Has anyone installed a radiant barrier . . .

[Julie in Austin]

. . . in their attic? How much did it help with your cooling bills?

[Sandra in NC]

It was about 5 or 6 years ago when we looked into it, and at the time, the materials were more expensive than we could afford.

I wonder if it's cheaper now? I've also wondered about solar shingles. We'll need a new roof in a year or two and I hope solar shingles will be an option for us.

[KristineIN]

I have no idea about a radiant barrier, but do you have an attic fan? It makes a HUGE difference for us.

Kristine

[homeschoolmom]

I'm thinking about doing this too so thanks for posting this!

Even with an attic fan (not a whole house fan, just an attic exhaust fan), proper insulation & soffit vents our 2 attics get very hot and raise the temperature of the whole house.

I hope someone with some experience replies back....

[Jann in TX]

With our first house our electric bill was lower than our neighbor's (no radiant barrier) every month. Our house was 2400 sqft and her house was 1800 sqft. We ran the air conditioning ALL the time--DH likes it COOL in the summer (and summer around here is most of the time!). Our neighbor only ran the air conditioning at night--even then it was set at 78.

Our current house also has the radiant barrier--it is 3400 sqft and we have lots of other energy saving items. Our total utility bill is very close to what our 2400 sqft house was--but we have a well and do not have to pay for water (other than in electricity).

We definitely SAVED money by using the radiant barrier.

Some people have told us that using a radiant barrier will cause the roof shingles to not last as long. Our last home is 15 years old and the shingles are still in great shape...so that remains to be seen.

[Sandra in NC]

Was it easy to install?

Does your roof have gable vents, or a ridge vent? Or both? (I'm thinking about your comment about shingle life and wondering if the ventilation has something to do with it. Our house has gable vents only, which I understand are not as efficient as ridge vents.)

Just curious...we might want to do this too!

[Valerie(TX)]

that FIL's attic, which had large vents at each end of the attic and small vents in the soffit all around, would not benefit from having the radiant barrier. The attic was so well ventilated that it would have been a waste. OTOH, he did recommend a major insulation upgrade, as the 45 yo insulation up there was nearly worthless.

One more data point... :001_unsure: (Where's that :shrug: smiley?)