The product is strong and durable and will not collapse under the weight of the concrete. Installation is far easier because you can walk on "The Barrier"™ - plus our patented taping system makes installation fast and efficient. One edge on each side of the film has a 1" overlap running the length of the material with an aggressive double faced adhesive on the side opposite of the overlap. This allows rolls to be "butted" up to the next roll width, peel back the tape, compress - and you have a seamless closure that will not allow the transfer of heat migration and will completely eliminate all forms (100%) of moisture. This means it eliminates 99.981% of the heat and cold transfer that occurs in an anaerobic (no air) sub floor, wall or underground insulation application. Unlike blown polystyrene, extruded polystyrene is flexible and resilient to breaking even when rolled or walked on. The Barrier is also the finest Radiant Floor and sub floor insulator in the world, radiant tubing can be taped to it and quick set poured over the top in a concrete application!

The Barrier and BarrierXT have been rigorously tested to ASTM procedure C-518. The Barrier test data results show that as part of a concrete assembly with a layer of sand and gravel included the R-value is 4. The BarrierXT improves upon this and the R-value and jumps to 5.7 for the assembly.

While the above performance numbers are extremely impressive - as you know - there are two parts to an effective underground insulation product. The second key aspect is a material's Water Permeability. Without an excellent moisture and vapor barrier in an underground insulation material - its R-Value is meaningless.Is there anything comparable on the market to The Barrier Under Concrete insulation? No. Foam sheet suppliers will talk about R-Values and "trapping air" in their sheets. Doesn't it stand to reason if you can trap air - you can also trap water? Most knowledgeable professionals would prefer to eliminate water. Foil material salesmen will try to sell you on the reflectivity and insulation values of their foil products - but they omit the fact that the lime in cement will degrade the aluminum facing of their material - and leave only half of the original material for insulation purposes. And the last time analyzed - the sun was not shining underground - so the "reflectivity" aspect is - excuse the pun - nothing but hot air.