I’m thinking about applying this to my uninsulated concrete masonry wall that gets c-c-c-cold. Anyone have an opinion if this stuff will really make a difference? I would prefer not to insulate on the inside, as the rooms are already small.
That’s about what you find in walls, I think. That’s an interesting product. I didn’t find a cost on their site.
The reason why they have to say “equivalent”, rather than just give an R value, is that if you had a material touching this on both sides, you wouldn’t get that R value. This relies on reflecting heat back into the room, along with the usual resistance to heat conduction. That means you can’t use this on the inside walls, then paint over it, becuase that would ruin its heat reflecting properties.
I’m not certain what the “at 2-3” inches part means. It might mean that this coating, with 2-3 inches of air in front of it, gives R11 - R14. I’ve seen similar statements for foil-coated foam insulation panels. You need a small cavity for the foil to be effective. There seem to be more and more insulating products relying on heat reflection.
I read this as meaning that it was as effective as 2-3" of R11-R14 insulation. If there is a standard depth to R11 or R14 insulation, that doesn’t make sense. I know next to nothing about insulation, so my reading could be way off. Just thought I’d share though.
I did some digging on Mascoat last night, and found mostly refs to company lists and product descriptions. The company seems to have a reputation for its marine products, but the radiative insulation coating is relatively new. Mascoat’s president wrote a note to the bobvila boards about the product, which indirectly leads to this article about Radiant Barriers, but no independent evaluation. It sure sounds like it could be useful though.