Castro Valley experiences one of the country’s widest temperature ranges. Temperatures vary from lows in the teens in the winter months to highs exceeding one hundred degrees in the summer months but with the help of our Radiant Barrier In Castro Valley will reduce that.
Let’s face it – air conditioners and heaters are the only way to deal with Castro Valley harsh climate.
There’s only one catch: heaters and air conditioners consume energy – lots of it. In fact, up to 70% of your yearly energy consumption can be attributed to cooling and heating alone.
The good news is, you don’t have to feel bad every time you touch that thermostat dial.
There’s actually an easier way to lower your energy bills without spending thousands of dollars on energy-efficient fixtures. There’s also no need to perform any crazy remodeling with your home.
Castro Valley Best Radiant Barrier Foil
Radiant barrier foil has been around for a while, but it’s only until recently that contractors and homeowners recognized the true potential of this product. Cities around the country have actually added a mandate to their building code to include radiant barrier foil in all new home construction. That alone should prove its effectiveness.
The Bottom Line on Radiant Barrier Foil
Because radiant barrier foil is not as dense as regular insulation, it does not conduct heat as effectively, leaving you with a cooler roof and a cooler living space. Your air conditioner does not have to work as hard when you already have a cooler home to begin with. This means lesser cooling and heating costs and it helps to prolong the lifespan of your AC unit.
Keep the summers bearable with your own radiant barrier foil installation. The difference is noticeable fast, and the savings on your power bill will be just as awesome!
Your Home Cannot Survive on Radiant Barrier Alone
Having your attic properly insulated is a major step to conserving energy and lowering utility costs monthly. As good as radiant barrier is, it is only a tool in the multitude of tools that keep your home efficient. If you only had radiant barrier foil and nothing else, you probably wouldn’t see the benefits. So, if you have both radiant barrier and good attic insulation, then you are able to reap the benefits of a more energy efficient space. If, when you go up into your attic and you can see the floor joists and the insulation is settled, you probably need to refresh that old insulation to maximize the effectiveness in your attic.
Save Money on Utility Bills
There is no doubt one of the best ROI’s on properly insulating your home is the savings on those electric bills. We have seen anywhere from 20%-50% reduction on a home’s electric bill after purchasing one of our insulation services
Make Your Home Comfortable again
If your home tends to be drafty and you are always either too cold or too hot, insulating your home will gretly affect that and make your home comfortable again
Reduce Allergens from Getting in Your Home
Airborne illnesses can be stopped at your door with the proper insulation treatment to your home. The better the seal on the outside , the less chance of those allergens getting in your home and affecting your family’s health
The use of radiant barrier technology in homes for reducing utility costs is not a new concept. It has been around for over three decades and helping homeowners with their cooling system needs.
If you have searched for different ways to attain energy efficiency in your attic, you must have come across this product. Understanding what a radiant barrier means for your home and whether it works for your particular use would help you save hundreds that go into your energy bills each year.
What is a radiant barrier?
To understand radiant barriers, let us first tell you what radiant heat is.
Radiant heat is the thermal energy emitted from the sun and other potential sources, including flooring, ceiling, or walls. The energy is transferred without requiring a medium to propagate. This means, without making actual contact, the electromagnetic waves are emitted to other things, and these objects eventually begin to cast their own heat in all directions. One of the common examples is having roof shingles that absorb heat from the sun to warm up the entire attic.
Coming to the radiant barrier – this is a radiant heat blocking material that prevents the insides of your property from overheating. Made up of aluminum foil, the radiant barrier is applied to a number of substrates for the reduction of summer heat, as well as cooling costs. It further keeps the indoor objects from getting energized by the harmful UV rays or emitting radiations in their own heat.
Talking of its maintenance, as long as the layers remain intact and unaffected by dust or moisture, the barriers are practically maintenance-free.
Reinforcement material resistance and strength, location, cost, installation, and maintenance are a few key factors that decide the type of barrier that would work best for your needs. Moreover, what classifies as a true radiant barrier is the one that has high reflectance (90% or more) as well as low emissivity (10% or less).
How does a radiant barrier work?
You might now be interested in knowing what exactly happens when you add a radiant barrier to your attic that too with proper ventilation:
First things first – not all heat bounces off from the radiant barrier. But at least 95% of it does, which is enormous. So with an attic that may sometimes heat up to around 160ºF, and we are not joking here, can get a lot less toasty with the installation of a radiant barrier and go down to around 110ºF.
For this reason, radiant barriers are installed alongside other types of insulation, so all the aspects of heat movement are taken care of.
It works to reduce the heat transfer triggered by convection and blocks the convective airflow. Furthermore, two major physical properties assist the process: reflectivity and emissivity.
Talking of traditional insulation materials, these are more affected by the change in temperature and moisture levels. Radiant barriers, on the other side, maintain the performance regardless of any changes. This prevents the insulation from losing its effectiveness.
Here is an example to illustrate the process much better – when the sun heats the roof, insulation absorbs the warmth and transfers it down to the attic. Here is where radiant barriers come to your rescue – these prevent the heat from entering the space at all i.e., the heat radiation from a warmer to a colder object gets obstructed. This necessitates a lot less energy to cool the area, thanks to aluminum foil, which is excellent at reflecting heat.
The layer of radiant material faces the air space and is usually installed in roofs or attics. Combined with thermal insulation, the barrier shows best results in maintaining indoor temperature during summers.
For your information, radiant barriers require at least one (3/4 of an inch) air space. Why? If there is no air space on any side, heat would conduct from the surface that is touching the barrier and transfer to the surface on the opposite end. This will give no protection against the thermal energy you intend to reflect or block, rendering the barrier ineffective. It would help if you also make sure that even the area is adequately ventilated for the barriers to work fine.
Single-sided foil barriers attach to one side of materials like craft paper or cardboard, whereas double-sided foil barriers are placed on both sides of the material. Multilayered foils remain entirely separate, producing insulation airspaces. Some roof decking also comes with attached foils. And finally are those that come with foil-faced insulation, combined with barriers as well as insulation for the prevention of radiant heat along with convection and conduction.
Regardless of what equipment you have, we’ve likely services it before. We’ve serviced everything from older legacy units to the most modern air conditioning and heating technologies and controls. We have a large supplier network to find the right replacement parts to minimize system downtime.
Air ducts get damaged from a number of factors such as age, poor design, and rodent damage.
Damaged duct work or air duct leaks affect the indoor environment in two main ways:
Cold air is lost before it effectively cools the indoor space. This makes your HVAC system work harder, using more energy and driving your utility bills up.
Leaks in the duct work introduce contaminants to the circulating air. This includes mold, dust, mites, pollen, bacteria, asbestos and other allergens.