Radiant Barrier RadiantGUARD Ultima FOIL Insulation Roll 1000 sq ft | 48-inch by 250-feet | U-1000-B | Heavy Duty Perforated Foil Radiant Barrier Attic Insulation - Blocks 97% of Heat

Finally decided to bite the bullet and install radiant barrier to help with the hot summers here in Houston and give our AC's a better fighting chance. The install was pretty straight forward and I'm amazed by the durability of the product as it's very tough and easy to stretch taught between rafters yet easy to cut (with a utility knife) and roll out and handle. I ordered 3 (1000 sqft) rolls as I have 4 attics in total (3 sub attics and one large main attic over the seconds floor). I did most of the work myself and it took 4 days, but wanted to get it done while it was still cooler outside and before our 90+ degree summers hit here in Houston. I'm already noticing a difference as the rooms seem to stay cooler longer and during the install I used my laser thermometer and noticed a 20+ degree difference from the surface of the installed radiant barrier and the roof decking just above it where barrier had not been installed yet. We'll see how it does in the summertime, but as of now I'm already pretty impressed and happy and hope this can help our AC's operate a little more efficiently and keep the attic cooler.

I used this product in the loft area of a portable shed. The shed is a lofted gable 14 X 40 with a metal roof and closely resembles a child’s easy bake oven under the blazing sun of a Mississippi summer. It’s so hot that it has helped me become a better person, because I can imagine how hot hell is going to be. I installed an ac unit in the window, and the shed just laughed at me. I insulated the downstairs area with traditional fiberglass batt insulation, and I swear I heard the shed say, “B****, please!” As a last ditch effort, I ordered this stuff. It’s easy to handle if you cut it into 8 foot lengths. It is really hard to tear, but cuts easily and cleanly with a pair of scissors. I used a tack hammer to staple this stuff up (I overlapped the pieces by 2 inches), and could immediately notice the difference. Before, I could feel waves of heat rolling off the underside of the shed. Now I can feel the cool air circulating from the ac, and it’s cool enough in the shed to actually use it during the day. I will order more of this stuff to put in my house’s attic next, as I believe that it will lower my heating and cooling bill tremendously. UPDATE (July 24, 2019): I ordered a FLIR One thermal camera to compare the sections of roof with radiant barrier vs the section without. These pictures were taken at 9:27 am. The section without the radiant barrier is actually shaded by a very large pecan tree, and yet it still reached 110.4 degrees. The other end of the shed is in full sun but shows a temperature of 86.3 degrees. This stuff works, and works so well that you can feel the difference immediately! It would give 10 stars if I could!!

I just stapled up 400 square feet of this to my attic rafters leaving an air gap between the OSB board and foil. There is a full 30 degree drop in my average attic temperature and I live in Texas. My new AC equipment will be under so much less stress for years to come. This material is strong, easy to cut and easy to install. All you need is a pair of scissors and a staple gun. I would recommend buying some 2x6x8 boards to place across the ceiling joists as you work so you don't fall through your ceiling. I got my whole house done in about a week on my own saving thousands over what a contractor would charge. Wear a good quality dust mask as well. This was done in early spring and I can see a huge difference in my electric bill and notice my ac running a lot less frequently. Don't stress about making it look pretty. Just couldn't it and staple it on. It works.

Short story, I installed a HVAC system dedicated to a bonus room about 4 yrs ago. (2014) Since the install I have always had troubles getting the AC to maintain a constant temp. In the heat of the Alabama day, it wasnt rare to have a tempature split of 10+deg between thermostat and room ambient temp. Using a infrared thermometer temps varied throughout the room, example ceiling temp being 5+ degs higher than room temp. Until I stumbled upon the “radiant barrier”. Why none of the AC techs I had out to house mentioned this stuff is beyond me. Radiant barrier is so easy to work with and the results are everything I had hoped. I installed the barrier to the bottom of the rafter boards horizontally using a pneumatic stapler also purchased through Amozon. It took me ( no helper) two days to install a 1000 sq ft. I worked 2 hrs each morning before the attic heated up. Recommend precutting lengths of barrier prior going into the attic. I just cut rough measurements based off the rafter boards being 24in on center then added a foot or so for good measure. Bottom line it doesn’t have to be prefect. I notice instant relief from the AC output and the results only improved as I installed more product. My HVAC now maintains 72 - 74 deg with an out side temp of 90. This week I will be installing a “Natural Light solar fan” purchased through Amazon. Which I expect to see even better energy savings and AC performance. I can’t tell y’all how happy I’m with this stuff. Good luck.

