Dust, Dust, Dust – Everybody is SO worried about dust on radiant barriers. If you do enough reading about radiant barriers, eventually you will find someone tell you that radiant barriers are good but they will lose their effectiveness by (fill in the blank) percentage after (fill in the blank) number of years.
So, what is the deal with dust?
Watch this video I made to get the quick summary. Basically, if you use a double-sided radiant barrier, dust will NEVER have an effect on the performance of the radiant barrier IF you leave an air space just below the foil. This is achieved by loosely laying the foil over the attic insulation.
If you staple it up to the bottom of the roof rafters, then there will automatically be an air space below the foil (your attic) if you lay the radiant barrier foil OVER the top of the insulation, there will STILL be a small air space between the foil and the insulation UNLESS you mash it into the attic insulation.
Remember radiant barrier works off TWO Qualities. 1) Reflectivity – This is the ability to reflect the radiant heat. 2) Emissivity – This is the ability NOT to convert stored energy INTO radiant heat.
Even if the top layer of foil gets completely covered with dust, and the bottom layer faces an air space, the radiant barrier will CONTINUE to work off the emissivity quality.
Dust Happens. But installed correctly, all the dust in the world will not have a significant impact on the effectiveness of double-sided radiant barrier foil.
Looking for more videos on this topic? Check out my posts below.