Using a radiant barrier as a house wrap is rapidly gaining popularity and yes, you can add AtticFoil® to the exterior to maximize comfort in your home by reflecting radiant heat on all sides.

On homes with vinyl siding or hardi-board siding, we most often see retrofit application of AtticFoil® as a house wrap.  Since this is the case, you should consider that older homes/buildings will not have the efficient improvements newer homes do, so it might be worthwhile for you to use our house wrap as an air barrier and as a SECONDARY drainage plane; this occurs when you install AtticFoil® over traditional house wrap, like Tyvek® for example.

• Our 60" wide house wrap product does a standard 10' wall with a single seam.

• Remember that you MUST have an air gap on at least one side of the foil.

• You can use the double sided product or the single sided product for this application.  If you use the single sided, remember the foil side must face the air gap.

• Stop 97% of radiant heat from ever entering your home.

Installing Radiant Barrier Behind Siding

It is important to understand that claddings (exterior sheathing) should be open completely; you want air movement (circulation) behind the cladding because the more air circulation you have, the better the whole system works.

This principle goes hand in hand with the rule that radiant barrier must have an airspace on at least one side in order for it to work; it works best when the gap is between the foil and the exterior cladding. With siding materials, like vinyl or hardi-board, we recommend you use furring strips (thin wooden strips) that you can lay perpendicular (horizontally) across the wall studs to create the necessary air space of a half inch or more behind the siding.

To install the House Wrap Radiant Barrier remember that you always want to put the foil closest to the source of heat you are blocking - for an exterior wall that would be closest to the outside. Unlike wrapping brick or stone exteriors with foil radiant barrier house wrap, siding material typically does not have a naturally occurring air gap behind it, so you must create one. This can be done with wooden furring strips to help give you about half an inch to an inch of air space.

This air gap must not be compromised, so make sure when you attach the foil over the strips of wood the house wrap you make it nice and tight/taught across (see the photos above and below for more examples of this application).

As an alternate method, you could attach the foil first (to the wall studs) and then place the furring strips over the foil and then follow with your siding material, be it vinyl or hardi-board. (Photos of this method of layering can be found on our DIY Customer Installation Photos page.)

You might also be interested in the following pages on our site:

• Using Radiant Barrier House Wrap Behind Brick or Stone Walls

• Radiant Barrier Myths: Cell Phone Reception and Radiant Barrier 

• PRICING -- 60" Wide Single Sided House Wrap Product -- PRICING

• Why Does the Foil Need an Air Space?

• Customer DIY Installation Photos