Ever wonder if a radiant barrier is worth it?

[75slant6]

Hey there guys n gals, have y’all ever wondered if adding a radiant barrier to your shop build is worth it? Well, I’m in the middle of building my shop, will be insulating it with 2” foam board and was debating on whether it’d be worth spending the extra $1500 to add radiant barrier as well, so I decided to do an experiment.



Now, as I mention in the video, I wonder if the results are a little bit skewed due to using the 1” wood siding vs metal sides like the vast majority of people would do, so the next experiment/video I do, will be using metal siding. In the future, I’ll also be doing a comparison of radiant vs no radiant, without the 2” foam. Hope y’all enjoy the video and I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts on the results, if y’all think it’s worth it and any experiments y’all would like to see in the future.

 

[ch1ll]

I believe the benefit you are getting is from bubbles in the rap. If I were building this I would put the radiant rap on the inside which would also act as a vapor barrier and tyvek the outside which breaths. Any and all insulating improvements will pay off as time goes buy and with the increases in electric and gas bills coming in the future with the switch to green energy(solar, wind and the such) which cost twice the money to produce than with conventional means(coal, natural gas).

The biggest mistake I see folks make when rapping buildings in tyvek is they do not side or cover it immediately and uv light breaks down the rap reducing it insulating and breathable sealing properties. I’m also not fond of the idea of stapling it up. Better to tape it up and keep holes in it to a minimum.