Dwyer Industries, Inc.'s Portfolio | Lake Mary, FL

Home Maintenance & Repairs: is foil attic barrier better than fiberglass insulation

Commented on Dec 01, 2011
We have installing a spray applied radiant barrier in Florida such as Heat Bloc Ultra or ...»
Henry's Liquid Foil. Results have been great reducing attic temperatures up to 50 degrees in the summer. It is easier to install than the foil radiant barriers and you dont miss any spots.

Commented on Nov 14, 2011
I thnk closed cell is a better product for the Northern States, but in hot humid climates ...»
especially in hurricane zones I prefer the open cell product. Their are many open questions concerning long term effects of using closed cell when leaks occur. My experience through the hurricanes has been that the open cell foam (which is waterblown) gets wet and over a week to ten days after the damage completely dries out. I had several customers that had trees fall on their homes and exposed the open cell foam and there was no long term problems. Also, while most closed cell foam are R6.5-7.0 per inch and open cells are 3.5-4.0 per inch, R Value is just a matter of spraying the open cell thicker. Either way, I thnk for new costruction, spray foam is the best alternative.
In response to Nichters concern about holding water and causing mold and rot, most of the oepn cell foams are hydophobic. I have experienced the soy based foams not drying out and turning into a type of pea soup consistency when it gets wet, but that was about 5 years ago.
There are some applications that open cell should not be used in, namely in crawl space conditions where there could be mositure migration from the ground.

Commented on Nov 11, 2011
There is a product at Sherwin Williams called SImix Oxi-Shine that works wonders. Put two ...»
coats on and it lasts about 6 months. It also self cleans itself.

Commented on Nov 11, 2011
Block is better, but be sure to specify an insulation board on the inside before the furring ...»
strips are installed to cover 100% of interior wall.

insulation that would fit that is about an inch thick

Commented on Nov 11, 2011
iF THE BOARD ARE ALREADY INSTALLED YOU CAN USE A PRODUCT CALL MSHIELD BY FI-FOIL. IT IS ...»
EXCELLENT AND DOES BETTER THAN STANDARD FI-=FOIL WHEN IT COMES TO MOLD AND MILDEW CONTROL. IT IS BLUE IN COLOR.

Commented on Oct 29, 2011
We have had success with a spray applied radiant barrier applied to the underside of the roof ...»
deck instead of augmenting the existing insulation. Works really great in Florida hot regions. Helps reduce attic temperature 40-50 degrees in summer

Nichter's Home Services C... on Oct 08, 2011

Would be good to have the background before adressing this, but there is a lot of problems ...»
earned by open celled spray foam. The closed cell foams are far superior and avoid all the problems caused by the open celled, primarily sold as Icynene