Experience/Opinions on Sherwin-Williams E-Barrier coating - Paint Talk

Dmax Consulting · 07-30-2008, 03:21 PM

Hi PaintTalk,

I am going to offer my customers Sherwin-Williams E-barrier product as an energy efficiency upgrade. It is a radiant heat barrier that is supposed to keep cool air in the house during summer and warm air in the house during winter, effectively lowering HVAC costs. You spray this product in the attic on the roof decking and it essentially turns the house into a thermos. I was wondering if anyone has a lot of experience using this product and can give me any give of feedback/results/pros/cons.

YubaPaintPro · 07-31-2008, 09:42 PM

Hey Dmax,
I have had customers ask about it, and as of now the only thing I can offer you is this.....

1. I think only in 5g buckets. Not completely sure.
2. Only comes in an "aluminum" finish, so it burnishes/breaks down easily if touched. Not to many of us are in the attic, but it is a small factor.
3. Not readily available yet, as the market is small.

Quite confident that this isn't much more than you already know, but I thought I'd jump in. The reflective value is the question for all these products. There seems to be little accountability with all of them in my opinion. No disrespect at all to the above mentioned!

There is a product called Radiosity out there that is a paint additive that has a lot of upside.
http://www.radiosity.biz/index.html

Zip · 08-01-2008, 10:55 AM

Radiosity almost had me convinced until I read that many contractors use a blown out tip for application. Now I don't believe any thing the site offers due to thier willingness to waste material. A sales gimick?

YubaPaintPro · 08-05-2008, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zip

Radiosity almost had me convinced until I read that many contractors use a blown out tip for application. Now I don't believe any thing the site offers due to thier willingness to waste material. A sales gimick?

Interesting! The main reason for the "blown out tip" I believe, is for the actual glass balls you are spraying. I can't speak to the potential damage that may occur in spraying this material. The cost certainly can be easily absorbed in buying "mis tinted" / "dump stock" paint that is marked down.

I see this as a great add-on regardless of product choice.

tsunamicontract · 08-05-2008, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zip

Radiosity almost had me convinced until I read that many contractors use a blown out tip for application. Now I don't believe any thing the site offers due to thier willingness to waste material. A sales gimick?

Here is my train of though:
Ok it is a radiant barrier. Probably needs to be applied pretty thick. Tip orifice sizes tend to be proportional to the fan width (to some extent). The reason for the blow out, worn out tip is because it would allow a much greater amount of film thickness possibly in less time. Meaning you can apply it faster (we all can guess what that means). As a tip wears, the fan pattern stays basically the same width, but the orifice gets much larger: think from l to ()

Veith@toast.net · 08-05-2008, 02:17 PM

I demo it in my home. I can't say I have seen any real difference with it. But at the same time if I remember right they where talking about a 1to 3 % saving. Then my ? is how would I measure the saving in my home environment. It has worn ok haven't seen it rubbing of and we are in the attic all of the time. Would I buy it no would i sell a job with it sure just as long as they know that there where no Promises.

premierpainter · 08-05-2008, 02:27 PM

We did a mailer from SW of 5000 post cards. Not ONE response. I think that it saves up to 20%. Watch if you send out cards, they sent out big post cards that cost regular postage instead of post card stamps. Expensive mailer for no results.

Dmax Consulting · 08-08-2008, 01:13 PM

Thanks Yuba,

I am going to look into that radiosity product.

nEighter · 11-14-2008, 02:44 AM

I have recently sprayed E-Barrier on my attic. I personally love this product. I plan on doing more with it. SW hasn't done much with this great product IMO. There is nothing other than pamphlets that explain the benifits. I understand it is a coating that is not meant to be handled, but you would think they could come up with some sort of promotion or SOMETHING to help this product sale.

