Went to a seminar last night about radiant barrier. "Energy Improvements" is the name of the company.
No doubt the stuff really works, but we are wondering if it's worth the price?

Plus a 30% tax credit before that goes away.

This company installs it on the attic floor not the roof.

Anyway, he's coming by tomorrow to give an estimate.

I just thought I'd ask you guys what you think.

I'll let you know what we find out.

Thanks Ags.

Only ever heard of it being installed on the back of the roof. Same as any other upgrade… what's the rate of return/payback

Putting radiant barrier on the floor of an attic is a no no. This is an article that was written by Tom Tynan, the solar guru, worked at the solar institute in Florida and has the Home Handyman Show on Radio 610,

https://homeshowradio.com/early_edition_answer/radiant-barrier-facts/

Good results & tax breaks reported from DIY whose attic had no foil-faced roof decking:
they stapled RB sheets to bottom of most of the rafters.
All big box stores & Amazon sell rolls of these sheets & power staplers.

Also an odd report with OK results from a DIY that employed foil-faced insulation 4x8 & 2x8 sheathing loosely on attic floor, most are slanted, some are teepeed in order to allow ventilation below.

We have it as it was already installed when we bought the house. Our attic is huge. It definitely makes a difference.

Like others, I've never heard of a floor install. Check out Energy Attic in Richardson. We had them out shortly after we bought the house in '18 regarding replacing the existing insulation. I think I learned about them on this forum.

https://energyattic.com/

Not a fan of the floor install. Don't think it works very well. As far as rafter install, the foil works better, but is hard to get 100% coverage. There is a paint. It doesn't work as well, but is easier to get fuller coverage.

Need to check carefully on ROi. It is hard to figure it, honestly. From some anecdotal experience you can expect to lower your attic temp 20 to 30 degrees. It will still be pretty hot up there. That reduction make a difference, but it is hard to extrapolate that to energy savings.

How old is your roof? It may make better sense to replace your roof decking with radiant barrier decking next time you have to replace your shingles.

We did spray on under side of roof, additional spray in insulation and clean/sweep eaves for good air flow. All of it helped tremendiously. New windows where the sun hits helped as well.

That said, I would get my insulation up to par and make sure eaves are clean and get everything working good. Then next time I needed a roof, I would add the radient barrier decking. However, if your roof is new and has 20 years, think about spray on.

Floor seems like a bad idea if you ever have to get to other parts of the attic.

I've gone back and forth, wondered about the ROI if I do it myself. Checked for power company rebates and there weren't any for installing radiant barrier.

Floor install does nothing for the attic temperature, which is the main goal. You are not really getting radiant heating between the attic and the home.

Everything I have learned and seen in this area says that reducing the attic temps are your main goal here. .

Ready to read your Quote for Sept 10th as one contributor to your post in need.
Would like to learn quotes from other options you sought in comparison.

I got estimates and they were outrageous in both cost and estimated coverage.

I used this stuff on my old house in Houston
https://www.atticfoil.com/

Some of my roof joists were "weeping" resin like substance b/c it was so hot in my attic. One installer told me that shows signs of being close to 130-150F. Not sure how true but it was very hot in my attic.

I did DIY attic foil and the temps dropped to just about what it was outside in the middle of the day. So a 95F day it was ~95F in my attic instead of 130F. It used to get so hot my water heater pilot would go out b/c of a lack of oxygen in the air.

Upstairs in the house definitely felt A LOT cooler and AC was not working as hard. I also sealed up some small leaks in the duct work and moved some of the flex duct so it wasn't so kinked and turning so much around the attic.

I have no idea on the ROI as I was only there 2-more years but my upstairs was not so hot anymore in the Houston summers.

We had radiant barriers install when we bought our home from David Weekly 2007 and it does keep the attic cooler. It was installed on the rafters .

The only issue we had with our radiant barrier was the cell service. Using WiFi connection fixed that

Note that radiant barrier can have a significant impact on both cell phone and over the air TV/radio coverage. I would personally focus on insulation and plugging obvious leaks in the thermal envelope instead.