Insulating Paint

Does insulating paint really work?

It might sound odd, but you can now buy insulating paint that promises to keep your home warmer in the winter and cooler during the summer. Insulating paint is made with ceramic materials that block heat loss. When applied to walls, it looks like any other regular paint. Insulating paint is supposed to reflect heat back into the room instead of letting it pass through the walls. In an article on his website, Sensible Home, columnist and engineer James Dulley writes, "Another advantage of using ceramic insulating paint is the dried paint film on the walls is thicker than with standard non-ceramic paint. This tends to fill tiny cracks and imperfections in the wall surface similar to using a thick primer coat first."

A few insulating paints are made from aluminum particles. According to Dulley, this technology was developed by the military as a strategy against heat-seeking missiles. Ceramic insulating paint lowers the "emissivity of wall surfaces."

Insulating paints come in pre-mixed one- and five-gallon cans, but you can also purchase ceramic powder and mix it in with any standard interior paint. The paint goes on thicker than standard paint, so you need to use a little bit more of it. Because of the thicker coat, the paint lasts longer than non-insulating paint. When the paint dries, it forms a ceramic layer on the walls.

Hy-Tech (*est. $35 per gallon) makes an insulating latex interior paint that is washable and stain-resistant. The interior paint, which is 100 percent acrylic, covers up to 300 square feet per gallon and dries in under three hours. It is only available in a flat finish, and only in white, but you can add tints to customize the color.

So, do insulating paints really help keep a room warmer? Dulley says they do, though he didn't measure the temperature in his sample room. We didn't find much other information or thoughtful testing on insulating paint, although some homeowners posting to forums say it works pretty well.