Radiant Barrier: Helps.

This weekend I went up with a brother from church and put a couple hundred additional square feet of radiant barrier in my attic. The easy bits were done already. All that remains to cover are the Very Hard Parts. This Saturday was the Hard Part. I have

never

ever

felt claustrophobia. EVER. This weekend I had to chill myself out when I was trying to insulate a particularly awkward spot. I couldn't really move well, without falling through my ceiling. I was supporting myself on the 2x4 rafters, in a space barely higher than my shoulders are wide, and rebreathing my own stale air. This was Very Bad, and if I didn't have the presence of mind (thanks God I did have) to realize nobody would be able to come rescue me, I would have just freaked right the heck out and panicked.

The next day, my Darling Wife said the house was cooler than it would normally be. EVERY little bit helps. This afternoon, the air conditioner was only able to hold 77º when the thermostat said it was 105º outside. For those who don't know, that is something like a theoretical maximum effectiveness for regular air conditioners. And we have single-pane windows, 4" of attic insulation at best, and the walls are not well insulated.

After we were done, my helping buddy asked where to get the stuff he had been working with, as he was thinking of doing his own attic (something tells me a favor might be called in...). I showed him how the price at atticfoil.com is less than half what I could find at the big box home improvement stores. The quality of the product from atticfoil speaks for itself.