Peter Warne
07-11-2004, 03:32 PM
Hi all,
I don't know if anyone has any experience of this, but I have been looking into ways to cool our house, and come across a special insulating paint.
Our roof has a large surface facing west, and since we have cathedral ceilings, our bedroom is right under that west facing roof. Despite being insulated with pink or wool bats, our ceiling gets very hot and stays hot into the night in summer. Air conditioning goes against the grain because it's so energy greedy and expensive, so I've been considering putting an extra layer of insulation against the ceiling from the inside - a very fiddly job and esthetically risky.
Then I found a that several companies in Aust and elsewhere sell an insulating roof paint which has some sort of silica particles in an acrylic paint. It apparently blocks out 94% of the solar radiation, and produces a temperature reduction of up to 15 degrees when it's really hot. It sounds miraculous, and it has been used all sorts of industrial and domestic situations in Alice Springs.
It's not very expensive, the prices I've seen ranging between $3 and $10 per square metre of roof. That means I could paint our roof with it for about $450 - a modest price when you look at the options. The only question that nags at me is, with all the emphasis on passive energy management these days, how come this product isn't better known. It's been around for at least 10 years, so if this method performs as it is claimed to, how come everyone isn't using it?
So after that long story, the simple question is: has anyone used it or heard of it?
By the way, we've had heavy showers for the last two days here in Nimbin, the tanks are overflowing and every plant, tree and bit of grass, not to mention the weeds, is shooting lustily. More work to come.
Peter
I don't know if anyone has any experience of this, but I have been looking into ways to cool our house, and come across a special insulating paint.
Our roof has a large surface facing west, and since we have cathedral ceilings, our bedroom is right under that west facing roof. Despite being insulated with pink or wool bats, our ceiling gets very hot and stays hot into the night in summer. Air conditioning goes against the grain because it's so energy greedy and expensive, so I've been considering putting an extra layer of insulation against the ceiling from the inside - a very fiddly job and esthetically risky.
Then I found a that several companies in Aust and elsewhere sell an insulating roof paint which has some sort of silica particles in an acrylic paint. It apparently blocks out 94% of the solar radiation, and produces a temperature reduction of up to 15 degrees when it's really hot. It sounds miraculous, and it has been used all sorts of industrial and domestic situations in Alice Springs.
It's not very expensive, the prices I've seen ranging between $3 and $10 per square metre of roof. That means I could paint our roof with it for about $450 - a modest price when you look at the options. The only question that nags at me is, with all the emphasis on passive energy management these days, how come this product isn't better known. It's been around for at least 10 years, so if this method performs as it is claimed to, how come everyone isn't using it?
So after that long story, the simple question is: has anyone used it or heard of it?
By the way, we've had heavy showers for the last two days here in Nimbin, the tanks are overflowing and every plant, tree and bit of grass, not to mention the weeds, is shooting lustily. More work to come.
Peter