Services · Front Range
Radiant barrier
Roof decks and hot rooms
A radiant barrier is a reflective face, usually on the roof deck. In a Colorado summer that deck gets brutally hot and radiates down through whatever is left in the attic. The barrier cuts that radiation. It does not stop winter heat from leaving through a thin blanket.
What it does
It reflects radiant heat. That is a summer problem. Houses with west-facing roof, a dark deck, and upstairs rooms that cook in July are the ones that feel it. The barrier goes on the deck, with an air space, so it has something to reflect into.
Dust kills it. A barrier buried under insulation, or laid on the ceiling where it will be covered, stops working. We do not sell it as a second attic.
It does not replace the blanket
Winter loss is conduction and air leakage through the ceiling. A shiny layer does not fix a settled attic. If the joists are showing, the first dollar still goes to air sealing and a blow. The barrier is the summer addition, on the houses that need it.
- Roof decks and hot upstairs rooms.
- Installed with an air space, not buried.
- Paired with insulation. Never instead of it.