Radiant Barrier: Perfect for Saving Energy During Any Season

As you travel through our website, you may see information that describes Radiant Barrier’s success at preventing the transfer of heat and energy in both the summer and winter months. This information is relevant for everyone, and particularly farmers who keep livestock in buildings with metal roofs year-round, which are extremely vulnerable to the effects of the climate.

So, how does installing reflective radiant barrier insulation protect your home and reduce energy expenses as the seasons change? Read on to find out.

• Keeping Buildings Cooler in the Summer

In the summer months, the sun radiates heat that enters through the roof and can transfer downward through the attic if the insulation is insufficient. This poses a problem for farmers who have barns and confinement buildings with metal roofs, since metal is a highly efficient conductor of the sun’s energy.

Radiant Barrier materials such as Poly-Shield RB PLUS ® or AgriBarrier™ are up to 97% efficient at blocking radiant heat transfer. Radiant Barrier, made primarily of aluminum, works by reflecting the sun’s heat away from the attic and back to the source. In addition to less heat entering through the roof, other forms of attic insulation can work more effectively. Poly-Shield Radiant Barrier can be easily installed over fiberglass batting. By using Radiant Barrier to protect your home or building in the summer, you are essentially protecting your insulation from absorbing the radiant heat and re-distributing that heat back into your attic and living spaces. With reflective Radiant Barrier insulation, you will experience much more comfort in your home or building while saving on air conditioning expenses.

• Reducing Energy Expenses and Ice Damming in the Winter

During the winter months the heat transfer works in the opposite direction. Heat rises in your living space and conducts through the ceiling drywall, heating up your fiberglass batting or other attic insulation. The heat in your insulation radiates into the bottom of your roof decking and escapes outside. The fluctuating temperature extremes can cause ice damming, which is a well-known and serious problem in the northern regions of the US. Applying Poly-Shield Radiant Barrier in your attic envelope will reflect that radiant heat downward towards the fiberglass insulation on the roof flooring, preventing heat escape and ice damming, and saving you money on your heating bill.

Questions about the best insulation for your climate? Give our team a call today at 817-538-5222. We look forward to speaking with you!