The Fundamentals of Radiant Barrier Technology

October 04, 2023

Jacksonville residents know how relentless the Florida sun can feel during the long, hot summer season. While you can beat the heat by staying indoors with your air conditioning providing comfortably cooled air, the sun continues to shine on your roof, heating both the roof and the attic space beneath it. This heating effect can have several consequences for your home, reducing your air conditioner’s efficiency and increasing the strain placed on the system to provide cooling during this time. An overly hot attic can also cause damage to any heat-sensitive belongings you may have stored inside, or simply make this space less comfortable if you use your attic for hobbies, workouts, or other tasks. Radiant barrier installation is a simple way to eliminate these effects on your home for a more comfortable and more efficiency household, reducing your monthly costs without the need to make any changes to your current cooling habits.

How Radiant Barriers Save Money

Radiant barriers act like sunblock for your home. When the sun shines on your roof, heat and energy are transferred through the material and into your attic, heating this space to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. Because hot air always flows toward cold air, this heated air in your attic tries to encroach on your living spaces, making them warmer and less comfortable. To stay cool, you must run your air conditioner more often and at a lower temperature, which increases cooling costs as well as strain and wear and tear on your AC unit. Radiant barriers come into play by acting as a reflective shield that blocks incident radiation from the sun and reflects it back out of your attic, reducing the warming effect that occurs. A radiant barrier spray coating can reflect 75-80% of incident solar radiation, which translates into savings on your cooling bills of five to ten percent each month for returns that you’ll continue to enjoy for decades.

How Radiant Barriers Are Installed

Radiant barrier installation is a simple task for your experienced home comfort expert. During installation, a special radiant barrier coating is sprayed onto the underside of your roof from inside your attic. The spray application process ensures that this coating reaches all exposed areas of your rafters and roof for maximum coverage and reflectivity. Once in place and dry, the radiant barrier will work passively to counteract the heating effect of the sun whenever it shines on your roof. This means you won’t need to make any additional changes to the way you cool or heat your home to achieve the indoor environment you want more easily and at lower cost. Radiant barrier installation is a one-time process that requires no touch-ups or reapplications, offering you the greatest return on this investment by keeping your home more comfortable every month of the year.

Are you ready to learn more about radiant barrier installation in Jacksonville? You can reach a home comfort expert via our website, where you can also find additional information about our heating and cooling services and solutions. If you’d like to read more about the latest home comfort technology or find tips to further reduce your utility bills, please stop by our blog to check out our full library of articles.