# Experience/Opinions on Sherwin-Williams E-Barrier coating



## Dmax Consulting

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

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

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

Zip said:


> 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

Zip said:


> 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 ()


----------



## [email protected]

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

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

Thanks Yuba,

I am going to look into that radiosity product.


----------



## nEighter

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

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

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


----------



## nEighter

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

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


----------



## Tonyg

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

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

Take the opportunity to check out this website, http://www.rimainternational.org/pdf_files/Evaluation%20of%20Coatings%20for%20Use%20as%20Interior%20Radiation%20Control%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

I heard SW dropped it from their product line.


----------



## nEighter

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

*coating to safe electricity*



YubaPaintPro said:


> 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


 i got a coating for my home from a contractor called *LASTO* *ECO GREEN COATING cut my electric bill by 40% contact him at [email protected]*


----------



## readysource

HEAT ABORSBTION GREATLY REDUCED CAN BE USED INSIDE AND OUT SIDE, EVEN PAINT OVER IT. DON’T JUST SEAL IT … INSULATE IT. WILL KEEP INSIDE OF HOUSE COOLER DURNING SUMMER AND WARMER DURING . CALL THIS GUY THAT MANUAFACTURES IT HIS NUMBER IS 1-888-797-4147 HE SOLD IT TO ME FOR 175.00 FOR 5 GALLONS AND DROPPED BY ATTIC TEMP 35 DEGREES THEN I COATED MY WHOLE HOUSE INSIDE AND OUT USED 1/2 THE PAINT AND DROPPED MY ELECTRIC BILL BY 45%


----------



## nEighter

Huh?????


----------



## TooledUp

nEighter said:


> Huh?????


Looks like a poor attempt at spam to me lol


----------

