiant barrier? I may be totally off base here, but I was thinking that the operation of the paint as a radiant barrier was similar (in theory only) to how a metal roof acts as a radiant barrier.
Where are you located? Are you trying to prevent heat build up in your roof/attic area? Yes a metal roof will help but there are some caveates. First colour has a big part of the equation. Two having an air space between the metal roof and the sheathing can also help. And yes lots of insul will help too. What I was refering to earlier was that if all materials are in direct contact the heat energy (of which there are three kinds).... Actually read this:http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-011-thermal-control-in-buildings/view?searchterm=radiant%20heat
I've looked closely at the website and don't see any actual endorsments by DOD or EPA, perhaps I just missed it. The benefits seem negligable at best. I like the saying "if it seems to good to be true it probably is".
It appears to be a respectable product backed by..... our Dept. of Defense........
Aint that the paint that lets em see right through yer house walls with that infrared, night vision stuff?
Aluminum foil hat tightly secured.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
The heat reflectance properties of paint with Insuladd seem to be substantially better than white paint.
I would be concerned, however, with the durability of a paint film that has effectively had its pigment to binder ratio greatly increased (1 part extra dry material added to 4 parts paint). After you add the ceramic beads, the same amount of resin will have to bind at least 50% more dry ingredients (pigments and fillers in the original formula plus Insuladd). Adhesion to the substrate will be reduced, as will resistance to chalking (exterior paints) and scrubability (interior paints).
I wouldn't think of using the stuff in anything but a premium grade of paint with the highest resin content.
Hey brucet9 .. thanks for the primer info last week, went with SW Preprite 200, $35 cdn/gal. Excellent coverage/hiding, only two downsides: dries too fast, it is impossible to keep a wet edge, even when rolling a big section with no obstructions and sometimes when the roller hits the adjacent corner it peels up the paint like a blister, try to repaint the edge of the blister keeps growing, learned after a while to leave it till dry and retouch later.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad it worked for you.A little XIM Latex Extender or Floetrol can help to retard dry time and help with that wet edge problem.BruceT