I had heard about the benefits of reducing heat in attics for some time via various media. Last year, "E-shield" came to town with a thunderous ad campaign...and equally thunderous sales people. Their pitch was pretty convincing, but I asked them to leave when presented with the price. They started at $12,500 but with numerous promotions, and my agreeing to be on an advertising post card mailing, the price dropped to $5,500. I showed them the door. I still wanted to do the project so I went on-line and found AtticFoil® ....YES!

I studied all the tips on the web site... lots of stuff there. The product arrived incredibly fast! I started out at the bottom near the soffit, as instructed, and quickly found that I couldn't keep a straight line. I ripped out the first run of foil (no damage, as the material is pretty tough) and regrouped to think about this some more. 

The challenge was that I have a "hip" roof (to those who don't know, it's like a 4-sided-extended pyramid, i.e. two long trapezoids and two triangular areas). I decided to combine several of the suggested installation methods. There is flooring in the central area, surrounded by HVAC duct work that sits on top of exposed floor/ceiling joists with loose insulation. 

I started at the top (where I could manage a straight line) and worked my way down. I had to do it with short pieces (no helper) of about 5 ½ ft long. When I got down to the duct work, I changed to the "cover the floor" method, using my squeegee on a pole to move the foil sheet into position, over and behind the duct to the soffit. Then I sealed out the exposed rafters with another foil sheet between where I left off covering the upper rafter area and the ducts. Finally, I used the existing cross-over braces near the ridge to create a triangular area for heat to collect and be sucked out by the [exhaust] system.

It really brightened up the space with existing lighting, and covering the loose insulation has reduced overall dust in the living spaces as well.

Results

$537.44 for 3500 sq ft AtticFoil® Radiant Barrier (incl. s/h), $20.00 for 2 boxes of staples, $40.00 for 4 rolls of foil tape, $0 Labor, and $0 on a borrowed staple gun.

Total: $597.44 

When comparing to the "E-shield" alternative at about ten times the cost...this is a "no-brainer." My budget utility bill went from $172 to $143 per month (see photo) during the AtticFoil® installation. I expect they'll have to re-calculate this again since I was only about 70% complete when this happened...proving that AtticFoil® works as advertised, as soon as you start putting it in. 

AtticFoil® has my highest recommendation. Can I buy stock in the company?

Note: AtticFoil® was installed in June & July of 2011.

*year prior to installing AtticFoil® Radiant Barrier

** during installation of AtticFoil® Radiant Barrier 

*** 1 year after installing AtticFoil® Radiant Barrier