Teach me about attic insulation/heat barriers... (Maricopa: sales, how much)

[HX_Guy]

Has anyone ever had additional attic insulation added to their house? Anything you can tell me about it?

Our electric bills are ridiculous and I'm thinking one of the big reasons is the almost non existant attic insulation. We already have dark window screens all around plus interior wood plantation shutters on all the windows, so the windows should be good, but our bill got as high as $405 last August. The house is only 1900 sq ft single story and we keep the AC at 77º in the summer.

There's a local company that offers a couple products, one geting some sort of "attic armor" that gets installed in the attic and reflects 97% of radiant heat and can lower attic temps by up to 50º and save you up to 40% on cooling bills. Sound like BS?
http://www.guardianenergysolutions.com/images/energya-ea.png (broken link)

The other product is just additional insulation that they blast up into the attic, not sure how much that is supposed to help.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Has anyone ever had additional attic insulation added to their house? Anything you can tell me about it?

Our electric bills are ridiculous and I'm thinking one of the big reasons is the almost non existant attic insulation. We already have dark window screens all around plus interior wood plantation shutters on all the windows, so the windows should be good, but our bill got as high as $405 last August. The house is only 1900 sq ft single story and we keep the AC at 77º in the summer.

There's a local company that offers a couple products, one geting some sort of "attic armor" that gets installed in the attic and reflects 97% of radiant heat and can lower attic temps by up to 50º and save you up to 40% on cooling bills. Sound like BS?


The other product is just additional insulation that they blast up into the attic, not sure how much that is supposed to help.

I would pay to have proper insulation installed. I'm in the process of doing that myself. When and if you choose to sell your home, the buyer will probably demand that anyway as an inspector might take note of that. Plus, proper insulation does make a difference. I don't know about that other "attic armor"? Hopefully someone else will chime in.

[HX_Guy]

Oh I am having someone come out and do it, I was actually quoted $1/sq ft for the insulation and the same for the attic barrier.

I was just looking for how effective adding the insulation is and if it's really worth it.

[ji603]

Even if you save 20% of your cooling costs, (figure your winter electric bill is 100 and your max summer is 400 so you're spending $300/mo during peak cooling x 5 months = 1500 a year) the payback for most of these programs is on the long side.

If you spend 2000 on attic insulation and reflective barrier, you're looking at a payback of 7 years. Don't know if it's worth it.

I might just call up King insulation and blow in another 6-8" across the board, make sure your house is sealed well (no dog door/patio/garage door drafts) and that the AC is showing a 20 degree or greater drop in temp from the return grate to the nearest supply, and call it good.

Electric is pricey out here in the summer ... thank your lucky stars you're not paying Maricopa utility rates.

[HX_Guy]

I can get the reflective barrier and insulation through some business trade so out of pocket expense wouldn't be that big, but I only want to do it if it's going to actually make a significant difference.

It's weird...our house seems VERY bad. I mean we literally use the AC year round, there may be a day here and there that we don't use it. It just gets extremely warm even when the outside temps aren't that high. Take today for example, the high was 70º (according to Wunderground.com) yet it got up to 81º in the house and we of course had to use the AC.

[HX_Guy]

Took some pictures of the attic if anyone has any experience with this...I'm guessing it could use more insulation?

[AksarbeN]

I didn’t notice any in your pictures however one inexpensive thing that can help is reduce the “heat” in the attic is cutting additional roof vents in to allow the hot air to escape. At the same time you might want to cut in cool air intake vents along the base of the roof line or overhang. Allowing cooler air flow in and hotter air flow out of the attic is critical in helping to reduce heat in the living area of the home.

[makeitagreatday]

I believe venting can indeed be helpful but you would be surprised how much cool air is escaping where there is virtually no insulation. If your home is that warm, you will definitely notice the difference in temperature and your A/C will not have to work as hard so it's a wash in the end for the cost incurred.

[MotleyCrew]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

Has anyone ever had additional attic insulation added to their house? Anything you can tell me about it?

Our electric bills are ridiculous and I'm thinking one of the big reasons is the almost non existant attic insulation. We already have dark window screens all around plus interior wood plantation shutters on all the windows, so the windows should be good, but our bill got as high as $405 last August. The house is only 1900 sq ft single story and we keep the AC at 77º in the summer.

There's a local company that offers a couple products, one geting some sort of "attic armor" that gets installed in the attic and reflects 97% of radiant heat and can lower attic temps by up to 50º and save you up to 40% on cooling bills. Sound like BS?


The other product is just additional insulation that they blast up into the attic, not sure how much that is supposed to help.

Husband wanted to let you know that there are some issues when it is on the underside of the plywood as a retrofit. It has a potential for traping the heat in the underlayments of the roof, may risk early failure of the roof waterproofing. One of the best solutions is to use the spray/closed cell foam insulation and creating an air and heat barrier at the roof and walls. The one thing you may want to also do is check the ducts for air gaps and leakage. Our home in Vistancia was so poorly insulated and the even missed one room at the front of the house. Our bills were huge but did drop after we reinsulated with blow in insulation. It did help a little. We still kept our house around 80 during the summer. He just looked at your photos and said you can certainly use some more insulation, it is very sparse. A tiled roof is also actually a thermal massing so it collects heat all day and could get up to 160 to 180 degrees and when the sun goes down, comes back into the house. Good luck. It is a battle to fight here for sure.

[Captain Bill]

The radiant heat barrier is installed up against the roofing plywood layer. It is supposed to be much better than adding insulation.

Retrofitting is more difficult than in a new build, however, it can be done. A client of mine who bought an older home installed the radiant heat barrier himself.

If you go to a builder and ask the sales person in the model homes, s/he can explain it to you, and perhaps show you photos, and maybe have the superintendent show you a home that has the barrier installed.

It appears from the photo that you have a little more than 4 inches in places, and almost nothing it others. You should get better results from the radiant heat barrier, but may also want to add some blown in insulation "after" the heat barrier is installed.