Insulating a yurt roof

[thebitmaster]

So I consistently see people putting bubble-wrap style radiant barrier

insulation

in between a decorative inner layer and the outside canvas. Everything I've read says that radiant barrier doesn't work without an air gap on one side. Because of this, I took mine out from between the layers and put it on top, despite the fact that it's not really weatherized for outdoor exposure. The problem is that radiant barrier is an excellent heat conductor, so if things are touching it on both sides the heat conducts right through. This makes it mysterious to me that so many commercial yurts use some kind of bubble wrap

insulation

*between* layers where it's losing most of its ability to block heat transfer. Does anybody understand the thinking behind doing it that way? I get the idea that you're trying to protect the more fragile radiant barrier from the elements, but that doesn't do any good if there's no air gap.

This is a fairly good explanation of the problem. I think it's slightly oversimplified, because I don't think radiant barrier loses it's ability to block radiant heat with no air gap. It still blocks most radiant heat (nothing has magically changed the aluminum), the problem is that it also conducts conducted heat really well, so if either surface it's touching heats up, that heat goes straight through to the other side.

https://www.radiantbarrierguru.com/n...rrier-to-work/