Does Radiant Barrier paint ruin cell reception?

[hornbanger]

I only have a cell phone and dont plan on ever having a home phone.

I was looking at getting a radaint barrier (paint) applied to my home. Will this ruin my cell phone connection?

 

[Nonbryan]

And is it really worth the investment? Main benefit is lower electric bills right?

 

[TexasEd]

Yes it is worth it to keep your house cool. I have the radiant barrier decking in my new house which is almost double the size of my old one and a two story. Yes I have a better seer rating on my AC units, but my electric bill in the summer is about the same as it was in the old house.

I know it works because you can actually stand to be in the attic in the summer.

Yes it will interfere with cell phone service. I sometimes sit in the office near the front door for best reception.

 

[Teasip63]

We have radiant barrier paint in the attic and I have not noticed any difference in my cell phone reception.

 

[WooHorn]

We have a one story with radiant barrier roof decking and don't have any reception problems with AT&T cell or mobile broadband . . .

. . . not to dump on your thread, but the weekend-radio-home-improvement-show-guy says that the paint is not effective enough to be worth the expense. I would research it if you haven't already. Good luck!

 

[jmatt]

If it does block or disrupt cell phones, I wish they'd paint the hell out of movie theaters, restaraunts and concert halls with that stuff..

 

[l00p]

and cars too?

Theaters in China use cell phone blockers during the movies. No signal. This is because more people in those cities have cell phones than land lines if a land line at all due to the red tape and hassle to get one. Simple.

Turn them on when the trailers start and don't turn the box off till the credits roll. Problems solved.

 

[Texas Wahoo]

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[NCAAFBALLROX]

Agreed with Texas Wahoo.

How about a caregiver who finally gets a break & wants to go somewhere that other people abuse their phone service?

The idea here is common courtesy, so that tells me that in China,

--Theater-goers will ignore the short notice @ the beginning of a movie that says to turn it off or go silent.
--Folks @ restaurants are loud & noisy & phone users are even louder to try & overcome the other patrons... & they don't know how (or refuse to) to 'take it outside'.

 

[accuratehorn]

At the Alamo Drafthouse, they will take you out.

 

[chuychanga]

I heard if your cell phone goes off in Alamo Drafthouse they put a surcharge of $9 on your glass of wine.

 

[gsoda3]

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[NCAAFBALLROX]

Gsoda, I 'kinda' do... I have been searching for any independant testing as to how well it works, however I can't find anything.

I will say that the benefit for a solar film covered sheet of 1/2" OSB is supposed to be around 5% gain over 'non' solar filmed decking.

When I do decking repair for a roof with rotten wood, I always use SolarBond / ReflecTech type products.

As for anecdotal evidence, I have heard that in a before / after comparison, the temp difference is about 15 - 2- degrees (same outside temps, same humidity, etc).

IMO, as one part of your overall puzzle, it's a good idea. The other components being air circulation & proper shingle or rooftop product selection (I'm a metal roofing fan).

 

[l00p]

off topic, no, they don't get to go to a movie. their job has them on call, be near the phone. they did not get to go before cell phones, in fact, they could not leave the house without forwarding calls. i think they can wait till they are not on call to go see the movie or switch shifts.

 

[Teasip63]

I mentioned earlier that we have the radiant barrier paint in our one story. We also added 12 inches of insulation in the attic so I can not say that the paint is soley responsible for the improved electicity bills. Our 2300 sq ft house in the Dallas area costs us $149 per month (we average). It used to be over $200 per month. Both my wife and I like it cold in the house and we do not worry about the electicity bills any more.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

63, have you noticed any change in reception?

 

[Texas Law]

Question one: I haven't noticed any worse cell reception since we had the radiant barrier spray in our house.

Question two: I have no idea what kind of savings/efficiency the radiant barrier adds, but it is definitely cooler in our attic.