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Costco review: e shield insulation 8

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11:35 am EDT
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Costco is currently promoting a product called E Shield that is installed by K-Designers that is guarnteed to save you 25% off your energy bills. Before you contact Costco, visit a site called energysavers.gov, that has research about radiant barriers. You'll find they are not recommended for cold climates and will not result in 25% energy savings or anywhere near that.

If you decide to respond to Costco's email, as I did, you will not have a pleasant experience. K-Designers is a high pressure sales company. Yes, I received the 10% costco discount, but also was given an even larger and more significant discount if I would sign the deal while the sales rep was still here and if I would allow them to take pictures of my home and if I would write letters of testimonial about the product. What about the 25% energy savings? Given the price quoted, K-Designers could easily give me the maximum one year guaranteed savings of $500 and they would still have been over three times higher than a local installer. Please do your reseach and get local installer bids before contacting Costco. Then if its still a good deal from K-Designers, go for it. You'll even be offered free vinyl shutters and a brass door bell button!

This is a high pressure sales job that is not up to Costco standards of quality and customer service. It is an overpriced product that has no value in cold climates and some value in hot climates. Costco did cancel my order upon request, so I'm only out four hours of my time listening to a high pressure sales talk and internet research and $13.65 to send the overnight contract cancellation to K-Designers. Research before you contact Costco on this one...I think they were taken in by the sales presentation, just like me!

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8 comments
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Jay B.
Atlanta, US
Oct 29, 2013 10:55 am EDT

I would have to say that there is something to this E-Shield product that I have not seen with any radiant barrier products. First off, I saw the proof positive after running into Home Energy Solutions at my local Costco in Atlanta (another company like K-Designers, mentioned above), and having it installed in my home.

My house is a 4000+ square foot home here in Atlanta, with ample attic space. We can burn upwards of $500/month on electric bills during peak summer usage, and in the winter, although the electric costs drop (using no A/C), we do use more gas to heat the home, so the costs sort of flip on electric/gas depending on the season.

Anyhow, moving on, when Home Energy Solutions came by, it was a very no-pressure, informative session. When we toured my attic, it was north of 140 degrees up there. Long story short, they came in, did the install, also threw in a lot of other energy saving improvements (as a bonus for making my decision on the day of the demo), and since that, I have watched my energy bills plummet! My $450 summer bill immediately dropped to just under $300. Anxious now to see what happens in the winter on my heating costs as well. I financed this at a cost of about $103 per month over 5 years (for about a 2600 sq. ft. install), and the savings each month since have been easily covering the cost...AND THEN SOME!

For us, the E-Shield installation has been a GREAT decision, and the product has worked flawlessly. I also love that this product is backed 100% for LIFE! If ANYTHING ever goes wrong, HES will come back out and fix it...no charges, no fees...nothing. It's installed once, and it's in for the life of the house from there on out. Great investment...great product. It's paying for itself and putting money back in our pockets each month! OH...and it is not radiant barrier...it's radiant insulation, and it WILL end up in a $1500 tax credit for us this year, if you were wondering!

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Vahawk
Richmond, US
Aug 21, 2012 6:53 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

think eSheild is a great product

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Vahawk
Richmond, US
Aug 21, 2012 6:52 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I beg to differ on the dead air space. What do you call the space between the insulation and the roof, if it's not dead-air space. It does create a pocket of air that absolutely acts as a dead -air space insulating system. I have seen the results of this product being installed in my state of Virginia and North Carolina, and the reviews have been super positive. 96% say they were satisfied with the product, and 90% have said that they would do business again with the company. Those are real numbers, and they speak for themselves. I was in a house in June that had eSheild. It was the day following a storm had passed through and knocked out the power in the area. 24 hours later the house was still under 75 degrees. It was in the mid-90's out side. the product is AMAZING. It works incredibly well. I have seen it and felt it myself. It evens out the house, and your heating and cooling costs are usually cut in HALF -

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radiantexpert
Arlington, US
Feb 23, 2012 2:55 am EST

First, both radiant barrier and reflective insulation come perforated, and the perforated radiant barriers are more breathable than eShield, reflect the same radiant heat, are better reinforced to prevent rips and tears, and are a fraction of the price. Prove it to yourself, and request a free sample of a perforated radiant barrier to compare - better perforations, higher strength, and equally reflective. Below are a couple different radiant barrier websites.
http://www.atticfoil.com/metalized-aluminum-radiant-barrier-foil-pricing.htm http://www.ecofoil.com/All-Products/Radiant-Barrier

Second, it is the reflective aluminum on the eShield that makes it work. If you have 12 inches of fiberglass for R-38, do you really think that just adding 1/4 inch of fiberglass is going to make any significant difference? Of coarse not, it's the reflective foil that makes the product work. If you know that, then why bother buying the 1/4 inch of fiberglass at all?

