How good is Tech Shield?

[Dave]

We're building a new home in Phoenix, AZ.

The builder is offering Tech Shield for $1,125 for a 2100 sq/ft, three story home.

They also offer an upgrade from R-30 to R-38 ceiling insulation for $400.

For exterior walls, they offer an upgrade to 2x6 construction which includes R-19 up from R-13 with the standard 2x4 construction. The cost for this is $5,665. I can get an insulation-only upgrade from R-13 to R-15 for $1360.

The footprint of the house is apx. 25'x50. The 50' sides face east- west. There will be another two story house to the west that will block a good portion of the afternoon sun from the side walls of the house.

Tech Shield advertises 20-30% energy cost savings but I wanted to see if others could offer some real-world figures for this upgrade.

I think the R-38 ceiling insulation upgrade will be worth the cost.

As far as the exterior walls are concerned, we were thinking the home to the west would give enough shade so that it would take us forever for the 2x6/R-19 insulation upgrade to pay for itself in energy cost savings. R-13 to R-15 doesn't seem like much of an upgrade, so again, it seems like it would be a long time before it paid for itself.

Just wanted to toss this out to get some opinions of others.

[NuWaveDave]

Do it. Do it all. Assuming you're paying $150/sq. ft. what's another $5k on top of $315,000? I'd certainly do the Techshield roof decking and the R38 attic insulation. 2100 sq. ft. on a 25X50 footprint means a second story so I'd probably Techshield sheath the west wall second story. You should also spec continuous soffit and ridge venting.

[M]

Just sell the stuff on the floor and throw away what no one wants. Go to the dump or transfer station and rummage through the demolitioned material. They might have something there.

[david]

One of the things I really regret in building our house is that we did not use 2x6 on the exterior walls. Originally our plans spec'ed 2x6 exterior walls & the extra insulation, but in order to save a few bucks I opted for 2x4s at the last minute.

You can do ROI calculations until you are blue in the face, and the payoffs for these types of things are often elusive. However, as energy prices continue to rise, the return may come much sooner than you think. Also, if energy prices get out of control in years to come, your house might have significantly more value to prospective buyers given the lower utility bills.

Paint, cabinets, couterops, flooring, applicances and dozens of other things can be changed later if you decide to (expensive, yes - but possible). Changing to 2x6 construction later will not be an option.

You can read more about our project here:

[M]

holy crap ...sorry , wrong thread