Radiant barrier paint additive for exterior walls
 

I'll be painting the old part of my house soon. Trying to make the 1955 construction more comfortable and efficient I will be peeling off a few pieces of siding to blow in insulation before a serious caulk and seal. Afterward painting it with a ceramic bead radiant barrier additive. There are several out there, I spent about $50 for enough to treat 5 gallons paint. Has anyone else tried this?
There are arguments why this should or shouldn't work but for $50 I feel its worth a gamble.

Sounds like a good idea. Do you have a link to the product or some information about their claims of the benefits?

I didn't want to seem like I was pitching it, product is insuladd.
From their website, "Insuladd® insulating paint additive is a unique blend of ceramic microspheres that reduce heat gain (heat absorption) and heat loss in your home when mixed into ANY ordinary house paint or primer. Once applied, Insuladd® acts as a radiant barrier by reflecting heat. It reduces heating and cooling requirements and dampens ambient noise. Using Insuladd® insulating paint additive is as simple as mixing it into the paint and/or primer of your choice and then applying the paint and/or primer as you normally would – with a brush, roller, or spray gun."
Insulating Paint Additive | Insuladd - Retail and Wholesale Sales

It sure does sound like an ad pitch to me.

I mean if it actually was an ad pitch, how would it be any different??

Just a curious observation, gotojohn just happens to be posting from Austin, TX, which on the website says, "Insuladd Distributor for Louisiana and Houston, TX."

Also gotojohn describes his work as, "Master HVAC'.

Hmmm???????

-AC

The usual argument against it is for a radiant barrier to work you need an air gap to prevent conduction. One of the biggest critic's report showed "For an exterior, light green surface, summer heat gain may be reduced by a maximum of approximately 20% when fully exposed to the sun."
http://www.energyideas.org/documents...R/Insuladd.pdf
Light green happens to be the color my house will be painted, and 20% reduction for me is worth $50.

ac hacker, I don't sell radiant barriers or paint additives. While Austin and Houston are in Texas we are about 120 miles apart. I do own an a/c company. I don't paint houses for money either. I will be painting my house and using the additive I bought from the internet. If you look at the pdf above you will see its mostly critical of the product's benefits. My original question still is "has any one tried this?"

Just being careful.

We get invaded by sales people all the time, who masquerade as DIY folk, when their real intent is to troll these pages and sell product and services to people they naively assume to be ill-informed.

The irony is that to succeed at DIY, requires people to be hyper-informed.


-AC

I don't think anyone else has tried it.

Would you be willing to do some testing for us? If you have an IR thermometer, just use some of the paint without the additive on a board, and next to it the paint with the additive. Hit it with the IR thermometer after its been out in the sun a while. That should at least let us know if it works.

No worries, I'll try with the ir. I was hoping to get this done before summer but sounds like the paint crew might be a month out, missing out on this summer's savings. Maybe this weekend I'll drag out the wagner and shoot a test area. My biggest solar gain is one south east wall. I've been looking for an excuse to buy a fluke flir cam, I believe they are down to $400.

I ran few tests today. We had a lot of scattered clouds so conditions we less than optimal. However...Its not looking good. I have 4 equal sized pieces of ship lap. 1 original satin green, 2 green with ceramics, 3 aluminum radiant barrier base coat (somebody said this works) and 4 aluminum radiant barrier paint for proof of performance.
Siding was laid out together facing up in direct sun through out the day . There was an air gap underneath to simulate a hollow wall. I checked the temps off and on throughout the day with a IR thermometer with a fresh 9volt. Temps for 1-3 averaged within 1 degree of each other, 135f surface and 111f on the backside. 4 was up to 101f on the surface and a few degrees over ambient on the back. I might try the difference with the siding upright like its on the wall in case there's any difference. A gloss finish might help reflect more heat.