While researching this product (a local SW store comped me 10gal to try out) I found a study that was done by an Independent Lab. Out of all the coatings (glass beads, foil and such.. ) there were only 5 products that had a low PERM rating. the best was a foil type product that you stapled on to the decking (somehow), the next three were coatings that came in with a perm rating of .25 or right under. The last was E-Barrier which comes in at .32 on plywood/osb decking or .29 on metal substrate. The rest of the "miracle radiant barriers" were in the .65 and up.. which are not really worth your time.

Anyone else sprayed this product? @ $50.00/gal it is spendy, but I plan on coating my sisters attic this spring/summer. She lives in Waco, Tx and from all of what I hear, the E-Barrier flies off the shelves there in Tx.

I have some before and after pics if anyone is interested. Are we allowed to link pics here?

YubaPaintPro · 11-14-2008, 03:50 AM

nEighter,
I am intrigued by the findings of the ind. lab. Can you send me a link to that? I hope @ $50/gln it does much better post applicationt than Radiosity. Because @ $50 +/- per gallon of Radiosity, and adding that to a 5g bucket of "dumpstock" paint the savings for application swing way over to Radiosity.

I believe Radiosity was "born" by a contractor in TX.

nEighter · 11-14-2008, 04:28 AM

oh that's cool, let me find the link, it has been about a month ago that I saw it.

nEighter · 11-14-2008, 04:46 AM

http://www.enn.com/green_building/article/32849

actually I think this may be the one.. not sure.. I will keep looking

Strate Edge Painting · 02-09-2009, 12:23 PM

Hey, I live and work in Alaska, has anyone used this product in cold temps?

Tonyg · 02-09-2009, 08:04 PM

Curious if this would have any impact on the asphalt shingles? If it would cause the exterior to stay hotter then the shingle life would be reduced.

spectrum · 02-13-2009, 07:46 AM

I used this product in my own attic as a test. While I did not record temperatures before and after, I can honestly say that there was a significant difference in how the attic environment felt after I had completed the job. I sprayed the attic ceiling on a very cold day. The cold was radiating into the attic. When I finished, I could clearly sense that the transmission of cold had greatly dimished and the attic space felt warmer and more comfortable. That was 4 years ago. Every time I go into that attic space, I can sense that the environment is not nearly as hot or as cold as the other attic space in my home, which I had never sprayed. I would use it again, without a doubt, but customers want to see the scientifically proven numbers before they spend the money.

fifth_disciple · 03-15-2009, 10:10 PM

Take the opportunity to check out this website, http://www.rimainternational.org/pdf...20Coatings.pdf and read this article. It may answer most of your questions about IRCC's. Navigate to the home page at http://www.rimainternational.org/index.html and you can also check out articles that discuss Radiant Barriers and their effect on shingle life and warranties.

NEPS.US · 03-15-2009, 10:20 PM

I heard SW dropped it from their product line.

nEighter · 03-16-2009, 02:03 AM

NEPS hadn't heard that, but heard they put it on the shelf (not going after it like they did).

I haven't wanted to let the cat out of the bag, but the main reason I am back in school is to get my electrical so I can move on to the GREEN building/coating market that really isn't even there yet.

Once I get the equipment I need for energy audits, I am going to take thermal readings from my place vs. the adjoining neighbor/neighborhood. I can't believe they don't have that type of info out there already. I DO feel a difference in it being on my attic decking vs. it not. It could all be butt dyno though.. we will see.

readysource · 05-16-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YubaPaintPro

Hey Dmax,
I have had customers ask about it, and as of now the only thing I can offer you is this.....

1. I think only in 5g buckets. Not completely sure.
2. Only comes in an "aluminum" finish, so it burnishes/breaks down easily if touched. Not to many of us are in the attic, but it is a small factor.
3. Not readily available yet, as the market is small.

Quite confident that this isn't much more than you already know, but I thought I'd jump in. The reflective value is the question for all these products. There seems to be little accountability with all of them in my opinion. No disrespect at all to the above mentioned!

There is a product called Radiosity out there that is a paint additive that has a lot of upside.
http://www.radiosity.biz/index.html

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readysource · 05-16-2009, 01:23 AM

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