I have a wood framed house, with balloon construction, and lathe and plaster walls. The house was built in 1917. The walls have many horizontal fire stops and I believe blown in insulation will not be an option. Will ceramic reflective paint on the interior walls come close to the insulating value of conventional fiberglass insulation in terms of heat loss? My original intent was to strip all lathe and plaster on the inside of exterior walls, insulate, and install sheetrock, however there is a great deal of original window and door trim and baseboards that would have to be removed. Does this stuff (ceramic paint) work? If conventionally insulated walls will allow say 10 BTUs to escape, can I expect the same value for the ceramic paint? i.e. will ceramic paint allow 8 BTUs, or 2 BTUs to escape?
Answer:
Ceramic paints make a lot of claims, but the one thing we know is that it does nothing with infrared radiant heat. Some ceramic paints applied at extreme millage have been shown to have a small R-Value. Filling the cavity with conventional insulation is the best bet.