Thermal insulating paint

maxmycardagain

badly need to cut down heat loss from a bedroom wall (outside wall), landlord said they would fill the cavity but i think all they did was  put extra in the loft.

a charity suggested heat insulating paint, any ideas before i spend £75 on 2 tins?...


https://www.properla.co.uk/protherm/

grumbler

Don't waste your money....

Apodemus

I don't think that is designed for what you want it for.  It might make the paint surface feel slightly less cold and reduce the chances of condensation forming on the surface of the paint, but the only claim on your link is to it retaining heat longer than normal emulsion paint.  If they seriously had a product, at that price, that you simply painted on and it saved you money on your heating bills, you can rest assured that they would be trumpeting that from the roof tops.

ThisIsWeird

Does it have good thermal properties? If it's as it says - made up of teeny tiny glass air spheres - then, yes, it should have good thermal properties.

The problem is, the layer is thin.

It may well be 113% better at retaining heat than an emulsion paint layer, but since an emulsion paint layer has next to zero insulating effect, then being 113% better than near-zero ain't much.

I'm very sceptical of this. But, I don't know.

nottsphil

I don't heat my bedroom at all, even on the coldest nights (and it has two external walls with no cavity insulation). That's because electric blankets (underneath) are so cheap to run as the heat is retained with an appropriately togged quilt. Don't buy one without at least two heat settings.

maxmycardagain

nottsphil said:

I don't heat my bedroom at all, even on the coldest nights (and it has two external walls with no cavity insulation). That's because electric blankets (underneath) are so cheap to run as the heat is retained with an appropriately togged quilt. Don't buy one without at least two heat settings.

We are both on blood thinners after heart issues so heating is a must

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said:

Does it have good thermal properties? If it's as it says - made up of teeny tiny glass air spheres - then, yes, it should have good thermal properties.

The problem is, the layer is thin.

It may well be 113% better at retaining heat than an emulsion paint layer, but since an emulsion paint layer has next to zero insulating effect, then being 113% better than near-zero ain't much.

I'm very sceptical of this. But, I don't know.

113% of zero is still zero, and 113% of buggerall is still zilch, so you are right to be sceptical. For any insulation to be worthwhile, it needs to be thick. Aerogel is one of the best performing materials out there, hideously expensive, but not that much better than Celotex/Kingspan boards. 25-50mm of the Celotex will give you a nice warm wall, Aerogel, you could (probably) get away with 20-40mm.

If you really want to spend money on improving someone elses property without breaking the bank, an insulating wallpaper such as Wallrock will give you a minor improvement. Maybe just enough to cut down on condensation, but no where near enough to make a noticeable difference to heating costs.

Edit to add - Looked at the product info on that Protherm paint. So good, they don't even provide any data for the u-value or links to the "scientific" report that says the stuff is 113% better than normal paints. If a company doesn't have the balls to post data to back up their claims, that should act as a red flag.

ThisIsWeird

FreeBear said:

If you really want to spend money on improving someone elses property without breaking the bank, an insulating wallpaper such as Wallrock will give you a minor improvement. Maybe just enough to cut down on condensation, but no where near enough to make a noticeable difference to heating costs.

I remember visiting an aunt in my early yoof. I was fascinated by one of the walls in their house - it was warm to the touch when you leant against it, so needless to say I did a fair bit of that. I also recall the funny appearance of it - like squashed foam. I wonder if it survived my visits, because I realised afterwards it was a thin layer of expanded polystyrene.

The thing is, the layer was only a few mm thick - but, man, was it warm!

(I hope they didn't have a fire).

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said: The thing is, the layer was only a few mm thick - but, man, was it warm!

If you had stuck a thermometer on the wall, you would have found it to be at the same temperature as other walls. The only reason it felt warm was down to the thin layer of polystyrene preventing the wall from sucking heat out of your hand. Putting on a glove would have achieved the same effect.

ThisIsWeird

FreeBear said:

ThisIsWeird said: The thing is, the layer was only a few mm thick - but, man, was it warm!

If you had stuck a thermometer on the wall, you would have found it to be at the same temperature as other walls. The only reason it felt warm was down to the thin layer of polystyrene preventing the wall from sucking heat out of your hand. Putting on a glove would have achieved the same effect.

Yeah yeah yeah. I know.

But it was warm!

Tbf, it probably did have a 'measurable' insulating effect, at least as far as these walls were concerned, but almost certainly lost in the overall level of what would have been an old and draughty place.

Grenage

maxmycardagain said:

badly need to cut down heat loss from a bedroom wall (outside wall), landlord said they would fill the cavity but i think all they did was  put extra in the loft.

a charity suggested heat insulating paint, any ideas before i spend £75 on 2 tins?...


https://www.properla.co.uk/protherm/

As others have said, it will make no perceivable difference. You'd be better off spending the money on gas.