Third, a reflective insulation only has R-value if it is in a completely sealed, dead air space, not in a vented space like an attic. The ventilation is necessary to get rid of convective heat and moisture in the attic, but means that the multi-layer reflective insulation has no dead air space, and therefore the only R-value is that of the fiberglass. Instead of an R-11, it's no more than an R1 in a vented attic. It works by reflecting radiant heat in the attic, just like a radiant barrier.
http://www.rimainternational.org/index.php/technical/rima-i-handbook/

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Theo R.
Roseville, US
Jan 06, 2011 7:54 pm EST

This person certainly has an interesting point of view. I too am a Costco member and have been for over 20 years. I love Costco and have purchased from Costco.com as well as in their stores. We looked into the eShield and ultimately bought it.

K-Designers came to our home and made a presentation. Yes, they did ask us to buy that day but no one forced me to buy (in fact we sort of expected that they would ask us to buy the same daywhen we set the appointment, we just said "NO we'll have to get back to you").

We elected to wait to do some research. We found the same US Department of Energy website listed above and realized this article refers to single ply alumium radiant barriers -- clearly NOT the same product! By reading the entire article carefully the author describes another type of material called REFLECTIVE INSULATION. See the same website, different article --

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11670

See also YOU TUBE for more info... this is an house in a cold climate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv_Hg6bBVZI

The more research we did the more we discovered that Reflective Insulation is the way to go regardless of climate. Yes, it is slightly more effective in the summer but when installed properly can be very effective in the winter too.

Another reason radiant barriers can be problematic is they don't "breath" -- they have a tendency to trap moisture which of course negates any benefit. We read of some cases where moisture condensed and froze on the surface of the radiant barrier and damaged insulation and other parts of homes.

In contrast the eShield product is Reflective INSULATION that has microscopic perforations which allow the product to breath so moisture and condensation are never an issue.

The more we learned about it the more convinced we became that eShield is a good product -- so we bought it and we're happy we did. Our home is more comfortable and our energy consumption is lower. We are completely satisfied with Costco and K-Designers. Sorry you feel it was a bad experience our experience couldn't have been better!

Do your own research and consider your own home -- one word of caution though... this work is best left to professionals, I don't recommend trying to do it yourself.

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Jared Macdonald
West Valley City, US
Jan 03, 2011 3:30 am EST

I also would like to add that I'm able to see that I'm able to help blue my house by seeing the stuff in are house that we need to blue star as well. And I'm going to have the cars put the solar panel on the back of the car. And I'm going to have the Garage Door's with the solar panel to collect light from the sun as well and I'm going to put add this to the car. But first I have to prove myself by getting this company off the ground and proving that it was the protentail that I know that it has. I'm also going to learn my math well doing it. So I'm going to get a time clock and clock my time so I can get the measurements and figure out how to make a machine to help us with all the leads I'm going to get for us.

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Jared Macdonald
West Valley City, US
Jan 03, 2011 2:56 am EST

I would just like to say that I am in charge of selling this producted now and I believe that if you keep a cool envirement you are able to learn better. I have sold this before and I would like to say if you believe in something. You would want a report as to the product. So you can see that you where right with your thoughts on it. And what I'm going to bring to it is that I want to learn from the people that I'm putting this in there house's. I like to learn about alot of different things. I'm learning to help green the earth by installing it.

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hotdog43073
, US
Nov 23, 2010 3:25 pm EST

I think its a great product! If you are going to look into having this installed in your home, you should look into what installation is best for your home depending on climate. There are options depending on the construction of your home.

As far as the 25% savings, If you get it the first year why would you not continue to save? Energy costs rise every year you should be paying less than people without the product.