Everyone is looking at ways to cut costs and save money these days. One of the best ways to save is to cut utility bills. For anyone living in a cold climate area, radiant barriers are a real simple way to keep warm and save on your monthly heating bill. It’s a well known fact that radiant barriers work great for cutting AC costs for people living in hot climates, but people living in cold climates can benefit on heating costs as well.

The simple fact is that heat moves from warm areas to cold areas. One of the concepts behind radiant barriers is to prevent this movement from happening. The amount of heat loss from a home can be decreased significantly by a properly installed radiant barrier. This in turn can result in significant cost savings on your heating bill, something we all could use in today’s economy.

Standard home construction currently works pretty well in the prevention of heat loss through the exterior walls of a home. This consists mainly of an outer barrier (sheathing), studs filled with insulation, and an inner air barrier (sheetrock). This creates a dead air space in the wall and prevents heat from escaping the home.

With this kind of protection, people may ask why a radiant barrier is necessary in a cold climate. The answer is all the heat loss through the attic. With typical attic construction, you still have the inner barrier and the insulation, but you have no outer air barrier (the area exposed to the inside of the attic) to keep cold air from entering the attic insulation. The loss of heat to the attic thus increases the heat needs of the home, which in turn increases energy consumption and cost.

By understanding that there is heat loss through the attic space it is easy to justify the need for a radiant barrier in the attic. A radiant barrier laid across your existing attic insulation works off the emissivity quality of aluminum. It’s like wrapping a hot baked potato in foil. The stored heat in the potato does not convert to radiant energy and thus the potato (or your insulation) stays warmer.

Another reason to install radiant barrier foil is to prevent cold air from reaching the attic insulation. When the cold air penetrates the attic insulation and gets closer to the ceiling and the warm area within the house, it causes a convective loop of air moving through the attic insulation, greatly reducing its effectiveness.

Installing a radiant barrier over the insulation that is present in the attic will increase the effective R-value of that insulation. One of the most important things to remember when using a radiant barrier is to be sure that it is perforated. Perforated foil has tiny pinholes to allow moisture in air to pass through. By making sure that your ceiling is airtight, especially around light fixtures, and by using a perforated attic foil, you can reduce potential condensation from forming in the attic insulation in cold climates and reduce the possibility of mold or wood rot from forming in your home.

Everyone wants to be energy efficient and save on costs when heating their home. Using a perforated radiant barrier in cold climates will help to do just that. Installing a perforated radiant barrier is a great money-saving project and can be installed either by a professional or the weekend do-it-yourselfer.

Ed Fritz is the owner of www.AtticFoil.com. His passion is to help homeowners make their homes more comfortable and energy efficient. He has helped literally thousands of customers by sharing his first hand experiences using radiant barrier foil. To learn more about Ed and how radiant barrier foil can help cut your energy bill, visit his blog at The Radiant Barrier Guru.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/radiant-barriers-for-cold-climate-living-1576565.html