Do Radiant Barriers Really Work?
Our home garage gets tons sun which makes the temperature unbearable while working on cars.
On a hot summer day we’ve tracked temperatures upwards of 90 degrees in our detached two and a half car garage which is unfinished. We have no insulation, just two by four and siding. Parts of the ceiling are also opened to the attic which clocks in over 100 degrees during a sunny summer day.
So we decided to insulate the garage and while searching for solutions we ran into a product called Reflectix which is a brand of radiant barrier. The product is made to help reflect radiant heat coming through the roof. So we decided to buy and install a few 48 inch wide rolls in the garage attic.
TIP: Don’t try to install radiant barrier in your garage attic when its 90+ degrees outside :)
Installation super simple, but you definitely don’t want to be doing this during the hottest part of the day. Start first thing in the morning or wait a few hours after the sun goes down. That’s unless you want to lose about 5 pounds of water weight. While installing just keep a gap between your plywood and Reflectix. We did this by stapling across the rafters and leaving an open space from the bottom soffit vents to the top of the roofing ridge vent. This allows air to continue flowing from the bottom to the top of the roof. As we continued stapling the Reflectix to the garage rafters, we could instantly feel the difference.
The ridge and soffit vents should also stay unblocked. This allows the hot air to properly travel from the bottom to the top of the roof. This also prevents moisture buildup inside the attic. After fully covering the rafters in the garage attic space, we retested temps from the top and bottom of the garage. To our surprise we saw about a 15 degree drop in temperature. Also the garage doesn’t get as hot as quick during the day. But the rest of the garage is not insulated, so we decided to beef up the rest of the insulation along with something else to keep the garage nice and cool. You can read more about fully insulating and cooling your garage here.
INSULATING GARAGE WITH REFLECTIX SIMPLE PARTS LIST
Four pack or more gives you the best bang for the buck Reflectix 48 in. x 10 ft (Fоur Paсk)
A hammer stapler will make the job much easier Arrow HT50 Heavy Duty Hammer Stapler
Staples to go along with the hammer stapler T50 1/2 in. Staples
WATCH DETAILED INSTALLATION AND RESULTS ON REFLECTIX BELOW
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