There are many popular misconceptions about painting and wallpapering being able to provide a home with resistance to cold in the winter, or maintain heat from coming through walls in the hot summer; however, to clear the confusion from the air, we’ll provide you with some much needed background information on wallpapering, painting, and the presumed R-Value it gives to your home, if any at all. Although some companies try to push a product on you to make you believe that it has certain perceived resistances within them, it is next to impossible to gauge correctly the R-value when you have no idea what the ingredients of the paint can do when the compounds mix.

R-Value, defined, in simple definition, is simply the thermal, or heat, resistance that is commonly used in the construction niche, and is the figure that is comprised by dividing the material thickness by its thermal conductivity; the resulting number will tell you the resistance value of the given material, with a large number being obviously preferred. This figure is normally used in actual building materials, such as batted insulation, blown-in insulation, wood, and house wraps such as Tyvek. Taking this definition into account, you can certainly tell a number of things about painting and wallpapering in reference to a possible R-value.

Paint consists of three major parts: the liquids, binders, and the pigments. Within each of those, a specific compound is present; for example, most pigments will contain titanium dioxide, and the liquids will have paint thinner, which contains acetone – and is highly flammable. Therefore, it would be difficult for such liquids, no matter what kind of hardening they form, to accurately hold an R-Value as paint will expand in heat, and retract itself when cold. Do not buy a paint that has been claimed to have an actively useful R-Value as you’ll probably get duped in the process.
Wallpaper, on the other hand, has evolved from the standard paper-thin materials of old; three-dimensional and cotton-based wall coverings are available today on the market, and paper hangers trowel these materials on, therefore eliminating any trace of air pockets and giving your home an increased R-value, which is tremendous when desiring a savings on your gas or electric heating bills. This newly innovated form of wallpaper has been created with longevity in mind, too; although you may pay slightly more for this type of product, the long term effects on your pocketbook will be tremendous, not to mention that plenty of textures and colors can be implemented to suit your style and color needs.

Choosing an interior painting or wallpapering solution today, as opposed to days of old, presents new and exciting ideas for every home owner in terms of thermal value; however, as explained above, stay away from the paints that claim to have heat value, unless it has the thickness of tar, and think about the possibility of choosing the new era of wallpapering that can have a profound effect on the long-term warming and cooling of your home.

Greg Henderson, a California-based businessman with over 11 years in SEO/SEM, provided this piece based on personal endeavors and education in search engine optimization with a concentration on content optimization for the social media future. His current projects include a background checks website Easy Background Checks as well as a marriage records website Genealinks.