Radiant Barrier Fire Testing Information

What's the deal on the "new" fire test requirements ASTM E84 and ASTM E2599?

The “new” fire codes have recently caused a lot of confusion. As an educated customer it is important to get all the facts straight. Some companies have resorted to “scare” tactics to imply that pure aluminum foil radiant barrier products are somehow inferior to metalized film products. Let me clarify this for you. At AtticFoil.com we have BOTH products to meet the particular needs of our customers. If you are doing retrofit applications you can use the original AtticFoil Aluminum Radiant Barrier Foil. AtticFoil is the best radiant barrier product available - period. Please read some of the hundreds of customer reviews on the Radiant Barrier Reviews page. If you need a product that meets the new ASTM E2599 test then AtticFoil HDF is right for you. Instead of using pure aluminum on the outer layers, AtticFoil HDF is a Radiant Barrier With A Metalized Film (Mylar type) outer layer.

Building Codes:

When (and if) these tests are adopted by the different codes the codes typically only apply to new construction - not retrofitting existing homes. In fact, most buildings codes have NOT adopted the new ASTM tests at this time.

Burn Test Procedure:

Another thing to consider is the actual burn test. Having a Class A / Class 1 Fire rating does NOT mean the products won’t burn. ALL Radiant Barrier type products WILL burn. These products an all competitors products are NOT FIREPROOF. The classifications are a measure of the burning characteristics of the product. Aluminum Foil covered Radiant Barrier Products are pretty difficult to START burning, but once they “flash” the polyethylene scrim inside will continue to burn at a relatively slow rate.

Ironically, AtticFoil HDF - the Metalized Film Radiant Barrier product starts burning VERY easily and burn VERY quickly. In fact, this is the reason AtticFoil HDF can “PASS” the new E2599 test. The metalized film products actually burn up faster and therefore product LESS total smoke in an E84 burn tunnel test. It does not make a whole lot of sense, but this is how it works.

Test For Yourself:

We encourage you to get BOTH products and put them to the test. Do you want a product that is harder to START burning, or do you want a product that will BURN UP QUICKLY? There are many different conflicting opinions on which burn theory is best. One product will resist burning all together and the other product may burn up quickly and not cause other items to catch fire.

Compare how they burn when a flame is exposed to both the surface and to the edges. You will see that the pure aluminum radiant barrier is much more difficult to get burning. In fact, there are many cases where a fire inside an attic was actually SLOWED down or smothered due to the fireproof quality of the layer of pure aluminum. Metalized film is the exact same product used to make silver potato chip bags. Metalized Film Radiant Barrier products offers less protection against a flame and EASILY will catch fire if exposed to any flame.

Which Product Is Best For You?:

Please do your research and decide which product is best for your application.