Does paint help insulate?

[BillGalbraith]

I've just finished insulation my garage ceiling, and have a new a/c unit in there that blows COLD (20-25 deg colder than outside). My walls are bare, unpainted block walls. I hadn't planned on insulating the walls and dry-walling, just painting. There probably is a certain amount of heat transferred through the bare concrete block. I was just wondering if I should just prime and paint, or prime than put on a heavy coat of "Opps" paint, then go with my final color, just to give it that extra thickness.

Any thoughts or FACTS?

 

[Novakid]

Painting is definitely not going to hurt anything. I had a buddy of mine do the same thing to his shop and he said he noticed a difference but I never have. His shop is about 25 years old so I think it just sealed up some of the drafts he was getting thought the cracks. If nothing else it will make the garage brighter and add a little sweat equity to the place.

 

[1969]

Depends on the type of paint.Google it.

 

[D.J.]

I'm sure it wouldn't be much but I would it would beat bare block. I feel that even putting up sheets of corrigated paperboard (cardboard) that you could pickup at feed stores and places that get it in on top of thier feed pallets would help insulate. I know my dad back in the old days used to put it up with roofing nails on the underside of the trusses in a service station we owned. I know he said it helped some a I believed it. Keep in mind this does not meet any type of fire codes.
________
Medical marijuana

 

[rsanter]

anything will offer a amout of insulating factor. paint will have such a low R value that it wont matter


bob

 

[BillGalbraith]

and add a little sweat equity to the place.

Yeah, funny guy. I've been DYING out there since April 15th when they finished the shell. I have a beautiful wooden walkway outside, spotlights, landscaping and sprinklers outisde. Inside, I have a nice poly floor, 20 electrical outlets, 12 florescent lights, and insulation on all of it except 6x6 awaiting the bathroom walls (next week).

Friday, when I put the a/c in, I realized that I had reached an important milestone. Everything else now is just the optional stuff. I don't NEED shelves, benches, paint, a bathroom, but I WANT all of that stuff. Still, there is nothing pressing me to get it done. I actually spent a couple hours today playing with cars instead of working on the garage.

 

[jumpingryan]

I don't think paint offers much insulating factor.....

But I will say, that in very old houses, the oil based paint they used to use, offers a limited vapour barrier in some ways. Although, the problem is that the vapour barrier is on the wrong side of the plaster/drywall.

Don't try and use oil based paint as a vapour barrier though.... LOL there are disadvantages to oil based paints that make them less common to be used nowadays, and not worth the trouble.....

R

 

[fflintstone]

You are getting a lot of miss information so far; these people don’t work in the building trade. Paint will offer no insulation value.
A paint formulated to be a vapor barrier will function as a vapor barrier to some extent, but it will not be like polyethylene sheet. Regardless in Florida you want the vapor barrier on the outside. A ridged foam insulation board on the outside of the block wall under sheathing would do wonders for your AC.
Having while walls will reflect light and that is always a good thing in a garage.
If your block walls are dry and have no effervescent, then you can clean them. Then paint them with a cheap oil-based primer (what I recommend). Or use a really high dollar latex designed for priming block wall basements. Then a gloss white will give you the most ability to clean and light reflectiveness.

 

[rtremaine]

http://www.insuladd.com/interior.html

 

[BillGalbraith]

http://www.insuladd.com/interior.html

I looked over their data. It seemed to offer some R-value to the walls, but the testing agency also made this statement:

CONCLUDING COMMENTS
It is pointed out that the energy savings terms and add, values are not just functions of the solar reflectivities and IR emissivities, but also of the Rr and system temperature information. It is also to be noted that ordinary paints can have a range of solar reflectivities and IR emissivities, depending upon their chemical constituency.



I'm not going to worry about it.

 

[ddawg16]

Yeah, funny guy. I've been DYING out there since April 15th when they finished the shell. I have a beautiful wooden walkway outside, spotlights, landscaping and sprinklers outisde. Inside, I have a nice poly floor, 20 electrical outlets, 12 florescent lights, and insulation on all of it except 6x6 awaiting the bathroom walls (next week).

Friday, when I put the a/c in, I realized that I had reached an important milestone. Everything else now is just the optional stuff. I don't NEED shelves, benches, paint, a bathroom, but I WANT all of that stuff. Still, there is nothing pressing me to get it done. I actually spent a couple hours today playing with cars instead of working on the garage.

Boy.....can I relate....the day I pulled my jeep in to work on it instead of the garage...oh, what a wonderful day....

You are absoluty right....paint does not make the garage more useful.....but it does change your attitude....it's a lot easier to keep it clean and organized when it looks good....

Ok....back to paint....no significant R value....use a good exterior paint and it has some vapor barrier value...

But it's real value is in how it makes you feel about your garage....at at the end of the day, that is all that really matters...

 

[1969]

/www.ceramicadditive.com/insulflat.html.............

 

[1969]

/www.hytechsales.com/.............

 

[BillGalbraith]

But it's real value is in how it makes you feel about your garage....at at the end of the day, that is all that really matters...

Yeah, I don't think some paint on the walls is going to change my attitude about the garage. I LOVE IT now.

Pictures taken tonight, no flash. You can't see it, but I have my HF 4x8 trailer in front of the Mustang, and not visible is the frig or sound system. Work benches, shelves, and the bathroom... and paint on the walls... will come some day. Right now, no hurry. Just happy to have reached this milestone, which took about 7 months.

 

[abbeytaylor]

Here is a couple of videos from YouTube about it

There is also testing information on this site. Just click the blue boxes to download the PDF file
http://www.add4green.com/testing.html

 

[countrybumpkin]

Excuse the super duper necro bump.

I saw no definitive evidence for anything in this thread.

Here is a control based experiment I happened to stumble on for the insulation values of a particular paint.


In the graph at the bottom of the article, the control and the painted box are odentical.


https://www.green-buildings.com/articles/insulating-paint-does-it-really-work/

 

[Gerald O]

Paint has absolutely no meaningful insulative value. Paint can be an effective vapor retarder (not barrier). Paint, combined with caulking, can be an effective part of an 'air barrier' by sealing against air leakage.

Any claims by a paint manufacturer that it has insulative value is pure 'snake-oil' sales.

That's about it.