How a Radiant Barrier Works
When the hot sun beats down on your roof, your shingles can reach temperatures of 150° or higher. That heat needs to go somewhere, and without a barrier between that heat and your attic, it’s going to slowly transfer itself into the plywood.
From there, the heat is going to search out the cooler spots in your attic. That includes the walls, the floor, your stored boxes and even your insulation. In this situation, attic fans, vents and even air conditioners are just a bandage, because they can only cool and move the air. In an overheated attic, however, it’s not the air that’s the problem. It’s the physical surfaces that have had their heat transferred directly from the roof. Moving the air around with an attic fan might help, but it isn’t going to address the real issue.
The Precision Difference
We recommend installing a solar reflective coating like LO/MIT, which is the best radiant barrier Arizona companies like Precision Air & Plumbing can provide. LO/MIT is a spray-on coating applied to the underside of your roofline. When the sun hits your shingles and heats them up, the heat will naturally try to transfer down into your attic.
Once it hits that coating, it is effectively blocked because the coating reflects the heat rather than absorbing it. This lack of heat transfer can lower your attic temperatures by as much as 40º. Without that super-heated attic above you, your home will be cooler and you’ll be spending far less on your energy bills.
Some roofing manufacturers may tell you that your shingles need to transfer the heat from the summer sun into your home to extend the shingles’ lifespan. This isn’t true. The Florida Solar Energy Center has conducted tests that show the difference in wear between shingles that are heating your attic and shingles that have a radiant barrier beneath them. The difference is negligible.
There is absolutely no risk in applying a radiant barrier to the underside of your roof deck. When you think about everything you can gain—cooler air temperatures in your attic, lower cooling bills in the summer, less energy usage—it just makes sense to have a radiant barrier installed.
The solar reflective coatings we use have been Energy Star certified and are proven to reduce the transfer of heat to your attic by more than 80%. Let our professionally trained technicians show you how easy it is to reduce your attic’s temperature and save money.