DIY – “Green” Power Barrier With AtticFoil® Over Attic Insulation
AtticFoil.com – How Attic Insulation & Radiant Barrier Work Together in Cold Climates This video shows the positive aspects of combining radiant barrier attic foil with attic insulation will develop a green energy barrier in your attic. Installing radiant barrier attic foil along with very good attic insulation will aid to make your home much more comfy and power efficient. A radiant barrier will decrease radiant heat loss and minimize air flow in the insulation which reduces the R-Value of the attic insulation. Order Radiant Barrier Online AtticFoil.com Pay a visit to http for complete details on Do-It-Yourself Radiant Barrier Foil installations, guidelines and tricks.
Video Rating: four / 5
@b2525 People tend to over-think when it comes to radiant barrier. Keep it simple and be realistic in your expectations. Laying it over will will provide both emissivity and reflectivity benefit. You can store stuff on top of the foil. Just keep in mind that where ever you “sandwich” the AtticFoil between two objects, it will not have an radiant barrier benefit. lifting the decking is way too much work. AtticFoil can easily handle modest foot traffic without damage.
@AtticFoil Thanks so much for your prompt reply! It sounds like if I lifted the foil off the decking I would get both benefits (emissivity & reflectivity). Only problem I have is we use the attic for storage so I wouldn’t have full coverage this way. Hmm, wonder if pulling up the decking is worth the trouble.
@b2525 You have two choices. First, it would be OK to lay the foil directly over the decking. The air space will be on the top and the radiant barrier will work off the emissivity quality to keep heat in. However, over the years, dust will probably reduce some of it’s effectiveness. Or, you could use some 1/2″ foam or wood strips to lift it off. Then it will work off the reflectivity quality year round. The easiest way is to just lay it out and blow off dust if it gets too dusty.
I’m interested in RB for cold weather insulation. If you have wood plank flooring above fiberglass batting in your attic, can you still use the RB on the floor? I would probably create a gap by adding some 2×4′s or something to hoist the RB up off the floor. Wondering if that would reflect the heat back down to the house or would it only be beneficial if laid directly on top of fiberglass? I don’t want to rip up the attic flooring. Thanks
I would put in additional attic insulation and radiant barrier. Think of insulation as big jacket. Radiant barrier and insulation work together, but 5-6 inches is on the low side.
My husband and I have an older home with about 5-6 inches of insulation in my home. We talked about adding insulation as a way to make our home more energy efficient. So if we install radiant barrier foil, do you recommend adding more insulation before the radiant barrier foil or is this enough?
If you are going to lay the foil over the insulation it is VERY important to use perforated radiant barrier Attic Foil. Perforated foil has tiny pinholes about every half inch that allow moisture in it’s vapor form to pass through so moisture will not get trapped. It is also important to seal up holes in the ceiling that will allow warm-moist air to escape from the home into the attic.
Does the radiant barrier allow moisture to go through? I am concerned with trapping moisture.
@AtticFoil Thanks, that was very helpful. It’s cold this winter and I think this will help my home be more consistent.