theres lots of different coverings out there that you can use, but if you got your light up high how much of that actually reflects, i know that jorge cervantes gives percentages but with the amount of lumens from the light at say 5 foot high. does it really make that much of a difference?
Hiya NGT
It's a valid point. Personally I think the 'volume' and 'intensity' of light being reflected is minimal and that makes the difference between reflective wall coverings of 5-10% in some instances nothing more than a handful of lumens. Which is precisely why I've not bothered with them. Personally I think for value for money flat, matt white paint is hard to beat, but of course if you have to go out and buy a tin of paint specially it's not quite as cheap.
I actually think that matt whte paint put on with a roller, so it dries to a slightly mottled and dimpled textured affect is actually more reflective than ordinary thin mylar as the 'textured effect' effectively increases the surface area of reflectivity and diffuses that light more effectively than a highly polished surface.
Where I think the reflectivity v price curve evens out ie where reflective materials become value for money, is with the diamond patterned mylar equivalent. I'm not exactly sure what that diamond material is made from and I'm not even sure it's mylar, but it performs much more effecitvely than either thin mylar or matt white paint due to the additional surface area of the diamond patterning and better light diffusion because of it, also because it's thicker and therefore easier to hang flat.
So the upshot is, in my opinion, unless you're willing to spend the 10 bucks a metre or however much it costs for the diamond mylar stick with flat matt white paint put on with a roller because the difference in performance from anything else simply isn't worth paying for.
I know this doesn't really answer your question, but then your question is quite difficult to answer because it depends on the indiviidual and the individuals circumstances. Let's say hypothetically flat matt white paint reflects 100 lumens, thin mylar 110 lumens and diamond mylar 130 lumens. Is an extra 10 lumens reflectivity worth paying 50 bucks and an extra 30 lumens worth paying an extra 100 bucks for? In big spaces with several 600w lights the likely answer would be no, in a small space lit by half a dozen 20w cfls the answer may well be yes and cfl grows don't always equal low budgets, plenty of people simple can't handle the heat of hids.
