Pro Select R-Matte Plus-3, 1 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. R-6.0 Foam Insulation Board

I prefer polyiso to the cheaper polystyrene insulation board due to higher R value per inch (also I think I recall R value holds up better over time), and better fire resistance - important to me in a fire prone area. It's also seems somewhat denser. I've never seen pro roofers use styrene. Disappointed though that HD quit selling 1.5" thickness as I used that on a prior project and was hoping to use the same. It's made a huge difference to how hot my garage gets in the summer -- I sorely wish I had used on earlier roofing projects where heat goes right through fiberglass bats in unvented roofs. I cover these with 7/16 OSB sheathing using long screws into studs to sandwich the foam between CDX roof deck and the OSB cover. This requires careful planning to know where to put the screws to hit the studs - it's important to measure and mark ahead of time and transfer marks as you build your 'sandwich'

I used 4 of these 1" thick panels to insulate my 2-car, 7ft tall garage door. These panels cut easily on my table saw, had just enough give to be able to be forced in to place without breaking (for the most part), and cleaned up the appearance of the door. Further, they're light enough so as to not have to worry about additional strain on my brand new opener (installed prior to this project), and they seem to have quieted down the door on opening/closing. For those interested in a similar application, I first ripped 1/2" pink insulation board into 32 - 1 1/4" x 32" strips. I then fastened two of these per panel with strips of metal tape. By doing this, a 1/2" air gap is created between the interior of the door and the face of the panel, creating a more optimal radiant barrier. Lastly, I ripped the Rmax panels to size: 1. Make sure to measure each individual panel separately as there will be variability. 2. Add about 1/2" of material on the left/right (horizontal) panel measurement and add about 1/4" on the up/down (vertical) measurement. I found it too easy to break a panel by trying to force anything much larger into each opening. 3. I found that using a 2" putty knife helped to manipulate the panels into place. All in, this project took about 3.5 hours and $120. A good hour of that was spent trying to separate 64 pieces of paper from the backs of each strip of metal tape. If I were doing it again, I might use some sort of adhesive to get the 1/2" strips in place. You really just need them to hold long enough to wedge your panels into place. I believe the results speak for themselves. Pictures were taken of the same panel (both exterior and interior) at around 4 PM on our west-facing garage door. As you can see, the panel board/radiant barrier combo resulted in a reduction of roughly 38 degrees on the interior readings (128 without the panel, 90 with). That's 29.7%

5/5/20: We used this board to insulate our Tuffshed. It is firm but cuts easily with a knife. Very lightweight and easily broken. Easy to size for tight fits between studs. It greatly reduces the heat radiating from a sunlit wall. It has aluminum foil on both sides with plastic foam in the middle. Before installing I tested its fire resistance. It catches fire easily and starts to melt, but then quickly forms a chard surface that extinguishes the flame. Interesting to watch. Seems effective, though I didn't test it with a blow torch. DougB

I noticed some voids in the panels during cutting. The voids run all the way though the panels. The other 10 sheets have the same problem. I spent the extra 2 bucks over the pink stuff for one more R value. I think with the lack of quality in these R-Max I ended up with one neg R value.

I had a large quonset workshop that needed to be insulated and heated. After getting spray foam cost of more than $15,000, i started to explore other more cost effective alternatives. I decided to batten the inside of the workshop and then attach two layers of 1 " Polyisocyanates foam, overlapping all the joins and sealing all the joints with cans of spray foam and tape. As you can see from the pictures this worked very well and gave a much more attractive finish than just spray foam would have done. I am able to heat this large space ( 32'x50'x15' heigh) with just a pellet stove ( rated at 2000 sq ft) Setting the stove on Minimum and with an outside temperature on 32F i can maintain a workshop temperature of 55F which for me is an ideal working temp. I believe in total it cost me around $5000 and took 4 weeks to complete working on my own. With help it would probably only take a week, It was worth all the time i spent saving $10,000 and getting an R-value of at least R12.

EASY TO WORK WITH SEEMS TO BE A GREAT WAY TO GO FOR HOLDING THE HEAT IN OR HEAT OUT. MY SHOP SIZE IS RIGHT AT 2,000 SQ. FT. I DID A LOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE I WENT WITH THIS R MAX AND IT SEEMS TO BE DOING THE TRICK! THE ONLY TROUBLE I'M HAVING IS THE FOIL TAPE I'M USING FROM HOME DEPOT IS BEGINNING TO PULL OFF AND NOT STICKING WHICH MEANS I'LL HAVE TO RE DO THAT WITH A DIFFERENT BRAND. AFTER THE BOARDS WENT UP I WIPED THE BOARDS WITH A DAMP RAG TO GET A CLEAN SURFACE BEFORE THE TAPE WAS INSTALLED AND APPEARED TO HOLD VERY GOOD BUT WEEKS LATER IT DID NOT STICK. I WOULD DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THE R-MAX TO ANYONE THAT WANTS TO HAVE A PRODUCT THAT IS EASY TO WORK WITH CONSISTENT QUALITY. MAYBE SOMEONE FROM R-MAX WILL READ THIS AND COME OUT WITH A FOIL TAPE THAT THEY HAVE TESTED TO WORK WELL AGAINST THE FOIL THEY USE ON THE R-MAX BOARDS. :)

We used this to insulate a outside wall and it was very easy to work with. We also purchased the 2" size and completely covered our entire roof before installing a galvelum metal roof over the top. It has improved our cooling inside .

Likes: Light weight, strong, easy to cut Dislikes: none Have been using it for a couple of years, for temps below 100C is idea. For temps above 100C I have to use foil backed fiberglass insulation, getting rid of the fiberglass has all the advantages.

Our garage door faces East, During the summer our garage gets super hot and stays hot all the time. I was on a mission and decided to start with insulating the door. I did some research and stumbled across the RMAX ThermaSheath, I marched to HD and purchased 4 x 4x8 sheets, setup a work table and started ripping these sheet into 2x4 panels. I ended up wasting most of the first sheet as I broke some trying to bend it to fit in the garage door panel, ( These boards are rigid and do not bend easy ), so I decided to use a different approach, I cut each of the 2x4 panel into 3 sections, inserted the left, then right and finally the middle section, I finished it by taping the sections wth metal duct tape and viola ... Today, the outdoor temperature is a sunny 75 F, a few of the un-insulated panels are at 114 F according to my FLIR TG-165, ( See image ) makes me wonder why did I wait so long to do this. Totally worth the price and definately cheaper than the pre-cut solutions offered by various other retailers.

Easy to cut and install