Radiant barrier insulation is a uniquely effective way to insulate your Utah home.
Unlike traditional insulating products, a radiant barrier has the unique ability to push heat back whence it came.?This allows the material to keep the sun?s heat out during the summer and keep your home?s heating inside ? where it belongs ? during the cold months.
As powerful as this technology is for helping keep your home comfortable while letting you cut your energy usage (and cost), this insulating product almost never had a chance to catch on.
The Origins of Radiant Barrier Insulation
Radiant?materials were introduced as a home insulation product in the 1940s. But, after a series of unfortunate events, the company that introduced it went out of business.
Years later, this powerful insulating product was adopted by NASA for use in its Gemini and Apollo space programs. Employed in spacesuits and spacecraft, the materials helped to protect both NASA?s astronauts and many types of electronic equipment from the temperature extremes of outer space.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers of traditional insulation products sensed the threat that this technology could pose to their market share. Through lobbying and marketing campaigns, they successfully repressed this technology for decades. Today, however, builders, architects and homeowners have begun to embrace its efficacy and cost-efficiency.
Emissivity and Radiant Barrier Insulation
Construction materials (such as wood and brick) are highly emissive, allowing a substantial amount of radiant heat transfer through. This allows the summer heat to penetrate into your attic, heating up your home and requiring more air conditioning to keep you cool.
During the cold months, you lose your home?s heating in the same manner.
Once a radiant barrier product is applied, wood and other materials lose most of the capacity to emit, cutting down radiant heat transfer (emissivity) substantially.
How to Choose the Right Radiant Barrier
Although you can use this type of insulation in a variety of locations in your home, the most common use is?to apply it in the attic, to the underside of the roof deck.
When you choose the right?product, applied by a qualified contractor, it can cut up to 97 percent of radiant heat transfer in and out of the attic.?However,?not all radiant insulation products are created equal.
GreenHome Specialties?uses materials that are made in the U.S.A. Our products are non-hazardous and designed to resist some of the most common problems associated with poor quality radiant materials, such as mold and oxidation. Our materials also have the highest fire-safety ratings, to keep your family both safe and comfortable.
GreenHome Specialties works with customers in?Northern Utah, including Provo and?Layton. Call us today to learn more about keeping your home comfortable and saving energy with radiant barrier insulation.
