RADIANT BARRIERS... Again

[BradMM]

I tried to resurrect this one from an earlier post but I guess posts don't "bump."

It's damned hot here in Central Texas and I bought radiant barrier sheeting to install in the attic. Problem is, I can't get to most of the places where it would need to go. Why not install it ON TOP OF THE SHINGLES? It would be kind of temporary but, to get us through the summer, seems like it would be a good idea. I was thinking of Styrofoam sheets that I could staple the sheeting to and then install these on the roof with some space between them and the shingles. I don't mind crawling around on the roof but I can't get myself in all the attic spaces.

Also, I Googled radiant barrier paint and sure enough there is such a thing. I was thinking of repainting the outside of my house.

In reality, all this would go on the back. The front has nice big shade trees and it's very protected.

Was toying with the idea of installing a sprinkler system on the roof to cool it down during the day...?

Brad

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Shingle color, roof vet matters. Do you have good ridge vent? Google earth engineering for related topics.

[BradMM]

[BradMM]

Yep, shingle color is on the lighter side and don't have ridge vents. Wouldn't it still help a lot to have radiant barriers on top of shingles if I can't put them under shingles until the shingles need replacing and can't get into the crawl spaces in the attic?

Thanks and thanks for the Google suggestion!

[HeyBub]

Assuming proper ventilation in the attic, you CAN attach the radiant barrier to the joists.

[RB]

If you are going to that much trouble, just put down a metal roof over furring strips on top of the shingles. The air space is your insulation.

[LouB]

snipped and all you may want to know

[trader4]

I can think of a lot of reasons why you would not want to do this.

Radiant barriers are not designed to be directly exposed to the elements.

Difficult/impossible to attach and cover the roof and keep it from blowing off, without it either being permanent, damaging the shingles, etc.

What you save in cooling costs won't be worth the trouble.

Any other proven method of reducting the cooling load from the attic, eg ridge venting, power fans, insulation are going to be a hell of a lot easier. If it has limited access, there is blown in insulation which might work.

Your house will look like hell....

=A0I was thinking of

That should last until the first good wind storm. And how are you going to hold all that on to the roof without penetrating the roof with fasteners?

So, for all the trouble, this only impacts half the roof at best, further limiting any good that comes of it.

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