This home is in a relatively hot climate (90 days of 90+ degrees last year) but I also have a 60 day period of cooler temperatues 20's overnight.
This home was built in 1990, but after weathering some high energy bills, Im ready to do some insulation upgrades.
Currently, the crawlspace under the house (1500sqft) has R-19 fiberglassed faced batts. But, Im little confused as to if Im better off going with a reflective insulation (like Astro Foil/Astro E) or simply a Radiant barrier under the home.
I guess there are a couple of questions here... If the cost of going with a reflective insulation is worth it, Can I remove the paper backing of the fiberglass, install Reflective Insulation on the ground side and use that has my vapor barrier? (as opposed to cutting the Reflective insulation into 16" wide strips and installing between the floor and fiberglass)
I assume in this scenario that if there is no real benefit of going with a reflective insulation then a perforrated Radiant Barrier could be installed on the ground side without having to remove the paper vapor barrier on the fiberglass?
I was reading an article on this on the Reflective Insulation Manufacturer Association International (RIMA-I)website and basically, the guy said it could be very cost effective but that if regular insulation isn;t cost effective for ya then the reflective insulation may not be worth it for you either, you may wanna check that out, i think it's really nice of them that they are being honest about it and not just trying to sell you. Fishfool @ The Reef Tank