This stuff is not like the cheapo stuff they have for sale on ebay. The eBay stuff is super flimsy like a plastic film. This stuff is like what you wrap a 30lb turkey in at Thanksgiving. Hell, if you're not worried about the plastic coating burning off you can certainly cook an entire platoon's Thanksgiving in this stuff and then use it to patch up the ISS. Cutting it is easy with a box knife. It'll dull it after about 30 cuts but it's worth using one to save time. The rolls are 4ft wide which makes covering a lot of area easy, but a challenge when unrolling it to cut. We use a broomstick and suspended it between two of our city-provided trash cans so we could pull it out like at the fabric store. Make sure you add 8" or so to each cut because your attic is no 100% square. You'll need the extra to cover and make it easier. If you come up short it just wastes material. If you come up long (same thing lol) I just leave the overlap. It's perforated which is nice so that it's not a vapor barrier. Installing this immediately blocks the heat you feel radiating off the roof deck. Now you need to understand this is NOT insulation or a replacement for it. Insulation actually blocks the movement of heated air from one side to another. This stuff blocks/reflects the RADIANT part of the heat. Think holding a piece of aluminum foil in front of you when you open the oven. It'll block the part that comes out immediately but not the air that flows out. Use a staple gun. We bought a Milwaukee M12 staple gun to save time. You'll use thousands of staples in an attic. It'll save your hand, trust me. 1/2" is good enough. Maneuvering in the attic with a 10ft long piece of aluminum foil on your head is difficult. Have a friend or family member help. This is not a fault of the product, because honestly any blanket over your head in an attic is going to cause maneuverability problems. Overall I think it's a decent product, and when used with good normal insulation will reduce the heat load on your house.

After moving into our 30-year old, 1.5 story home over a year ago, one of the first issues I noticed was how the upstairs AC could not keep up, even on an 80°-85° day. Most days last year between late April-September, it would run for about 12 hours straight (15-20 hours total) and the upstairs would still heat up to about 78°–80°. This is despite starting the day at 72°. Needless to say, I went searching for answers. The AC unit was inspected and working fine, so cross that off the list. Next step, checking insulation. Minor batt insulation issues, so not a huge contributor there either. With spring fast approaching, I came across radiant barriers when searching for other attic insulation methods. The science checks out, the testimonials back it up, and it’s affordable. No lose situation to try it out. After researching different products, I came to this stuff. Install went great, even for working in tight spaces. It has great tensile strength and is pretty resistant to things punching through it. A sharp utility knife cuts through it easily to give you whatever size piece you need or to cut around objects. I installed across the bottom of my roof joists, and install was easy, if a bit cumbersome to get up in long pieces. For long stretches, this is a two-person job. Trying to move the barrier around and not crumpling it up was a little bit of a challenge, but worth it. So how’s it doing so far? We’ve now had a few weeks of sunny days with temps reaching 80°-85° and the upstairs AC is keeping up just fine. I can not only hold temps at 73°, but it will actually cool it down if I so choose. The real test will be on 90°+ days, but the early returns are good and I’m already a believer. Note: I could not get to 100% of my attic space due to tight areas and ductwork in the way, but I probably have about 75% of the area covered.

So I first heard about these 'Radiant Barriers' several years ago and thought they were too expensive and that I had to be a Rocket Surgeon to install them. I happened upon this stuff and for the price I decided to give it a try - if it didn't work I wouldn't be out too much money. I recently did one of my two attics while the weather was cool, and it seemed to make a substantial difference - but we haven't really had any 'hot' sunny days to test it yet. My second attic is above the unfinished garage with half the roof facing South. I got the South half done (over 90% coverage) around 9:00am this morning. It's supposed to be 82 in Denver today and thought it would be a good chance to really see its effectiveness. It's 11:25am now, and starting to warm up nicely outside so I went up in the garage attic - and was amazed. The underside of the North facing roof deck was emitting warmth I could feel about 15" away with my hand and that half was becoming uncomfortably warm. Meanwhile the South facing side - the side that gets the direct sun rays and should be much warmer still, was quite comfortable. I could have gone up there and taken a nap on that side. Pretty cool stuff, and I can confirm you do NOT have to be a Rocket Surgeon to put it up. I went and bought an inexpensive wide crown Air Stapler ($20 with coupon) just for this project. Even though I have a spring stapler too, air is the way to go if you have a compressor and long-ish hose. When you find yourself crawling around and holding up the film in contorted positions, it is much easier to tack in place with air - and MUCH faster.... I have also been simply running the film perpendicular to the rafters, overlapping and stapling to the bottom edge. No Insulation has been used.... 07-11 UPDATE: So it got up to 93 today and I recorded the attic temps as the day went (see pics). As you can see, the attic only got up to around 11 deg hotter than outside - not bad at all!! Before Radiantguard, it would have been closer to 140 deg. I also included some pics of the installation for reference.

This is fantastic stuff! I bought 1 roll before I wrap my whole house if attic I wanted to see if it really worked. Put it on my windows & hit it with my thermal temp gun. 20 degrees cooler than the window without barrier in just a few minutes. I strongly recommend this & plan on wrapping my entire house in this when we redo the siding & roof! I will also be sewing this between 2 pieces of fabric & putting it on a roller to screen the windows in the Summer & Winter. I live in Oregon at the base of a mountain. We have about a month of 90-100 degree days but for the most part I struggle to keep warm air in. I think this is going to be the best investment! Does not tear easily, does crinkle easily but folds & cuts easily with scissors, pliable & I haven’t stapled it yet but I imagine even paper staples would hold it.