Insulating Paint

[SamSpade]

I don't know if this has been covered before - but a couple weeks back in the Parade insert in the Sunday paper, there was an article about energy saving tips, and one reference to insulating paint, or rather, ceramic additives to normal house paint that add an additional bit of insulation.

I've been all over the Internet, and I've found articles saying, it's crap to testimonials claiming it's the greatest. Some of the positive articles make claims I find hard to believe, while some of the critical ones range from simple ridicule to speculation on why it probably doesn't work.

But not a single review on why it WILL not work, nor an unbiased one on why it does.

Has anyone got any experience with this? Most of the positive sites I've found are recent - most of the critical ones I've found, are old.

 

[czygvtwkr]

The layer of paint is simply too thin to offer much thermal resistance.

 

[SamSpade]

I've now seen about a half dozen "reasons" why it's supposed to work - something about microspheres and ceramics etc. You're probably right, but I've seen at least a couple dozen articles on this. The ones disputing the claims generally offer no proof. The ones establishing the claim offer "proof" that looks a little too fantastic to not be sleight of hand.

Example : One site has an egg being cooked on a Bunsen burner with two coats of this stuff. After several minutes, it's still uncooked inside. VERY hard to believe. Other claims suggest it will only add a very small R factor increase, but enough to be noticeable.

I don't know if thickness alone makes a difference. Certainly a thin coating of plastic would work a little better. Anything that traps air would do something.

 

[Chain729]

I'm curious as to what types of houses claimed it worked vs. didn't work. The less insulation you have to start with, the more of a difference anything you add will make.

 

[czygvtwkr]

if you are painting the exterior of a wooden house two coats of a good acrylic latex paint provides a very good "sealing". Add some good siliconized acrylic caulking to the seams and cracks and you probably aren't going to get any better.